Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Crown (1989), Edition: 1st, 370 pages
Description
For better readers, this is a hard-hitting indictment of America's present judicial system that, the author thinks, is badly in need of reform.
User reviews
LibraryThing member ecw0647
In 1983, Harvard's President Bok charged that the law schools of America were geared to supply new and exclusive talent for corporate firms that, in turn, deliver quality representation only to the wealthy and powerful. Bok further asserted that the poor and the middle class find their access to
Occasionally witty and anecdotal, Spence argues persuasively that the legal profession has surrendered itself to a quest for power by defending the rich and powerful. He insists law schools attract and retain precisely the wrong kind of person. He wants students to be filled with rage at injustice, to be people oriented rather than the academic types who score well on LSAT exams and who can accurately regurgitate cases, but who lack compassion for their fellow human beings. He states that most law students leave school without elementary trial skills; indeed, a student can graduate without ever having to write a contract. While some of Spence's sweeping generalizations left me uncomfortable as to their accuracy his book is provocative and timely. He makes many suggestions to change the system.
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the courts blocked by prohibitive costs and a bewildering array of complex rules and procedures. Gerry Spence, a thoroughly experienced trial lawyer, quotes Bok in a this eloquent polemic. that attacks the legal profession.Occasionally witty and anecdotal, Spence argues persuasively that the legal profession has surrendered itself to a quest for power by defending the rich and powerful. He insists law schools attract and retain precisely the wrong kind of person. He wants students to be filled with rage at injustice, to be people oriented rather than the academic types who score well on LSAT exams and who can accurately regurgitate cases, but who lack compassion for their fellow human beings. He states that most law students leave school without elementary trial skills; indeed, a student can graduate without ever having to write a contract. While some of Spence's sweeping generalizations left me uncomfortable as to their accuracy his book is provocative and timely. He makes many suggestions to change the system.
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Language
Original language
English
Physical description
370 p.; 6.5 x 1.25 inches
ISBN
0812916964 / 9780812916966