Randy Barnett is talking about legal novels and touting law professor Kim Roosevelt's novel In the Shadow of the Law. I look forward to reading it. (Kim is currently guest blogging at PrawfsBlawg.
Prof. Barnett mentions that John Grisham novels are almost unreadable because of the writing style, and while I generally agree, I do have to mention one book. I had not read a Grisham novel since A Time to Kill was released, so I was not excited when the director of the Ignatius Studies program here suggested that I read The Street Lawyer. I bought the book in an airport and actually found myself drawn into the plot of an antitrust associate at a large law firm who has an epiphany that his calling is elsewhere.
Yes, I skimmed through and read it quickly. (Isn't it funny how good books make you slow down and actually read, so saying something is a "quick read" isn't the highest compliment?) But, I thought that one of the basic questions that the protagonist struggles with was a universal question that everyone with high-earning capacity has to answer for ourselves: If you believe that it is your calling to "feed the poor," then is it better to stay at a large firm making six figures and someday seven figures and give away a susbstantial portion or to leave the high-paying job and do legal work for the homeless for a basic living wage?
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8345157d569e200d8344af07653ef
Links to weblogs that reference Favorite Legal Novels:

Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
