<p>A colleague’s daughter is a law student and for one of her classes she needs to read and write a report about a recently published book relating to the law. Anyone with any ideas about a book to recommend?</p>
<p>She should go into the library and ask a reference librarian to put together a list of books for her to look at.</p>
<p>She’d learn more and get a broader perspective than by having her parents do the looking for her.</p>
<p>Good grief. The colleague asked me because I read a lot, and I asked here because I thought it might yield some interesting answers.</p>
<p>This book is a few years old now, so maybe it doesn’t qualify, but it is very entertaining. It’s about strange lawsuits.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> The True Stella Awards: Randy Cassingham: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/True-Stella-Awards-Randy-Cassingham/dp/B001OMHST4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289071958&sr=8-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/True-Stella-Awards-Randy-Cassingham/dp/B001OMHST4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289071958&sr=8-1)</p>
<p>The authorized biography of Justice William J. Brennan was just published. I have read some of it and liked it.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion (9780547149257): Seth Stern, Stephen Wermiel: Books: Reviews, Prices & more](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Justice-Brennan-Champion-Seth-Stern/dp/0547149255/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289077601&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Justice-Brennan-Champion-Seth-Stern/dp/0547149255/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289077601&sr=1-1)</p>
<p>There’s also a book out about judging by Justice Steven Breyer. And anything by Judge Richard Posner is probably worth reading – he’s one of the people whom many other people think is the smartest person they’ve ever met, and he’s a prolific, stylish, and always interesting writer. And anyone who is familiar with the positions I take here knows that I am NOT on Posner’s side of the ideological fence . . . but I love reading his stuff.</p>
<p>It’s about 2 years old, but “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court” by Jeffrey Toobin (CNN) is really well written and interesting, at least from this lawyer’s perspective! I also like Alan Dershowitz’s books, but I don’t think there’s anything he’s written recently fitting this category.</p>
<p>Haven’t read it yet (just published, in fact), but it’s on my wish list for Christmas - “The Fall of the House of Zeus” by Curtis Willkie, about how Dickie Scruggs, one of the most successful plaintiff’s attorneys in the US, wound up in jail for trying to fix a case. </p>
<p>A friend recommended “The Presumption of Guilt” by Charles Ogletree, about the Henry Louis Gates arrest. </p>
<p>Jeffrey Toobin is a great writer - he doesn’t write enough books, though. 
I never miss his New Yorker articles. Wish he’d put them together in an anthology.</p>
<p>I recently enjoyed the following book: </p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> The Autobiography of an Execution (9780446562065): David R. Dow: Books: Reviews, Prices & more](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Execution-David-R-Dow/dp/0446562068/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289094359&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Execution-David-R-Dow/dp/0446562068/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289094359&sr=1-1)</p>
<p>Interesting, inside perspective from an attorney handling the last minute appeals. </p>
<p>Also second the recommendation for “The Nine”.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> The Guantanamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law (9780814737361): Jonathan Hafetz, Mark Denbeaux: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Guantanamo-Lawyers-Inside-Prison-Outside/dp/0814737366/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289095596&sr=1-5]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Guantanamo-Lawyers-Inside-Prison-Outside/dp/0814737366/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289095596&sr=1-5)</p>
<p>2009 book, but covers legal issues that should interest any law student.</p>
<p>I agree that The Nine is an excellent book. I have to say, though, that I have never heard of a law school student having an assignment like this. Are you sure she’s actually in law school and this isn’t an undergrad law class?</p>
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<p>He was my antitrust professor in law school. He is brilliant. WildChild reads everything he writes.</p>