Law Books

I purchased Anderson's Business Law (18th Edition) for my wife as she is a business owner. The book is a beefy college textbook and made with quality paper. Its use of color throughout the text made it easy to read and find a section within the book. The book provides case examples, sources, and website references for each section of law it covers. This book was actually very interesting to read. I highly recommend this book for the small business owner and those who have an interest in the law.

This book provides an easy to read, plenty of examples look on complex ideas like law, rules and contracts to name a few. Laws does not have to be complicated with this book.

Wow!!! Abraham continues to amaze me and I feel so blessed to live in a lifetime to experience such clarity to so many questions that I have asked. All is well!!!!

I purchased this audio book (8cds!) on Sunday, and I have not stopped listening to the work. I listen to it when I walk around the city, when I am home doing stuff, and actually have taken the ipod to bed (I made the CDs into mp3s) and listened until I fall asleep. Somehow hearing Esther or Jerry speaking gives me a "buzz" and I enjoy replaying certain "chapters" just because the intonation of the work brings a smile to my face.

I am truly grateful to have encountered this work and am already looking at how I have been pointing "up-stream" on certain issues. Initially, I thought this work was about explaining what fear meant, what jealousy meant, and so on so that I would have a glossary of meanings for all the feelings I experience.

But now I realize that it is really not necessary to analyze what these feelings mean or where they come from. That's just paddling up-stream stuff. It is as simple as closing the gap or widening the gap, between where my "essence" has expanded to be and where my "personality" is currently at.

At the beginning you may find it a little confusing but the it only keeps getting better & better, i think the las CD is the best, i listened to it while drinving, its empowering and gives you a sense of peace of mind
i'm passing it to my friends and they love it.
I hope u like it too :-)

While I dont write many reviews, I felt that this book is worthy of one. Like others have mentioned, this book is not usual for the Hicks series as it is basically just Jerry reading. The content however is phenominal. The impact of what I learned in this book has taken my situation from its lowest point to a much better place not only financially, but relationship wise as well. I truly understand now why my life is the way it is and my responsibility to that. I would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to better their life and or struggling with relationships and self esteem. I cant even begin to express how this has saved my life and how much appreciation I have for it.

I see from the reviews that others could listen to this CD-set but I could not get past the 3rd CD before giving up. As much as I appreciate Jerry Hicks for all he has contributed, I simply could not listen to him drone on reading this book. He reads too fast in a dull, flat monotone voice that I found intolerable after a short while. I intend to never buy another CD of Jerry reading any of the Abraham-Hicks books. I truly think they should either re-record the book with someone else reading it or offer people their money back. I recommend buying the original book instead of this audiobook.

The big dirty little secret about law journals is that the articles in most of them -- including the most prestigious law journals -- are not peer-reviewed or faculty-reviewed but are merely student-reviewed! And the law journals with only student review of the articles are not just educational exercises for the students -- the Harvard Law Review alone was cited 4410 times (!) by federal courts alone in the decade 1970-79 alone (though the frequency of law journal citation by the courts has declined sharply). More details are in this article in my blog:

http://im-from-missouri.blogspot.com/2008/05/judge-jones-hypocritical-about-peer.html

No amount of advice on legal writing can compensate for the lack of "peer" review of articles in law journals. By "peer," I mean any expert on the subject of the paper -- the expert does not even have to be a legal professional. IMO the term should be "expert review" instead of "peer review."

I made up this limerick about Judge Jones and his Kitzmiller v. Dover decision, which was not "peer-reviewed" because it was not appealed:

Judge Jones once said that peer review
is needed to show that something's true.
But that's OK,
he didn't say,
his Dover ruling was peer-reviewed too.

I am giving this book a big fat single star because it apparently does not recognize the lack of peer (expert) review as a serious shortcoming of typical law journals.

Former clerk to the Supreme Court and Professor at UCLA Eugene Volokh has given a remarkable gift to the legal community that would be a bargain at twice the price. It delivers pragmatic and thoughtful advice in a remarkably clear and lucid style. Moreover, it is not simply clear for law books--frankly, a low bar to pass--Volokh writes for the ordinary public daily on his eponymous blog (where you can read the first chapter of this book), and the skills required for that task manifest themselves in this work.

Academic Legal Writing is also extremely systematic. Every aspect of the paper is taken into consideration, from the approach to research, to avoiding off-putting humor or politically charged language, time tables for submissions, and so on, even including how to draft letters to professors and law reviews asking them to look over your work and to consider it for publication.

Academic Legal Writing is really in a class by itself. That said, perhaps I can indicate its greatness by invoking a few other names. Academic Legal Writing is a perfect companion volume to Bryan Gardner's The Elements of Legal Style. It is as clear and concise and accessible as Marvin Chirelstein's Concepts and Case Analysis in the Law of Contracts, and it deserves to be as ubiquitous and is certainly as valuable, thoughtful, and comprehensive as Joseph Glannon's E&E Civil Procedure and Erwin Chemerinsky's Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies. If you know these books, you should be going "wow." If you don't, and you are going to law school, I advise reading all of them. (Also Getting to Maybe, which I never found compelling, but am in the distinct minority view on.)

I read Elizabeth Fajans and Mary R. Falk's Scholarly Writing for Law Students, which is also good and which Volokh recommends. Academic Legal Writing appears to be a very conscious next step beyond that book. In a perfect world, buying and reading both would be advisable. In the real world, I read Scholarly Writing once, Academic Legal Writing many, many times. Academic Legal Writing is your desert island pick.

Please do yourself a favor and read this book. If you don't, you will simply be doing all of your competitors a likely unrequited kindness.

One final note: Professor Volokh is a conservative of the thoughtful and sober variety. I am a liberal of the sort who avidly studies the Endangered Species List to see if "Thoughtful Conservatives" have been listed yet. This is not an issue: Professor Volokh's political beliefs are discernible in this book only by the most careful parsing: in some of his examples, he points out the misleading use of statistics in gun violence, an academic preoccupation of his. You could then do the math and figure out that he has at least one conservative leaning. Otherwise, his politics would be utterly inscrutable. And, frankly, this book would be on my bookshelf even if Professor Volokh had say, written a memo arguing that the Geneva Conventions were outdated and pointless. John Yoo, your path to redemption is clear.

Just like the title, this book is a great guide to "Academic Legal Writing." Step by step, the author takes you through the process of writing a publishable legal article. Every aspect is covered: from how to form a thesis to how to publicize and publish your finished product. Every law review student should read this book while writing his or her student Note.

Former clerk to the Supreme Court and Professor at UCLA Eugene Volokh has given a remarkable gift to the legal community that would be a bargain at twice the price. It delivers pragmatic and thoughtful advice in a remarkably clear and lucid style. Moreover, it is not simply clear for law books--frankly, a low bar to pass--Volokh writes for the ordinary public daily on his eponymous blog (where you can read the first chapter of this book), and the skills required for that task manifest themselves in this work.

Academic Legal Writing is also extremely systematic. Every aspect of the paper is taken into consideration, from the approach to research, to avoiding off-putting humor or politically charged language, time tables for submissions, and so on, even including how to draft letters to professors and law reviews asking them to look over your work and to consider it for publication.

Academic Legal Writing is really in a class by itself. That said, perhaps I can indicate its greatness by invoking a few other names. Academic Legal Writing is a perfect companion volume to Bryan Gardner's The Elements of Legal Style. It is as clear and concise and accessible as Marvin Chirelstein's Concepts and Case Analysis in the Law of Contracts, and it deserves to be as ubiquitous and is certainly as valuable, thoughtful, and comprehensive as Joseph Glannon's E&E Civil Procedure and Erwin Chemerinsky's Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies. If you know these books, you should be going "wow." If you don't, and you are going to law school, I advise reading all of them. (Also Getting to Maybe, which I never found compelling, but am in the distinct minority view on.)

I read Elizabeth Fajans and Mary R. Falk's Scholarly Writing for Law Students, which is also good and which Volokh recommends. Academic Legal Writing appears to be a very conscious next step beyond that book. In a perfect world, buying and reading both would be advisable. In the real world, I read Scholarly Writing once, Academic Legal Writing many, many times. Academic Legal Writing is your desert island pick.

Please do yourself a favor and read this book. If you don't, you will simply be doing all of your competitors a likely unrequited kindness.

One final note: Professor Volokh is a conservative of the thoughtful and sober variety. I am a liberal of the sort who avidly studies the Endangered Species List to see if "Thoughtful Conservatives" have been listed yet. This is not an issue: Professor Volokh's political beliefs are discernible in this book only by the most careful parsing: in some of his examples, he points out the misleading use of statistics in gun violence, an academic preoccupation of his. You could then do the math and figure out that he has at least one conservative leaning. Otherwise, his politics would be utterly inscrutable. And, frankly, this book would be on my bookshelf even if Professor Volokh had say, written a memo arguing that the Geneva Conventions were outdated and pointless. John Yoo, your path to redemption is clear.

Succinct, straightforward, info not available elsewhere (as easily), time-tested advice. Clearly worth having.

For anyone who pretends to understand the issues of race, poverty, and family, this book is a must read. It lays bare the underbelly of American experience by shining a bright light on discrimination, segregation, the failure of the social systems and the consequences of alcoholism, as well as physical and emotional abuse on children. While the author's situation is understandably frightful while he was a young child, this is nevertheless no maudlin tale. It is recounted sincerely and without the unnecessary pulling of heartstrings. The reader's empathic response needs no teasing out when presented with the straightforward portrayal of the author's upbringing. The fact that this story unravels in Muncie, Indiana, rather than somewhere in the South might come as a surprise to those who believe that the black/white race issue is mostly a regional problem.

This author was able to rise above his difficult childhood, attend college, attend law school and eventually become the Dean of a law school. I have heard him speak in person and to hear him tell some of these same stories in his own voice is downright chilling. Riveting, gripping, and intensely human.

I highly recommend this book.

this is such an amazing book that really flips the perceived norms of race. so many things happened to this boy as he was growing up that it is a miracle that he was sane enough to write a coherent memoir. there were so many times that literally moved me to tears. i emphatically recommend this book, you won't regret it.

I learned about this book in an article in the Baton Rouge newspaper. LSU has assigned it as summer reading for many of their students and a group is working to get others in Baton Rouge to read it as well. At our church's partnership group with a local African-American church we decided to read it as a group project, and I'm glad we did. Williams' memoir tells the fascinating story of a young man who is born into the lower-middle class white world of suburban Virginia only to learn when he is about six years old that his father is the son of a mixed-race couple from Muncie, Indiana. Circumstances resulting from this news takes the boy, his father and his brother to Muncie where they live among their African-American (or colored as they were called in the 1950s) family. Billy's (or Greg) father Tony (or Buster) is an alcoholic, which makes life no less difficult as he's scorned by his white classmates and, with his white skin and Caucasian features, standing on shaky ground in his own colored community. A good-hearted woman named Dora raises the two boys as her own, as their birth mother spurns her now-black children. Dora's kindness and Greg's determination to do more than survive are inspiring.

I had the unusual pleasure of hearing him speak at a public function when this book first came out. In fact, that's how I got my free copy. The story of this man's life is simply amazing. That came through in his honest and heart-felt reflection of the hardships he's had to overcome growing up. I've lived in San Francisco most of my life, attending public school with the normal cross section of the city's diverse ethnic crowd. I can say with a degree of certainty that I'm culturally aware of the African American experience. So it is with a bit of sadness that I regret not having met more people with Williams' ambition and determination when I was younger. To be fair, the circumstances in which his life unfolded would probably be hard to duplicate in this day and age, especially in San Francisco. But regardless, I truly believe young blacks of today, regardless of where they may live can draw inspiration from his story. We all still face a huge amount of inequality and injustice in our society today. With such polarization along political and religious lines in our national conscience as I'm writing this, it is critical to remember that race still matters. The other day, the biology department chair at my school presented a slide show of New Orleans where here Alma Mater was severely damaged by Katrina a year ago. She's a parasitologist with a Ph.D from Tulane University. The contrast between the French quarter/downtown and the poorer residential areas are striking. Those who've read Williams book would immediately draw parallels with the stark geographic division along racial lines of Muncie, Indiana - where Williams grew up. How many other cities in America are New Orleans waiting to happen? If something unthinkable should happen in Muncie today, how will the citizens of that city fare today? Will the impoverished blacks of Hunter's point/Bayview in my own city suffer the same fate as those of the lower 9th ward when the "Big One" strikes California? If more of my fellow black San Franciscans can aspire to be like Williams and strive to lift themselves and their community out of poverty and strife, we just might have a chance at doing better. One can hope.

Life on the Color Line should be required reading for every American, especially anyone who wants to put their life's problems in perspective.

This is the most moving book I have read in a long time and I read a lot! William's account of his childhood truly woke me up to how fortunate I am to have the life I have, despite losing my mother at age 20. No one should have to endure the painful struggles of racism, poverty, rejection, parental neglect and abandonment that Williams did, as well as a dysfunctional family to top it off. Whether Williams dated black girls or white ones, he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

Life on the Color Line contains many harrowing scenes. One that stood out for me was when William's white maternal grandmother refuses to pass along her daughter's messages to her children after she has left the family. She calls her own grandchildren "niggers" and refuses to let them live with her in a nice section of Muncie only a few minutes away from the black ghetto where they reside with a family friend Miss Dora.

One question that remains unanswered after reading this book is why William's mother only took her younger children with her when she left her husband. Why did she leave Gregory and Mike with their alcoholic father? It doesn't make sense that she would take some of her children to safety with her, but not all of them. The only explanation I can come up with is that Greg's mother figured her older boys were mature enough to fend for themselves. Towards the end of the book, their mother's inability to understand what kind of life she left her boys to leave left me wanting to throw rocks at her and give that woman a good beating.

I am in awe of the author's maturity, courage, and sheer will power that enabled him to overcome all these obstacles. His experiences put my own life in perspective.

I borrowed this book from the library, and now that I've reached the last page, I will definitely be buying it on Amazon!

I didn't believe that a law book could be fun either, but this one really is. Clear, concise, and (amazingly enough) entertaining, it explains the major concepts of Contract Law in a way that never threatened to drive me to drink or to sleep.

I am a failed law student. I went the first year and quit because I didn't enjoy the experience and knew the law profession was not one I wished to join. However, I came across, and kept, a few *phenomenal* books while I was in law school, books written in layman's terms that give a wonderful understanding of an area of the law, and this book is one.

Many of us don't have the time or money to invest in a personal lawyer to answer any legal questions. This book serves the role nicely. With its simple language and highlights of the major points of contract law, it will give good direction when seeking legal council.

What this book will not do is give you everything you need to pass a law school class. I know because I tried. But for the semester I did care, this book supplemented my text and the UCC very well and helped me get an A.

The book delivers what it promises: a very succinct overview of Contracts law. I found it immensely helpful in understanding major themes in Contracts, and the book addresses many of the most popular cases found in the casebooks. My one complaint is that Prof. Chirelstien is sometimes a bit verbose at times. It often appears as if he looses sight of his audience (law students primarily) and tries to impress his colleagues in academia with his vocabulary and academic wittiness. I can get that in class from my own professors. That said, I think the book a very helpful guide to law students who are still fuzzy about the concepts after reading the casebook and going to lecture.

This book was ok. It won't help the 1L law students looking for an aid to help them supplement their readings. This book is just a glorified canned case book. Highly recommended for those CONSIDERING law school and want to read about contracts BEFORE they start school. Once your in law school, look for another source.

If your prof is really focused on the UCC, this book is going to be a waste of your time. If you have a curmudgeoney old prof who has spent his whole life in academia and is more into contract theory/policy and common law, this book will get you an A without touching the casebook.

If you just want to do well in your contracts class without having to do a lot of reading, you would be better off using Examples & Explanations instead. If you are ambitious you could use both, but I think E&E is much better if you only have time for one supplement since it covers the code and common law.

I rated 3/5 because even though the book is a great aid for contracts, my prof was a hardcore UCC guy and it was pretty much useless for me. I would still have earned my B+ without this book, but I would have done worse without E&E.

I bought this book for my crim law class, and when it arrived, I noticed I had accidentally bought this older 4th edition.(The latest and greatest 6th edition IS available from Amazon)

I still used it all semester because I was too lazy to return it, and my laziness was rewarded. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this 4th edition is pretty much the same book as the latest edition.
Compared to my classmate's 6th edition, there appears to be no differences in the material covered, and the only difference appeared to be the page numbering. For example, the material found on pg 200 would be found on 196, or vice versa. However, no material seems to be missing from the 4th edition. The chapter numbers and their corresponding subjects are consistent as well.

The book itself is overall a good textbook. I found it pretty easy to understand, and organized well. I liked the index of cases in the back, which was useful while writing papers.

I think I accidentally bought this book because I was blinded by the low price and quickly pulled the trigger without checking the edition numbers; I paid about $[...] including shipping. This is in contrast to the 6th edition, which is going for $[...] USED price here on Amazon.

If you need this book and want to save about $[...] I highly recommend getting this edition. If you have an anal professor or have a need for the latest and greatest, check out the 6th edition instead.

This book is excellent in explaining concepts of criminal law. It is extremely detailed in the Penal Code and the justice system statues. It has
an excellent reference section in the back of the book. It provides definitions and a glossary. This book breaks up the sections of criminal law to give you individual overviews of each topic. Very detailed. Excellent BOOK!!

This book explains to the first year law student how to go about legal research in the library and on the internet. It has practice exercises in the back of the book to facilitate the learning process. It is a quick read on all the main sources of legal research and general legal writing. It breaks down the elements of research into small, easy to manage parts that don't make you feel totally overwhelmed during your first research paper. I think it is a great tool for the first year law student.

I teach a legal research and writing course with this textbook at UCLA and have found it very helpful. The book is well organized, has good homework problems, reasonably clear writing and fine illustrations. My students find it very helpful in their studies. Its only two flaws are that it does not use California law in its problems and has only one problem at its end to test all of the student's research skills. In a perfect world, two comprehensive research problems would be included to ensure that students have fully grasped the principles involved. While I have used the 4th edition over the last 3 years with great success, I am confident that this 5th edition (which I have read and am presently using in my class) will be equally effective. I only give it four stars because of the two flaws described above and the limited answers to homework problems given in the teacher's edition.

One can obtain copies of previous editions for as little as 1 USD
(enter the ISBN of the sixth edition 073553666X and view listings
for the approximately five versions/incarnations; click on Used).
Unless you 'must' have the most recent edition (the 6th), go USED

The Process of Legal Research, Sixth Edition
by Christina L. Kunz, Deborah A. Schmedemann, Matthew P. Downs, Ann Bateson

Published: 6/30/2004
ISBN: 073553666X
Format: Paperback

Description

The revision of the first legal research text to take a process approach to the subject offers important new material in the proven effective format that has made the book a continual bestseller. The Process of Legal Research, Sixth Edition, leads students to a deep and meaningful understanding of the "what," "how," and "why," of conducting legal research. The text is skillfully structured to engage student interest:

a complete introduction to the process of legal research aquaint students with sources and vocabulary, along with how each source works, how to combine different sources, and how to resolve legal problems through effective research techniques
extensive illustrations and examples of actual research problems -- including an ongoing text example involving smoking in the workplace -- give students a preview of the realities of practice
the authors emphasize best research practices and discuss how to choose the appropriate source and media for particular types of problems
coverage of electronic research is integrated into the text, with guidance on when and how to make the choice between paper and electronic research, and how the choice of media results in different means, scope, and currency of materials
extensive, well-researched problem sets appear on perforated pages for easy use
the authors demonstrate the interrelated process between tasks of research and writing

Changes for the Sixth Edition facilitate teaching and learning:

thoroughly updated text reflects ongoing developments in research, media, providers, and sources
strengthened discussion of overarching cognitive tasks improves student understanding of the research process as they maneuver through a bewildering array of sources
streamlined book offers enhanced graphics and less dense text, with unnecessary detail eliminated
coverage of ALWD Citation Manual as well as The Bluebook
more emphasis on the Internet and Loislaw, with less discussion of CD-ROMs
expanded coverage of legal ethics, including several more cases on unethical research
reworked problem sets retain the "greatest hits" from previous editions and introduce brand-new problems
new co-author Susan Catterall draws on her experience as a research/instructor at a prominent law firm and as a reference librarian and assistant professor at Drake University of Law School

This is a remarkable book. The author's knowledge, insight, analysis and synthesis are amazing. There's too much to praise about it, so I'll just mention one aspect: Amar makes a very compelling case that from the beginning slavery was a disease spreading infection in our society and political system (aided by the 3/5 clause), increasingly corrupting our character and institutions until a terribly bloody breaking point was reached. The evil was partially righted, then amorality returned, allowing a viciousness to fester until another crisis led to new progress. But it remains that slavery and its legacy constitute the central national failure, which we still haven't nearly corrected. Most of the book is quite positive, and slavery's not the principal focus, but Amar's treatment of it is both convincing and unforgettable.

For decades I've been wandering about with a mish mash of semi-contradictory ideas about the constitution. Mr. Amar has managed to correct, justify, and reframe most of them into a (_thoroughly_ documented) coherent whole.

Where the constitution is unclear, he quotes the debates and letters of the founders explaining what they meant. Where there is modern debate, he footnotes where to look for different viewpoints. Where there was debate during the writing of the constitution, he tells you who said what and why.

That would probably be enough to earn 5 stars, but he somehow managed to turn an erudite treatise on the history of one government into a page-turner. I don't know how, but there it is...

Wow, I learned more about the consitution then I ever could have imagined. I didn't have any idea about many of the themes and debates over the constitution and it's amendments. I'm a novice at political thinking, before the presidential campaign I could've care less about politics. Some of this is a bit over my head since I don't have a background in law or political history. However, Mr. Amar explains it well enough that most should understand. I can't recommend it enough for anyone interested in the constitution.

What an absolutely fantastic reference! Much of this book's praise has been sung by previous reviewers, but I'd like to add that I especially appreciate Amar's powerful paradoxes and equally profound "what-ifs." Buy the man's book so he blesses all of our futures with even more jewels of his erudition.

Although there are some tedious places, the book has a number of very valuable and interesting insights - especially the topics of the Second Amendment, the Eleventh Amendment, and the "privileges and immunities" clause stood out for me. He does a good job interweaving historical context and the text of the document. There are some unexpected emphases and omissions:for example, it emphasizes slavery more often and more heavily than I expected for an issue that was resolved 140 years ago, and there was a little less on the Bill of Rights and on executive power than I was expecting, although those are more contemporary issues. His chapter on the path, pre-Civil War to the 13th amendment, was terrifically concise but there is very little discussion on the issue of habeas corpus during the war. These aren't complaints, just notifications; overall it was very stimulating. Like most constitutional scholars, he has some outside-the-box interpretations that are obviously developed to accomplish a particular outcome but these are fruitful to reflect on as well.

This is an incredible book on the Sierra Nevada, written and illustrated entirely by Jack Laws, a fantastic naturalist.

We purchased this field guide to take on dayhikes and camping trips in the Sierra's with our 5 yr old daughter. We have thoroughly enjoyed it! It is very easy to use. I looked at many field guides and this one is by far the easiest to use. Small children can become bored easily on a hike. The field guide has made hiking more interesting for our 5 yr old. She finds it great fun to identify new flowers,plants,birds,ect. It delays the inevitable, "Are we there yet?" !

The detail drawing make it easy to identify the plants and wild life.
A great way to learn.

John Muir Law's Guide to hiking in the Sierra Nevada is lush with his artistic renditions of all you might see, and want to identify, as you hike this area. Small enough to carry in your back pack, but chock full of helpful information.

I have at least 10 books specifically on Sierra wildflowers and several field guides. This is the best all-in-one book. It's not too heavy for me to carry on a day hike.

Janice
in the Sierra