Reviews (4)

Great for getting the fine points.
The Glannon books (especially the Glannon Guide q&a book) are more comprehensive, but when it comes down to the last week or two and you want to be sure you haven't missed the fine points hiding in the FRCP (and there are a lot of those) - this book is great.

Civil Procedure owns your soul.
This is not the best Civ Pro book out there.Glannon's Examples and Explanations is indispensable when it comes to this subject.With that said, this book is very useful.It's sort of like Brokeback Mountain versus Crash.Crash is an outstanding movie and probably wins best picture most years, it just has to go head to head with Brokeback, so it can't win.Thus "Acing" gets 4 stars, but only because it has to go against Glannon's much lauded text.And for the record, I think Glannon is more Ennis Del Mar, and Spencer (this book's author) is a little more Jack Twist.Make of that what you will.

Excellent Study Aid
Professor Spencer has simplified civil procedure analysis by making checklists to help analyze all the major topics that you are likely to be tested on.The most helpful feature of this study aid for me though were the problems at the end of each chapter followed by his own analysis.It is helpful for studying to see exactly how your civil procedure professor expects you to analyze certain fact situations and apply the law, and that's what this study aid gives you. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Law    3. Legal Reference / Law Profession   

Reviews (2)

Inaccurate Data from a Terrible Professor
I am a current graduate student of Professor Weitzman. My classmates and I are extremely disappointed that our university has employed Weitzman--for hundreds of reasons. As for this book, though... The book says that women and children see a 72% drop in their standard of living while men's increases 42%. Weitzman blamed the error of 72%, which should be more like half of that number, on her research assistant. Did Weitzman not check the data analysis? Why did she base an entire book on her inaccurate numbers? This book was once considered groundbreaking, so much that it influenced policy at least in the U.S. and Canada, causing millions of divorcees to pay more spousal and child support than they should have. My rating is really ZERO stars. If you want to know more about this book, simply Google Weitzman's name, and you will find at least 700 websites dedicated to criticizing her.

based on flawed research and mathematical errors
Weitzman falsified data and made numerous mathematical errors and faulty data gathering techniques to make her case that women and children suffer much worse financially after divorce than do divorced fathers.Feministpropaganda at its finest, which has been used to hurt many children andfathers. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Divorce    3. Divorced women    4. General    5. Law and legislation    6. Marital property    7. Social conditions    8. Sociology    9. United States   

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Courts    3. Legal Reference / Law Profession    4. Courts & procedure   

Reviews (2)

Excellent Resource
As far as commercial outlines go, this is as good as any out there.It is very comprehensive.However, the more difficult parts of civil procedure (personal jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, summary judgment) cannot be learned properly from any commercial outline.
This outline pretty much has it all.
Civil procedure is one of the few classes where you can base the majority of your studying on a commercial outline and end up ok.This outline covers all the rules and mixes in the relevant case law at the same time.Great outline. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Law    3. Civil law (general works)    4. Courts & procedure   

Subjects:  1. Asians In The U.S.    2. Civil Procedure    3. Emigration & Immigration    4. Emigration And Immigration    5. Ethnic Studies - General    6. Japanese    7. Japanese Americans    8. Land tenure    9. Law    10. Law and legislation    11. Legal Reference / Law Profession    12. Legal status, laws, etc    13. Legal status, laws, etc.    14. United States    15. Civil rights & citizenship    16. Ethnic studies    17. Immigration & emigration    18. Immigration law    19. Law / General    20. Social history    21. USA   

Reviews (3)

Timely
This book provides a terrific historical perspective as to why the jury system is so important to our form of democracy.A quoted in this book, Thomas Jefferson wrote that it is more important for a citizen of this country to sit on a jury than it is for her to vote in an election.In today's world of out-of-control corporate greed, it is nice to see at least one author taking the bold steps of presenting the truth.Corporate america does not fear our politicians or the government. The only voice that big business fears is that of the jury.It is only the jury that can control bis business in today's society.Why? because it only a jury that can speak the language that corporate america understands - money.Without the jury, we will further slip into a world of the haves and the have nots.This is a must read.I only wish I could buy a copy for everyone I know.

For Those Who Care About Justic
This is for those who know a little but not a lot about why juries are so precious in America. With clarity and brilliance, Dwyer makes the case for the jury. For me, he also, unwittingly I think, made the case that I should not avoid serving on a jury notwithstanding the nuisance value of doing so. Much to everyone's and America's loss, he lost his life at about the same time as this book was published, but he left us with a superb work based on his legal experiences and his long-time service as a federal district judge in Seattle.

A Good Intro to the Jury System
Judge Dwyer shows a great respect and insight into the importance of the jury system to maintaining democratic government and liberty in America.In spite of some areas where he has accepted conventional wisdom instead of actually researching the issues involved (such as where he accepts the myth that racist jury nullification was widespread during the civil rights era.The best researched work on this is in Clay S. Conrad's book Jury Nullification: The Evolution of a Doctrine, in which he shows that most of the acquittals in lynching and civil rights murder cases were due to prosecutors, judges and police being unwilling to pursue such cases to conviction, and not to the actions of jurors) the book is an excellent exposition of the importance of trial by jury.Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Jury    3. Law    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. Law / Jury   

Reviews (8)

Debunking Attacks
One of the many attacks Lopez receives regarding White By Law is his alleged "white pessimism" that keeps him from genuinly wanting to deconstruct whiteness, because he would lose his White benefits. This is backed up by his many contradictions throughout the book. Though I agree he does contradict himself quite often, he does not cave into the idea of White superioroity as some critics on this page say. Critics of Lopez who are well versed in Race Theory and who want to deconstruct whiteness, fault him for simotaneously stating that whiteness is a "fantasy" and yet still "exists." To put it in common-man's English, this makes sense. Whiteness DOES exist, but only as a socially constructed idea. To blindly say that Race does not exist in any form is like saying that Liberalism doesn't exist. I mean, you can't touch liberalism. There is no genetic way of identifying liberals. Same with religion. Catholocism doesn't really exist, only in social construct. Critics of Lopez would have him write his entire book with out mention of racial existance because acknowledging race would go against Critical Race Theory. However, this book was not written to be read solely by the most enlightened intellectuals. It was written for any lay-person with a vocabulary large enough to understand it (which should be everyone, but sadly isn't.) an intellectual surprise the size of a pin
Here's his argument:White dominated courts ruled against nonwhite immigrants from seeking political inclusion.If you're interested in spending a couple of hundred pages watching a guy try to prove this, enjoy. White By Law: A self-Portrait Part 2
One hundred pages into his work, Lopez begins a barrage of questions raised in response, it seems, to the answers that have been given in the preceding chapters.It is here that Lopez restates his thesis that "law constructs race" and then questions how the law accomplishes this, although his chapters on the "prerequisite cases" seem to have clearly answered the question of method.The law, as aforementioned, was depicted as having the official word on the race of an individual and assigns particular meaning to that determination based on whatever views are convenient for the upholding of false hierarchy:popular opinion, science or a combination of the two.Lopez himself states, "law influences...the meanings ascribed to our looks, and material reality that confirms the meanings of our appearance".And although he writes that law is squarely to blame for the enforcement of inequality based on race, he also claims "there are no `laws'" only "ill-coordinated social practices" and that these practices are "incoherent".It is this rehashing of already addressed questions that give rise to some of the most blatant contradictions in Lopez's arguments and makes way for Whiteness to prevail yet again, in a critical analysis.It is here that he makes plain his reversals of opinion and contradictory statements that reveal the inconclusive and useless arguments being articulated.(Re)opening his question as to the relationship of the law to whiteness, Lopez says that the prerequisite cases showed the "multiple levels on which legal rules and actors construct the social systems of meaning we commonly refer to as race".However, further down the page he poses the questions, "What role do legal actors play?" and asks if these actors are merely consuming social concepts or if they are defining them.It is apparent that the opening line of the paragraph has already addressed the answers to these questions.This inability to recognize answers to the "more difficult question[s]" that he has already generated is characteristic of ranting; his refusal to recognize legitimate notions of whiteness he argued leads one to question the real commitment to unmasking the law.Lopez seems willing enough to expose the law, but unwilling to believe the reality of what is revealed, willing to see the equation of whiteness and the legal system, but unwilling to dismantle the law the way he suggests whiteness should be.He is unwilling to give up his role in whiteness and therefore seeks to defend it against his own harsh criticisms. Even though he is a professor of law at a reputable university and authors a book asserting his understanding the processes of whiteness in law, he calls whiteness the "pillar of racial inequality in America", but shies away from making an attack on the law by perverting it's image as "incoherent." Lopez's position as a "minority", as a non-white, and in that sense from outside the legal system, leads him to damn the law, but his position inside the system as a professor requires him to maintain a fundamental faith that keeps him aligned with law and thus, with whiteness.The contradictions in Lopez's writings arise from the contradictions in his personal identity and politics.Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Discrimination & Racism    3. General    4. Politics / Current Events    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. Citizenship & nationality law    8. RACE RELATIONS    9. Racism & racial discrimination    10. Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations    11. USA   

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. General    3. Great Britain    4. Judicial ethics    5. Judicial process    6. Law    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. Practice Of Law    9. Professional Ethics    10. Reference    11. United States    12. Law / General   

Reviews (3)

American Courts, a refresher
I bought this book as a pre-req for law school.I found it to be a good refresher for the court system and how it runs.If you are beginning law school or classes in government, you will want to review this book.

Helpful Tool
Nice concise description of the US Court system. The American judicial system is quite complex. This little book explains it in easy terms.

Every American Should Own This Book
This really is a fantastic book. Professor Meador, having spent half a century as a teacher at one of the world's finest law schools and as a consultant and advisor to legal scholars and judges from state courts to the Supreme Court, manages to speak to everyone who hasn't had the opportunity to attend law school. Reading this book won't make you a lawyer, but you will understand exactly what happens in our court systems - a must for new law students, foreign lawyers and anyone interested in how their nation's legal systems work. It was an invaluable help in my first year of law school, and worth every dime. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Courts    3. Courts - General    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. Reference    6. United States   

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Law    3. Legal Reference / Law Profession    4. Malpractice    5. Medical Law & Legislation    6. Medical personnel    7. Tort liability of hospitals    8. United States    9. Law as it applies to other professions    10. Medicolegal issues   

Reviews (1)

Fire and Emergency Law Casebook
This is an excellent book for tutorials in a classroom setting.However, this is not an ideal book for a reader that is deeply involved with case law in the industrial fire setting. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Technology    2. Law and legislation    3. Legal Reference / Law Profession    4. Technical & Manufacturing Trades    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Civil Procedure    7. Engineering skills & trades    8. Explosives technology & pyrotechnics    9. Mathematics and Science    10. Technology / Technical & Manufacturing Industries & Trades    11. United States    12. Fire Science    13. Assistance in emergencies    14. Legal status, laws, etc.    15. Cases    16. Fire departments    17. Fire fighters   

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Court interpreting and transla    3. Court interpreting and translating    4. General    5. Law    6. Legal Reference / Law Profession    7. United States    8. Courts & procedure    9. Jurisprudence & General Issues    10. Law / Civil Procedure    11. USA   

Reviews (2)

Best Book on this topic
This is the best book so far on this topic.I found the chapters on theory and research were comprehensive but easy to digest.

A good original source for care and protection evaluations.
This book provides a strong foundation for assessment in care and protection matters, and it is full of practical advice.It is a good text for graduate students studying forensic psychology, and for seasoned psychologists, psychiatrists, lawyers, and judges who practice in this area. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adult Child Abuse Victims    2. Child abuse    3. Civil Procedure    4. Clinical Psychology    5. Criminology    6. Evaluation    7. Evidence, Expert    8. Forensic Psychology    9. Legal Reference / Law Profession    10. Psychology    11. United States    12. Child & developmental psychology    13. Child welfare    14. Law    15. Law / Civil Procedure    16. Psychology & Psychiatry / Applied Psychology    17. Psychology-Clinical Psychology    18. Social Science-Criminology   

Reviews (8)

Came up a tad short of its goal...
This book was a good read for a dreary return flight from DC.It falls short of the promise of its title.That said, every opening and closing statement in this book contained a valuable lesson for trial attorneys, and each statement makes a compelling read.I give this book 3 stars because it doesn't quite live up to its title.Perhaps "Some Really Cool Openings and Closings I liked" would've been a more appropriate title for the book.

Superb snapshot of 20th century legal cultural literacy
With the rapid growth of sensationalist legal coverage on TV news and primetime courtroom drama a la "The Practice", it can be difficult to understand fully the merits of a good trial lawyer's rhetorical virtuoso aside from the twists, turns, and socio-political backdrop which typically capture Americans' attention. With few exceptions, (e.g. Scopes trial, O.J. Simpson trial) the lawyer, that civic advocate and protector of justice, rarely receives deserved recognition. We sit collectively on the edge of our seats with eyes and ears pealed for damning witness testimonies and blood-stained clothes. Evidence is rarely that clear, Seidemann informs us, and most real life cases turn on the efficacy of the lawyer. This book renews our appreciation for a profession derided so often for its dishonesty that we have forgotten the sad and dangerous implications behind the humor. Within these pages of heartwrenching tragedies and controversies that rocked our nation, you will surely reexperience memories of the incidents as the opening/closing statements verify or challenge what you believe. Seidemann reminds us that we have conferred upon lawyers the great responsibility of juridicial guardianship, in order to shake us out of complacency and reaffirm our right to demand their rectitude and loyalty to their oath.
You can't put this book down
In the Interest of Justice is a great book.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Courts    3. Criminal Procedure    4. Forensic orations    5. Law    6. Legal History    7. Legal Profession    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Practice Of Law    10. United States    11. Law / Trial Practice   

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Law    3. Legal Profession    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. Trial Practice    6. Courts & procedure    7. Legal skills & practice    8. USA   

Reviews (3)

Interesting thesis but ultimately unfulfilling
The author presents a fairly unique thesis that the Lochner Court was actually more progressive than is commonly assumed. To support this he classifies all substantive due process cases and boils them down to numbers from which he spins off statistical analysises. Excellent Revisionist Work
Professor Phillips punctures several myths regarding the Lochner era, and does so through a surprisingly underused methodology: he actually read every case purportedly involving substantive due process during the Lochner era. Among the myths shattered by Phillips: "The Lochner era Court was practically out of control; it struck down approximately two hundred economic regulations on substantive due process grounds." "Economic substantive due process was a radical innovation supported only by reactionary Justices." "The Lochner era Court's substantive due process decisions overturned `social legislation' that would have aided the poor and necessitous at the expense of the wealthy and powerful." "The Lochner era Court's reactionary nature is demonstrated by the fact that it limited its concern for `liberty' to `liberty of contract.'" "Most, perhaps all, of the regulations invalidated by the Lochner era Court served the public interest." Excellent Revionist Work
Professor Phillips punctures several myths regarding the Lochner era, and does so through a surprisingly underused methodology: he actually read every case purportedly involving substantive due process during the Lochner era.Among the myths shattered by Phillips:Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Constitutional    3. Constitutional Law    4. Due process of law    5. History    6. Law    7. Legal History    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. U.S. Supreme Court    10. United States    11. Law / Legal History   

Editorial Review

Legendary U.S. Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes is not only a giant in American legal history but is also remarkable for having been a master prose stylist. This collection, edited by Richard Posner, who is himself a federal judge, contains essays, speeches, letters to friends, and legal opinions that give the reader a highly enjoyable look into the thoughts that emanated from a very active mind. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

This is an Excellent Read!
The Essential Holmes, edited by Richard A. Posner (judge on the seventh circuit) collects the thoughts of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. via his numerous letters, court opinions, law journal articles and miscelleneous writings. It is a daunting task as Holmes was quite well-learned and something of a polymath, discoursing on everything from metaphysical philosophy to economics to law. Beautifully edited - Oliver Wendell Holmes
U.S. Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes has to be one of the most frequently quoted legal scholars and this book walks a reader through his prolific writings.Judge Richard Posner has written some of the most thought-provoking legal books but this one is his editing a compilation of a variety of Holmes' writings that gives well directed insight into Holmes'amazingly creative mind. Genius!
Posner, who is arguably today's most influential legal thinker, has put together an invaluable collection of Justice Holmes' most memorable writings.The combo of Posner selecting Holmes is powerful: the selections invariably present the brilliant Holmes on timeless legal topics. So much brain power is frightening, and we are lucky to be able to get it all in one fairly short book.All the more remarkable is howHolmes' ideas have not aged a bit; the similarities between Holmes and Posner are obvious.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1841-1935    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Civil Procedure    4. General    5. History: American    6. Holmes, Oliver Wendell,    7. Judicial opinions    8. U.S. Supreme Court    9. United States    10. Courts & procedure    11. Jurisprudence & philosophy of law    12. Law / Civil Procedure    13. Other prose: 19th century    14. USA   

Reviews (2)

Correction
Contrary to the incorrect information contained in another review, this book is IN PRINT in a brand new edition, available from Aspen Publishing, as set forth above.

Basic Civil Litigation
(Ignore Rating-mandatory field) According to Glencoe/McGraw, the publisher, this book is out of print and no longer available. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Law    2. Civil Procedure    3. Handbooks, manuals, etc    4. Law    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Legal assistants    7. Litigation    8. Trial practice    9. United States   

Reviews (7)

Simplifications?NOT IN THE LEAST!THIS BOOK WORKS
I got this book back in the 90's due to Medical Bills that Insurance was to pay.Since they didn't, it fell back on me.After reading this book and following it's advice to a "T", it saved me MUCH time & MONEY!Another review states that Cease & Desist letters don't work.I beg to differ and the reviewer OBVIOUSLY hasn't read the book OR know the law.They state that it may speed up "lawsuits" against you.Well, not from ANY "Collection Agency" it won't.This book tells you that once you send a "Cease & Desist" letter that the Collection Agency can no longer pursue you.That is correct and you also GAIN the opportunity to work with the original creditor again who will probably take less than 50% of what the original bill was just to clear it up and get it off of their books.I still utilize this book to help some friends out if necessary.This book worked for me, allow it to work for you and don't let anyone who hasn't read the book tell you that these "letters, don't work...".They DO and they WILL if you need them to.

"BACK Off!" is the bane of debt collectors!
A friend recommended this book to me, and I have since recommended and in some cases, loaned it to others.It literally saved me from making a huge mistake -- I still refer to this book from time to time.
Very useful book...
Sending cease and desist letters works really well.And, since the collection agency has no rights whatsoever (as most people fail to realize) this bounces the ball back into the court of theperson you actually owemoney to-- stop wasting money giving it to collection agencies which willruin your credit and not pay your debt- instead renegotiate with yourdebtor and save %20 or more-- this book is worht far more than it costs ifyou are in debt and behind in payments. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Collection agencies    3. Collection laws    4. Consumer Finance    5. Debtor and creditor    6. Law    7. Law and legislation    8. Personal Finance - General    9. Popular works    10. United States   

Reviews (4)

Polemic, but good
When you read this book, keep in mind Bork sold out to the populist critics of Microsoft for a fee, and repudiated this book.Which proves that economic theory is great at the macro level, but, at the micro level, game theory beats out. Misinterpreting the word "efficiency"
I have enjoyed other writing by Judge Bork.Unfortunately, in "The Antitrust Paradox" Judge Bork misinterprets the word "efficiency" as it applies to antitrust law.U.S. antitrust law was designed to advance Pareto or economic efficiency, not business or productive efficiency.That misunderstanding leads Judge Bork to propose, in essence, the following Carrollian extended syllogism: Antitrust or Maximization of Consumer Welfare
In the Antitrust Paradox, Judge Robert H. Bork gives a fascinating, though demanding, review of the most important antitrust issues in the United States. The central, pragmatic thesis of Bork is maximization of consumer welfare (also called economic efficiency) and not the protection of small businesses in addressing any antitrust issue. Unfortunately, the legislative, executive and judiciary branches of power as well as the practicing bar have not always shown consistency in making, interpreting, and applying antitrust rules. The main reason for their shared sub-optimal performance in that area is the too-often absence of a rudimentary understanding of market economics according to Bork. As a practicing marketer and lawyer, I agree with his observation. Law and economics are two complementary disciplines that should be taught together as part of the academic requirements or at least whose teaching could be made optional at the undergraduate level in our universities. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Antitrust    2. Antitrust law    3. Civil Procedure    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. Legal System    6. Politics/International Relations    7. United States    8. Financial, taxation, commercial, industrial law    9. Law / General    10. USA