Too often it seems that law is limited to the "good old boys" network that largely is content to go to law school, graduate, speak only to lawyers and clients and die. Outside fields are rarely considered. "Who cares if a policy is economically inefficient?" "Why should that frustrate 'democracy'".

Posner is the first I know of among solid legal scholars to explore the connections between law and related disciplines. His works are not introductory, most seem overly technical. While this is good in highlighting the seriousness of his efforts and pushing the "Frontiers of Legal Theory", it has not led to stellar general interest. I can only hope that some will take his ideas and make them more digestible for a public audience.

I know Richard Dobbins and I believe that he may have chosen the title How to Screw the IRS in order to catch the reader's eye. The book, however, is not written in a frivolous or combative tone. It is a plain-English guide for the average person who may be facing a tax audit or who is looking for legal and practical ways to minimize their state and federal income tax obligations. Most people have their income taxes prepared by an accounting professional or preparation service but do not often have the opportunity to have an open discussion with a person possessing the depth of experience of Mr. Dobbins. The conversational style of this book is like having such a discussion.

Otherwise known as "The Magnificient Shysters," Howe and Hummel were two crooked lawyers of 19th century New York. If you think today's lawyers are crooks, you should read about the exploits of Messrs Howe and Hummel; they bear no comparison. For example you will read about suits for breach of promise. If a man slept with a woman on the understanding that he would shortly marry her, and he broke that promise, the woman could sue him for breach of promise to marry. Some of the lawyers' income depended on a coterie of sophisticated New York women, semi-prostitutes, who "led on" innocent young men from the sticks up in New York for the first time. After a brief relationship these women would file suit for breach of promise and daddy would invariably pay up rather than face the embarrassment of a public court case. If you like reading about the hidden by-ways of history you will love this book. A great little book.

Richards has advanced the constitutional argumentation for gay rights in a profound way. He has analogized the case for gay rights to arguments for racial, gender, and religious equality and concluded that attempts to find a genetic or "innate" basis for homosexuality are no more likely to provide grounds for equality than to provide grounds for continued inequality and discrimination.

Instead, Richards argues that the manner in which gay men and lesbians deal with life, love, birth, and death is ultimately a profound conscious and CONSCIENTIOUS choice that warrants the same type of respect accorded freely chosen religious beliefs.

Thus, the denial of equal rights to gay men and lesbians imposes an impermissible "moral slavery" that advances a sectarian view (of the immorality of homosexuality) while dehumanizing homosexuals and relegating their conscience, feelings, and choices to a sphere of "unspeakability." This goes against the very nature of freedom of religious belief. He finds such "moral slavery" against gay men and lesbians unsupportable, in part, because it relies on inaccurate and negative stereotypes, and it applies a double standard to same-sex relations that it does not similarly apply to heterosexual relations (e.g., no compulsory procreation for heterosexual marriage).

On the whole, an excellent piece of scholarly research that every lawmaker, jurist, and attorney should read to respond to the call of gay equality.

In a realm of law firm marketing literature that so often fails to understand the unique qualities of the legal profession and how lawyers relate to their markets, this book goes more deeply and intelligently into the mindset of corporations and how they purchase legal services. Where most marketing books go into the mechanics of the marketing process and miss the point about the subtleties of the process, Smith goes to the core of the process with a kind of sophistication rarely seen in law firm marketing literature. This book is essential to every law firm that wants to understand its markets and how people buy their services.

The work, written origionally for IP paralegals, trancends it's origional purpose and serves as a rational, readable introduction to IP. This books excellence has made it a standard for many years and it's quality remains undiminished.

I stumbled across this book while researching the Makah Whaling controversy. It has one page on the Makah and whaling, offering comparative perspectives on a story set further north. While the Makah are trying to revive a tradition of whaling that ceased more than sixty years ago, Inuit peoples across the Arctic are struggling to maintain their way of life. The hurdles they must overcome to continue on their way include a declining resource base that results from an extraction-based economy, and the environmentalist opponents of these extractive industries who want to "save the whales". This book is the story of the Inuit and whaling told in their words. The authors include an international interdisciplinary team brought together by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.

This book is ground-breaking ethnography that is put together by the people it is about. It is presented for the purpose of opening dialogue with those in far away places whose political priorities have consequences for Inuit peoples. It is a story of a region that spans three continents, and which is of growing importance to those of us who live in the south. No one interested in economic development of natural resources, whatever the point of view, can afford to ignore this book.

The good stuff is the potential use this text supplies for research i.e. topical guide type. A history of all or most of the cases the Justice has presided over, great stuff. The disagreement lies with his thoughts on compliance with tax authorities which is absolute and his criticism of judicial review and activism. I think the common man should be able to stand up to corporate america's manipulation and purchase of politicians and their "unrighteous decrees" (see Isaiah cp.10).

Many people of moderate wealth can learn tax planning from this book in a simple and accessible way, from anecdotes combined with excellent brief tax explanations. Younger (30 to 40) folks can benefit the most because they have more financial years to gain from good decisions made today.

As a manager of separate individual stock market accounts, I have been interested in financial planning, but skeptical. This book really reaches me because it offers simple real life examples where I see the point and recognize client situations which can benefit from the solutions.

Dunn uses high profile individuals for many of his cases, drawing from news reports and other sources. When you hear about very good and woefully bad decisions made by folks such as Sam Walton, Warren Buffet, Jackie Kennedy and many others, the magnitude of savings from good decisions really comes home. You will see good reasons to get some competent help.

great book, great editor (esp. Ben)

all legal advise you need for good business in germany.