Legal Books

clear and well written. cover all areas of the law and is very practical. the case digest volume is also very useful.

This text is well-written and authoritative. It is a concise and accurate summary of the law.

If your practicing patent law and you don't have this book, then you're not doing your job. This is an absolutely invaluable reference that must be consulted before answering any Office Action.

I liked this book a lot. It is VERY well written and outlined. It tells you up front what it is going to talk about, and then it does it in a logical sequential manner. Something I have not been finding a lot of in books I have been reviewing lately.

Patent law is one of a few legal practice areas in which few attorneys involve themselves. I suppose this is the case because it takes a certain undergraduate education to qualify to be a patent attorney. Such attorneys typically major in either engineering or science in college. The courses required for these majors are prerequisites to be allowed to sit for the Patent Bar exam. And you cannot be a patent attorney without passing the Patent Bar exam.

Why are patent attorneys limited to engineers and science majors? Well, because filling out patent applications, doing patent searches, and litigating patent disputes all involve technical jargon that engineers and science majors are comfortable with. Why am I telling you this? Because the instant book explains patent law and the patent system without all the technical jargon that would probably confuse you if you were not a patent attorney already. As a result, this book is a gold mine for business people, engineers, and project managers who must use patents as busienss assets and protect their value.

Patents can benefit a company - or they can adversely affect it. But regardless they are a business asset. And business assets must be managed through the use of INFORMED decisions. That's where this book comes in. It will help business managers responsible for patents to learn the strange nomenclature surrounding patents, and to understand the patent system so they can make informed decisions about their patents.

My favorite part of the book was the extensive use of BottomLine-Rule-Caveat references made throughout the text. And the stories used to make points were easy to follow and understand. 5 stars!

PS. Examine the Search Inside option Amazon provides so you can take a look at the Table of Contents which discloses exactly what is covered in this book.

If you want to understand patents, this is the book for you. It is extremely well written, and is at the perfect level of abstraction for engineers, inventors, and managers who must deal with patents.

I cannot give this book a higher recommendation.

Teska's book is must-read for every inventor and manager concerned with protecting intellectual property. So much about the patenting process can be arcane, confusing, and counter-intuitive to the non-patent professional. It does all make sense--even the claims!!!--once you understand the patent system's underlying philosophies, but somebody has to lay it all out for you.

Teska's book does that. It is at once an informative and accessible read. I particularly resonated with Teska's 25 or so "Patent Myths," which encapsulate so much of what the potential inventor and her manager probably think (wrongly!) about the patent process. Been there, done that with my own clients.

Patent Savvy for Managers will help the reader answer such threshold questions as: "Is there an invention here that could be patented? and "Will it be worthwhile to do so?" Also, by cluing in the reader as to what the patent attorney is trying to accomplish in drafting the patent application, Teska prepares the inventor and her manager to participate more fully and more intelligently in the patenting process--including evaluating the patent attorney's proposed claims to make sure that the invention is properly protected.

This would be a good book, too, for a patent attorney to share with clients. "Read this," the attorney might say, "and you'll see what we are trying to accomplish."

A book like this is long overdue--especially for managers in smaller companies with no in-house IP legal resources. In fact I had been planning to write one just like it. Now I'm not so sure. Teska has already done it.

Ronald Slusky
Author of: Invention Analysis and Claiming: A Patent Lawyer's Guide

This book attracted a great deal of attention (both pro and con) when first published in 1995; it remains a stimulating introduction to the topic. The research for this volume is extraordinary--Duxbury apparently read everything in print before sitting down to write. The book is comprised of an introduction ("Jurisprudence as Intellectual History") and 6 rather long chapters. Duxbury proceeds from the "challenge to formalism" in the 1870's to legal realism, then on to Lasswell & McDougal's "policy science," followed by a highly interesting discussion on the legal process school, succeeded by a very long detailed examination of "economics in law," and finishing with an extended discussion of the critical legal studies movement.

Several things can be said as to Duxbury's approach. His research is so extensive that the reader is buried in footnotes and other references. Some may feel that this detracts from developing central themes, of which there are actually not too many. You can certainly disagree with some of his central tenets, as I do, yet benefit enormously from his analysis. For example, Duxbury is highly critical of legal realism (and he clearly is not enamored of Karl Llewellyn), yet his chapter on that topic is extremely valuable. One can feel that some of the space could have been better devoted to other topics, especially when one is faced with a 121 page chapter on law and economics (a topic that apparently fascinates the author) and 90 pages on the crits. This is especially so since many familiar names in particularly late twentieth-century jurisprudence are missing from his discussion. Some elements really stand out: his discussion of Lon Fuller; the account of the legal process school, including in addition to the familiar suspects such as Hart and Sacks also Bickel; and an enlightening probing of the elusive "policy science" approach which at times seems maddingly imprecise and beyond explication as anything but three cheers for the red, white and blue.

As much a resource guide as a treatise, the book is essential to studying the topic--whether one agrees with Duxbury or not. However, the benefits come after prolonged periods of "working through" the notes and grappling with a flood of concepts and individuals. The investment of time and energy is substantial, but the payoff strikes me as more than worth the cost.

Historians, lawyers and cultural commentators--that includes you, politico types!--have tended to stray away from how law is both pathological and aetiological in America--a cause and consequence of American society. This excellent book sits alongside White, Horwitz and Louis Menand's intellectual histories and is, (madly for jurisprudential texts) a fantastically interesting read too. I can't recommend this book highly enough!It is heavy going, but if you like intellectual histories of a high order, you'll want that workout!!

Neil Duxbury wrote this monumental history of modern American jurisprudence a bit over ten years ago, but it is still well worth the read. In fact, it is probably still essential reading for American law students and readers interested in understanding the contours of twentieth century American legal thought. Duxbury's central thesis is that traditional renditions of the history of American jurisprudence -- what he terms "the pendulum swing" theory of legal thought -- is outdated and in need of revision. The pendulum swing theory holds that the trajectory of American legal thought can be divided into distinct periods, characterized by formalistic and anti-formalistic premises. One era marks formalism, but then a subsequent period indicates the hegemony of anti-formalisic modes of analysis in response to the previous predominance of formalism. Then the cycle starts again. Pendulum swing accounts hold that formalistic thought dominated in the late 1800s and then again during the Cold War, while anti-formalism reigned supreme with the legal realism movement of the early twentieth century and the rise of critical legal studies in the 1970s and 1980s. Intellectual schools of thought such as realism and critical legal studies arose, according to pendulum swing accounts, as a direct result of the perceived inadequacy of formalistic modes.

Duxbury set up this pendulum swing theory partly as a straw man that he could easily knock down. In reality, beginning roughly fifteen years before his book, leading jurisprudential scholars had already questioned the efficacy of using swings between formalism and anti-formalism as a way of really understanding American legal thought. Indeed, some scholars questioned as early as the late 1970s the utility of viewing formalism as descriptive of constitutional jurisprudence during the famous (or infamous) Lochner era. Duxbury, nonetheless, brilliantly synthesized this information into a comprehensive (indeed, Duxbury is breathtaking in the amount of secondary scholarship he includes in this book) account that took into view the whole of American legal thought in the twentieth century.

Throughout, Duxbury shows that "patterns" rather than "pendulum swings" have characterized American legal thought. Contemporary anti-formalist and formalist approaches to legal thought and decision-making thus both exist today and influence one another constantly -- indeed they have since the Reconstruction Era. Duxbury found the roots of realism, for example, not in one specific event or turning point but in a constantly fermenting critique of formalist principles and methods begun tentatively with the work and writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes. (though Duxbury emphasizes that Holmes was a formalist in important respects, thus indicating that from the beginning, formalist and anti-formalist impulses have existed side-by-side). Today, critical legal studies and like approaches maintain that anti-formalist "mood" or "temperment." Likewise, formalism was never fully defeated by the realists or anyone else. It still exists in American legal life, via the case method approach still used in law schools, and in the predominance of jurists who proclaim to still be guided by it in their approach to adjudicating cases.

If I had to guess I'd assume Duxbury was more sympathetic to what we could loosely define today as the more "conservative," formalistic approaches to jurisprudence ... especially process jurisprudence, which predominated American legal thought and constitutional adjudication in the 1950s and early 1960s, and the law and economics movement of the 1970s and 1980s. He seems to have far less empathy for the left-leaning critical legal studies movement. As suggested above, however, in all cases Duxbury noted continuties and the deep historical roots of all these phenomena. Thus, for example, process jurisprudence represented a jurisprudential continuity with the concern over process, principles and rationality first articulated by the formalists of Harvard Law School sixty years earliers. Likewise, critical legal scholars traced their lineage back to the realists.

Moreover, Duxbury noted the consensual values held by the various strands of formalists and anti-formalists. Most elements of both jurisprudential schools, for example, favored scientific approaches to legal issues, they just differed in the specific scientific methodologies to be used (formalists = the deductive tendencies of natural science; anti-formalists = the inductive methods of = social scientific empricism). Also, all schools of thought, with the possible exception of the critical legal studies movement, were interested in attaining the best approaches to the objectivity or the rule of law ... even if some realists appeared not to be concerned with this at first glance.

This is just a thumbnail sketch of a very complex and rewarding work. I recommend it for multiple, careful readings for all Amazon customers interested in understanding the major arguments and themse pervading American legal, jurisprudential thought.

The author writes very imaginatively and uses language creatively. This is one of the best-written books I've read in any genre. A warning however: This is NOT a children's book. The reading level currently is given as ages 4-8, and the category is given as Children's Books. This is a story about a teacher's infatuation for a student, and this is not a book for grammar school kids.

I read this book and was spellbound. The creation of each character and all of the details make this one of the best books you will ever laugh at, think about and wish that it never ends. The world is so perfectly created that you feel like everyone in the book was either a friend or enemy that you knew in high school. Mr. Dueweke hits growing up on the outside right on the head. Please share this book with everyone you know because it one of the few books written in today's media that is not only entertaining but enlightening too.

This novel is not a quick read. This is a book about a would-be poet clearly by a poet who likes to slow you down, who likes to force you to think about what's being described. The characters are compelling; the story is real, amusing, and terribly painful for those of us who have been through the coming-of-age experience where they didn't quite fit in. This is my life, and maybe yours, too. Read it

This is an eye opener! It made me change my mind of the supposed "virtues" of the rule of law. Most people believe what Posner and the World Bank advisers write about the law. Read Mattei and Nader: you will see where illegality dwells.I bought ten copies to make a real life long gift to my friends!

It's a "must", and it's highly readable. This provocative but lucid text defines "plunder" as the violent theft of economic and cultural resources by powerful (usually Western) actors that rape poorer and peripheral countries in the global arena. Popular wisdom about the purity of the Rule of Law is successfully challenged, and its relationship with Western interests of world domination is exposed.

This book encourages its readers to take their assumptions about western civilization and the "legal rule of order" and turn them on their heads. It is an honest and thought-provoking look at the systems and institutions that are so fundamental to the US. Everyone should read this!

The work describes constitutional issues considered by the
United States Supreme Court over the past 200 years. Judicial
power has been exercised in the following types of situations:

- disputes between citizens of different states

- appellate jurisdiction of law and fact

- the 14th amendment requiring that no state should enforce
laws abridging the rights of citizens nor deny equal
protection under the laws

- the Supreme Court may balance or weigh state powers as against
individual rights

- strict scrutiny utilizes a rational basis or relationship test

- important criteria include whether or not an important
government objective is served or the issue at bar is
substantially encompassed by the governmental objective

- there is a right to sue when injured by a private person
in the common law

- there is an implied constitutional right of action

- federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of age,
medical condition and physical handicap according to the
American Disabilities Act of 1990.

This work will appeal to a very wide constituency of legal
scholars, American History enthusiasts and others in academia.

Professor Lieberman teaches Constitutional Law at New York Law School. I was privileged to study under him in 1998. He is an immensely knowledgeable man with an unmatched talent for clarity of communication. I am pleased to be able to recommend this book to all readers. For further insight regarding our highest court, I also recommend New York Law School's Dean Harry H. Wellington's very fine book, Interpreting the Constitution: The Supreme Court and the Process of Adjudication.

The bulk of A Practical Companion to the Constitution is in dictionary form and provides throrough but concise accessible explanations of the key concepts and terms of art of constitutional analysis. Each entry is also cross-referenced with other related concepts and definitions to aid the reader in fully understanding the concepts discussed. Professor Lieberman also places each entry into a historical context so that the reader may trace the development of doctrines and concepts and understand not only where a doctrine originated but where the state of the law or doctrine stands today. For example, under the entry for "Incorporation Doctrine," Professor Lieberman provides us with a brief explanation of the concept, and then traces the concept through its history and application. At the end of the entry, we find a list of which amendments have been incorporated onto the states, the rights implicated in the incorporation, and the year the amendment was incorporated. Indeed, I was most impressed with how Professor Lieberman has throughout the book explained the abstract concepts of Fourteenth Amendment analysis into easily understandable terms without oversimplifying or doing violence to the concepts. Other sections of the book provide summaries of the cannons of constitutional interpretation so that the reader has a basic understanding of the tools of textual interpretation. Finally, Professor Lieberman provides a thorough table of cases and brief biographical sketches of the justices who have served on the Supreme Court. I give this reference book my highest recommendation. It is a must for law students. It is an excellent resource for lawyers looking for the vocabulary to explain in accessible terms the abstractions of constitutional analysis. It is invaluable for the non-lawyer seeking to understand better the constitution.

As someone who deals with variety of International tax issues on daily basis, I often refer to this book as a refresher on the basics. The book is not very deep technically, but the examples used and materials covered makes it a must-have on my desk at all times. I'm about the upgrade it to the next edition.

Easy to follow. It doesn't get into extremely technical tax planning, but it explains high-level transactions at a level non-international tax professionals should be able to follow.

The authors deliver an indispensable and valuable guide for international transactional and tax professionals. The analytics, coupled with the use of text and graphics will appeal to a wide range of readers!

I was happy to see that this remarkable little book is still around. Back in 1979 my first year property professor (the excellent Shelly Kurtz, then visiting at U. Va.) required this, along with the standard casebook. He felt that no other book handled this topic so well. All these years later, it is the only one of my law school texts that is still in my library.

Tom Bergin, who is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia School of Law (not North Carolina as stated above - *gasp*) and his writing partner Paul Haskell, have produced what may be the only entertaining read in the history of real estate law. Bergin, a lawyer, academic, teacher, former minor league baseball player, lets his unabashed enthusiasm for puzzling over legal issues and taking them apart come through in this short but very useful book. If you are a first year law student, or someone interested in a unique, intellectually challenging book that will give you insights into the fast departing "art" of the law, buy this book!

I've decided to review this book because it was one of my favorite books in law school and no one else is ever going to write a review here.

PTELAFI -- as I like to call it, is a very "wet" book on what is usually considered a very "dry" topic. Sure, feudal enfoeffments are not everyone's cup of tea. BUT if you ever wanted to understand that tax avoidance was invented long before checking accounts, or, just as important, why all the girls in Austen and Bronte were always trying to marry their cousin in order to keep living in the house in which they grew up... then this is the book for you.

Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but "future interests" (basically dealing with how real property rights were held and cut up in the early part of the last millenium) is kind of like a fun big puzzle, isn't really that hard once you get the hang of it, as the writers of this charming little hornbook seem to understand, kind of fun when approached from the correct angle.

This was also one of the clearest (and shortest) books I was assigned in law school.

So bravo to Messrs. Bergin and Haskell.

In the wake of the Valerie Plame affair, I decided to read a book on the struggles between the government and the press written 20 years ago for the perspective that time has. In his book Donald Rogers presents nine cases of struggles which he divides up into three sections. In the Press versus the Executive Branch, Rogers starts out with the Pentagon Papers, the Watergate Story, and the Invasion of Grenada. In the Press versus the Judicial Branch, Rogers includes Branzburg v. Hayes, the Mystery of Doctor X, and Zurcher v Stanford Daily. In the third section Rogers writes about the Press versus Other Government Officials; New York Times Company v. Sullivan, the H Bomb Secret, and Westmoreland v CBS, Inc.

At the heart of each of these cases is the First Amendment. In writing his Supreme Court opinion of the Pentagon Papers case, Hugo Black lectured the executive branch saying that it was the purpose of the press to "serve the governed, not the governors." Justice Douglas added that the purpose of the First Amendment was to protect the press/media from seditious libel. (see Sedition Act of 1798) But the Pentagon Papers case was not a carte blanc for the press. In Zurcher v Stanford daily, the Supreme Court upheld the right of the police to search a newsroom, and is well known from the Plame case, reporters may have to reveal their confidential sources.

The Invasion of Grenada presents an interesting parallel to our own times. The administration maintained that the reasons for the invasion were 1) the Point Salines airport was a threat to national security because of its length, 2) the Soviet arms buildup on Grenada threatened of other Caribbean nations, and 3) American citizens on Grenada were in danger. However when the press investigated these reasons it found that 1) other Caribbean nations had longer runways, 2) the legal right of other Caribbean nations to request a US invasion was in question, and 3) on the day before the invasion, the US embassy in Barbados had been informed that American citizens were not in danger. Like our own times, the stated reasons for invasion and the real reasons are not the same.

Over 200 years ago, just after the Constitutional Convention, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin whether the delegates had created a republic or a monarchy. Franklin answered,"A republic, madam, if you can keep it." (from page 114)

As much as I appreciate Ms. Gelfand's very positive review, I wish to make a correction. Using the Flesch Readability Scale, the publisher determined that the book's vocabulary is at a high school junior's level. Also, librarians have often placed the book in their adult reading sections because of the sophistication of the subject matter and the subtlety of the Justices' opinions.

"This book summarizes major events and court cases involving freedom of the press, with emphasis on recent trends. Rogers, a former social studies teacher, describes and discusses the issues raised by the Pentagon papers, Watergate, the barring of the press from the invasion of Grenada, three trials regarding 'journalistic privilege' not to reveal sources and to be free from newsroom searches, a landmark newspaper libel case, government attempts to prevent publication of an article entitled 'The H-Bomb Secret' in The Progressive Magazine in 1979, and the Westmoreland vs. CBS libel case.

Relating not only the opinions of media and government, but also the shifting climate of public opinion during the period, Rogers reports the facts as an absorbing story, while keeping a perspective on the largers issues raised. A balanced,
well-documented, thought-provoking book."

I found this workbook to be incredibly helpful and informative. I am pursuing a paralegal career and found this workbook to be an essential tool in my education. If one is looking to purchase a book on the subject I strongly suggest that this be the one. My hat goes off to the author!

My close friend, Elizabeth Angus, has written a wonderful text book that is helpful to anyone interested in Paralegalism. My title to this reveiw is completely correct!!!!!! :) OMG buy this book you most definatly won't be dissapointed. I completely agree with O.W. Holmes. This almost defines text books!!! Once again buy it you won't be dissapointed!!!!!!!!

This workbook has what I call the "Three C's" - Clear, Consise and Compelling. It is expertly written by a leader in her field and will give any paralegal student a leg up in their studies. Why it is not mandatory for all paraqlegal courses is beyond me.
Buy it - you will not be disappointed.