Labor and Employment Law Books

I concur with R. Clark. I tend to flip a book open before reading from cover to cover. The topic that caught my eye was "pay day lenders". Immediately I was interested in what Geoghagen had to say. Then, I thought about what impact this little essay might have on aspiring lawyers. Fortunately for young aspirants, idealism exists. Older students would tend to be more analytical. How do we restore the rule of law?

This little book is certainly the most lively volume I have ever encountered on legal topics. The author, a prominent Chicago employment lawyer, of decidedly liberal bent, unabashedly unloads on a number of topics, but in an informative way. The author feels that the law has changed in many unfortunate ways. Among the responsible factors he identifies are (1) the decline of unions; (2) evisceration of labor law protections for workers; (3) the gradual elimination of defined benefit pension plans by 401k's (kudos to him on this); (4)recourse to tort law remedies rather than contractual relief; (5) the subplanting of regualation by tort law; (6) increased suits against city governments; (7)a loss of faith in juries and judges; and (8) low voting participation. The author puts forward some interesting proposed solutions as well. All of this is packed into a small book of petite pages numbering 142. I am fond of "the world is going to hell" books, and this is a pretty good one written by an author with some major insights into our present situation.

I'm no lawyer but this is a solid book that provides excellent guidance. Telecom in general is pretty complicated but i've learned that the contracts make the technology piece look like cake sometimes.

this is a great book for the IT / sourcing professional who needs to prepare to negotiate with carriers. i think everyone in this space agrees that telecom is a completely unique beast to manage.

what's great about this book is that it's precise but not tedious. it's intelligently laid out where you can see how some of the contractual changes are made and see what benefits one can receive from these modifications.

i'm impressed with subject matter, the structure and the checklist that summarizes each chapter so i can quickly refresh myself on these new learnings. A must read for anyone conducting a large telecom procurement.

In short, do not spend $100 for this book. It is a basic approach to negotiating the most significant provisions of a telecom agreement. It tells only 1/2 the story when both sides and the thought process are needed to effectively negotiate these important provisions.

I've been negotiating telecom/technology deals for 9 years and I must say this book is not worth almost $100.00 dollars. I was given the book by a friend to read and I couldn't believe they would charge $100 for a book that attempts to cover 13 of the most hotly negotiated provisions in telcom agreements in 133 pages (and they didn't use a tiny font).

For example, the authors dedicate 5 pages to Limitations of Liability and 1 full page is used to show sample language. They instruct the reader to demand certain changes and show them what to ask for. That's where they leave it. What this does is leave the reader with a false sense of confidence so when the business lawyer on the other side says no and tells them why, the reader has no where to go. That's because the authors didn't lay out the arguments for why the provisions are necessary (on both sides) and under what circumstances either side of the deal could/should compromise. Also missing is from this section (and the book) is leverage. Leverage plays such an important role in negotiating these deals, its amazing these "professionals" ignore it. Sure, tell the telecom company to uncap liability for confidentiality and indemnification..yeah, they'll just go ahead and do that for you. That's not happening for you unless (1) the telecom co. feels the likelihood of a loss is minimal, (2) you are purchasing a ton of business and/or (3) the telecom co. is desperately in need of sales which means they are probably not worth dealing with. There is so much missing from this book, it cannot be addressed here.

Next up, the authors spend only 5 pages discussing indemnification. If you've ever negotiated these deals, you know that between Limits on Liability and Indemnification you could spend weeks negotiating. In fact, deals could blow up on you over these provisions. Again, the authors send the reader out with what to ask for, but don't spend time educating the reader about how to get it. A better title for this book would be What to Ask for from your Telecom Provider. When I see negotiations, it means you better know what the issues are for both sides, why each sides need it, under what circumstances there is compromise or no compromise and your falls back positions. You're not getting it in this book. I'm not sure there is much more to say about this book...it's deficient at best.

The author attempts to provide some balance in the 4th paragraph, of the 6 or 7 paragraphs spent discussing AUP (another hot topic for vendors) by discussing why Vendors need AUP. This at least provides the reader with a little of what they are up against. Author goes on to tell you what you should ask for and provides example revisions. The exampe revisions throughout the book are not very helpful. They appear to be just filler taking up a lot of space (therefore less space available for the author to educate the reader). If you are negotiating and drafting you'll know how to incorporate the language. If you are just negotiating, the drafting will be handled by your lawyer. Therefore, this isn't all that helpful. If it was in addition to some indepth analysis and discussion, fine.

Ian J. McSweeney and David S. McFarlane have taken a complex subject and a byzantine area of the law and have made it understandable. Their commentary on the social underpinnings of Ontario's pension laws is illuminating. The text's overall structure lends to its utility as a primary legal resource. I recommend this treatise to anyone practicing in this area of law and anyone interested in reading a superb example of legal scholarship

Since I wasted so much time reading this book, I do not want to invest anymore and I will keep this review short. Save your money. You could do better by contacting your local bar organization.

Rage, Violence, and abuse. Are you working under these conditions? Maichael A. Zigarelli explains how to identify the differences of proper and illegal actions occuring day to day at the office. Often enlightening, this is a good beginner's guide to find out if your employment rights are violated or if you are just mad at your boss. Too simplistic for the average Philadelphia Lawyer, but a good start for the average worker.

A convincing and thorough manifesto offering plausible legislative policies or regulations that might effectively address the "sweatshop problem" in the garment industry, but lean on data for the personal consumer. It presents a theory on what those in power "could do," and not much about what we consumers *should* do.

This text is a very in depth review of CAW. From it's roots of the UAW, the history of the UAW, various effects of political and economical conditions, etc. I found it highly informative but a bit of a bore to read. Easy to read terms but not for basic level learners who want to know about the CAW.

These briefs are good in only a superficial sense. They will not adequately prepare you for lecture. Often times, they fail to get the real gist of the opinion! Which is a shock, considering that it is really not that hard. Apparently, they should employ better students to create these briefs, or at least ones who read closely.

The casebook is in the sixth edition. This book is keyed to the fifth edition, so it has most, but not all, of the cases that the book has.

I love the casenotes series. Nothing else matches, for class prep. Everyone in law school knows: we waste too much time reading the cases all semester long in order to prepare for the dreadful Socratic method, only to "dump" all the time invested and knowledge accrued at the end, where the information is largely useless come exams.

The best way to prepare, I've found, is to get the casenotes keyed to the textbook assigned.

Why not just read the briefs on Lexis or Westlaw? Sure, you can do that. But casenotes are better. They break down the cases exactly as you want them: Rule of Law, Facts, Issue, Holding, Reasoning, and Concurrences/Dissents. The Lexis briefs don't generally include concurrences or dissents. Also, the casenotes are keyed to the textbook, and the textbook only includes excerpts of cases. Therefore, the casenotes summarize the appropriate portions, where Lexis might give you tons of information not in your book, and not even relevant to the point at issue.

I was somewhat disappointed when I got this book. From the title, I expected it to help me actually determine how to evaluate my contracts. Instead I found that it only has information on how to draft a contract. I think the title is somewhat misleading.