Law Practice Books

The Law

Frederic Bastiat

List Price: $3.95 By: Foundation for Economic Education Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $0.92

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 93 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

I agree with him 100 percent, but... 2 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

While I agree with Bastiat entirely, the way that he has presented "the classic blueprint for a just society," is exactly why people who lean more towards socialist ideas scoff at those who are for capitalism, economic stability, and most importantly honoring the fundamentals of the need for law: to protect life, liberty, and property.

The first chapter started out wonderfully, articulately and simple. It was accessible and easy to understand and apply. I was excited as I hoped to share this with my husband to allow him to open up to my ideas on politics which are different from his (he's a democrat/socialist).

However, the rest of the book just seemed to be a rant that got more and more impassioned as it went along, which to me seemed to take away from the reader's ability to take what he was saying seriously. I was disappointed because even though I agreed with everything he said and thought his applications of his ideas were great, I felt sort of embarrassed about his inability to keep calm in expressing his ideas.

The book is sound, based on sound ideas and should appeal to any libertarian. I nodded a lot as I was reading it. "Yes!" I kept telling myself, "this is definitely true." Unfortunately the truth was told, in this case, in a way that I don't think would be very accessible to the people that Bastiat was intent on reaching. I think a democrat/socialist might mislabel it "too radical" when they really mean, "too impassioned."

It is for that reason, I'm sorry to say, I was unable to rate this any higher.

Editorial Review:

Frederic Bastiat's arguments against socialism are as valid today as when first published in 1850. 2 cassettes.

Quicken Willmaker Plus 2009 Edition: Estate Planning Essentials (Book with Software)

Editors of Nolo

Amazon Price: $44.09 List Price: $69.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: NOLO Amazon Marketplace: 23 new & used starting at $39.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 73 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

America's No. 1 selling estate planning software in book form, helps you create a will, living trust, living will -- and much more!

Help protect your family and your assets, and save on legal fees! Quicken Willmaker Plus 2009 Edition: Estate Planning Essentials provides the legal forms you need. So comprehensive, the software assembles your forms from among 40,000 document possibilities -- but so easy to use, you'll have them finished in minutes.

PLUS! Package includes a free CD-Rom of Nolo's bestselling title THE EXECUTOR'S GUIDE with Quicken Willmaker 2009, a value of $39.99!

Will

Living Trusts, including an AB Trust

Health Care Directive:
Living Will
Health Care Power of Attorney

Financial Powers of Attorney

Final arrangements document

Important documents for executors

Quicken Willmaker Plus 2009 Edition: Estate Planning Essentials also provides forms you can use every day, such as authorizations and agreements, promissory notes, and child and elder care forms.

For each document, Quicken Willmaker Plus 2009 Edition: Estate Planning Essentials takes you through a step-by-step interview. Your documents will automatically reflect the laws of your state. If you have any questions, simply check out the comprehensive onscreen legal manual.

Need to know more? Here are in-depth details about what you can do with Quicken Willmaker Plus 2009 Edition: Estate Planning Essentials:

Your Will
Provide for family, friends and charities. Name a personal guardian to care for young children. Specify the executor (or "personal representative") of your estate. Select a trusted person to manage property left to young people. Revise and update your will whenever you like.

Your Living Trust
Make a basic trust, whether you're married or single. If married, you can create a AB trust (or bypass trust) and spare your heirs from potentially heavy estate taxes. Create subtrusts for minor children and young adults. Name custodians for property left to children. Change or revoke your trust at any time.

Your Health Care Directive
Lets people who care for you make important decisions about your life and health when you can't. Create a:

Health Care Power of Attorney
Permit a loved one to make important medical decisions for you if you are unable to do so yourself.

Living Will
Specify whether you want your life prolonged through artificial means. Appoint someone to make sure your wishes are carried out.

Your Financial Power of Attorney
Name someone to make your financial decisions, in case you are medically incapacitated. Don't worry, you can grant as much authority as you wish.

Your Final Arrangements
Plan a funeral or other ceremony. Clarify whether you want a cremation or burial. Select someone to oversee your final arrangements -- and more!

Documents for Your Executor
Make sure your executor ("personal representative" in some states) has all the forms and instructions he or she needs to do the job: Checklists, letters, notices, claim forms -- and more.

Personal Finance Documents
Over a dozen forms that let you handle financial situations you might face on any given day, such as lending or borrowing money to friends or family, creating bills of sale, ending a credit card account -- and more!

Home & Family Documents
Whether you need to authorize someone to travel with your child to another country, want to lend your car to a friend, or create an agreement with a trusted person to take care of your elderly parent, Quicken Willmaker Plus 2009 Edition: Estate Planning Essentials can handle all these family situations -- and many more!

Estate planning documents not valid in Louisiana.

List of Forms
All forms are completed through a step-by-step interview, which customizes a document based on your answers. Completed documents can be printed directly, or exported to an RTF document, which can be opened in any word processor.

Wills and Living Trusts
Will
Self-Proving Affidavit (for Will)
Letter to Executor
Individual Living Trust
Shared Living Trust
AB Trust (aka Bypass Trust)
Certification of Trust
Assignment of Property (to Trust)
Reverse Assignment of Property (from Trust)
Revocation of Living Trust
Restatement and Amendment of Living Trust

Leaving Others in Charge
Health Care Directive (Living Will & Power of Attorney)
Durable Power of Attorney for Finances
Special (Limited) Power of Attorney for Finances
Information for the Attorney-in-Fact
Delegation Form for Attorney-in-Fact
Resignation Form for Attorney-in-Fact
Revocation Form for Recorded Durable Power of Attorney for Finances
Revocation Form for Unrecorded Durable Power of Attorney for Finances
Revocation of Health Care Directive
Revocation of Power of Attorney
Final Arrangements Letter

Documents for Your Executor
Affidavit of Domicile
Employee Death Benefits Letter
Executor's Checklist
Executor's Letter to Financial Institution
General Notice of Death
Notice to Creditor of Death
Notice to Homeowners Insurance Company of Death
Notice to Vehicle Insurance Company of Death
Request for Life Insurance Claim Form
Request for Life Insurance Proceeds

Personal Finance Documents
General Bill of Sale
Promissory Note (Amortized Monthly Payments)
Promissory Note (Balloon Payment)
Promissory Note (Payments of Interest Only)
Promissory Note (One Lump Sum Payment)
Security Agreement for Borrowing Money
Notice to Terminate Joint Credit Card Account
Notice to Put Name on Do Not Call List
Cancel Membership or Subscription

Documents for Home and Family
Child Care Agreement
Child Care Instructions
Authorization for Minor's Medical Treatment
Authorization for Foreign Travel With Minor
Temporary Guardianship Authorization for Care of Minor
Elder Care Agreement
Pet Care Agreement
Housekeeping Services Agreement
Housesitting Instructions
Authorization to Drive a Motor Vehicle
Property Inventory Worksheet

The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law

List Price: $17.50 By: Basic Books Amazon Marketplace: 249 new & used starting at $0.55

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The supreme authority! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I have used the AP Stylebook for over 5 years. The entries are easy to find and easy to understand. Entries are brief and to the point. Are the seasons capitalized? How about north, south, east and west? Where do you place adverbs - before or after the verb, or someplace else? It's Web site - two words and the first one is capitalized. Internet is capitalized because it's a proper noun.

This book has the definitive answers. I don't work for a newspaper anymore, but, as a freelance writer, I miss this book more and more everyday. I must get my own. You will never be sorry that you bought this book. It will help you no matter what kind of writing you do.

Editorial Review:

More people write for the Associated Press than for any newspaper in the world, and more writers --over 1,750,000--have bought The AP Stylebook than any other journalism reference. It provides facts and references for reporters, and defines usage, spelling, and grammar for editors. There are separate sections for journalists specializing in sports and business, and complete guidelines for how to write photo captions, proofread text, file copy over the wire, handle copyrights, and avoid libel. This new edition of the Stylebook has been fully updated with fifty new entries and revisions to more than one hundred others in order to keep pace with world events, common usage, and Associated Press procedures. More than 1.7 million copies sold

The Law Of Torts: Examples And Explanations (Examples & Explanations)

Joseph W. Glannon

Amazon Price: $29.76 List Price: $42.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Aspen Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $21.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Excellent! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Glannon is fantastic. This is a great book to review before exams, and it also is a great value!

Useful & recommended 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Though I ended up not having much use for this book due to my professor's distinctive teaching methodology, I still found it helpful in clarifying the basic concepts of Torts. The author injects a slightly dorky sense of humor into the narrative, which makes the information more accessible and easier to grasp. He also has a very clear, conversational writing style. Overall recommended (at least if you don't have my Torts professor).

Editorial Review:

A favorite among law students and professors alike, the Examples & Explanations series is ideal for studying, reviewing and testing your understanding through application of hypothetical examples. Authored by leading professors with extensive classroom experience, Examples & Explanations titles offer hypothetical questions in the subject area, complemented by detailed explanations that allow you to test your knowledge of the topic, and compare your own analysis.

Black's Law Dictionary: Abridged Version (Dictionary)

Bryan A. Garner

Amazon Price: $52.20 List Price: $58.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: West Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $31.98

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 111 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent value for the price 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I am very pleased with this purchase. It will be used for a long time.

a home library must 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you do legal work at home, this dictionary is essential to have there. As a law student, I have unlimited access to the Westlaw version of Black's, but there are a great deal of missing entries in that format. I have literally never tried to look up a word in the hardbound version without finding it--not so with the online or pocket versions. It is also an excellent citation source for basic legal facts, something you can't do with the internet version because of the lack of page numbers. Perhaps a little expensive for a student, but this sturdy, long-lasting volume will pay for itself by saving you time.

Editorial Review:

This first-ever, total A-Z revision of features flexible cross-referencing that leads you quickly to the definitions you need. Prepared by a noted legal lexicographer and team of prominent legal historians, scholars, lawyers, and judges, who rewrote every entry -- both for substantive accuracy and for stylistic clarity. Includes quotes and cites on terminological issues from authorities such as William Blackstone and Charles Alan Wright with illustrative quotations from hornbooks, treatises, and other scholarly sources. Covers international law as never before. Systematically incorporates new legal terms from “cybersquatting” to “Megan’s law” to “statistical-decision theory.” Parts of speech and etymology of terms are provided where appropriate. Includes dozens of subject and usage labels to quickly orient you to term’s context.

Speaking for Myself: My Life from Liverpool to Downing Street

Cherie Blair

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Even if she hadn't married Tony Blair, Cherie'sstory would have been amazing. Abandoned by her actorfather, she overcame obstacles to become one of the UK's most successful barristers. But when Labour took power in 1997, she faced new challenges: her husband was the first Prime Minister in recent history with a young family, and Cherie was the first PM's wife with a serious career.


Now, she gives a complete account of her own life--an astonishing journey for a woman whose unconventional childhood was full of drama and who grew up with a fierce sense of justice. In her autobiography she reveals for the first time what it was like to combine life as a working mother with life married to the Prime Minister. She writes about her encounters with scores of foreign leaders and her friendships with Presidents Clinton and Bush, as well as with Hillary and Laura. And she offers inside details of her relationships with the royals, including Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Princess Diana.

Happy Hour Is for Amateurs: A Lost Decade in the World's Worst Profession

Philadelphia Lawyer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

White Collar Blues 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This book really spoke to me. I've worked in cube farms and white collar corporate offices since I was 17, 95% of the time wishing that I was anywhere else. The author put what I was thinking and feeling into words much more clear then I could have and really made me think about my career choices, and gave me a lot of laughs on the way.

Much like his blog, there were moments where it was long winded - but I thought it was more then funny enough to make up for it and still be one of my favorite books this year.

Editorial Review:

For some people, happy hour is never enough

This is a book about escape. It's also about laughing gas. And bourbon and dope and sex and mushrooms and every other vice millions of us indulge in to forget our jobs, the office, and the stifling, corporate caricatures we're forced to become for paychecks. This is a book about a decade lost in a senseless career no one likes and all the ridiculous things I did to run from it. In the end, it's probably your story as much as mine. We're everywhere. We just can't say it out loud.

Evidence: Examples and Explanations (Examples & Explanations)

Arthur Best

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

great book 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is very helpful, especially because my professor recommended it. The explanations are clear and useful.

A great help! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

A really great book, it finally brought some clarity to evidence. But be prepared to spend some time reading this book, as it has fairly in-depth coverage. Even so, I found it a very valuable study tool.

What is does, it does well 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

There is not much to this book, which is probably caused by the fact that there is not much to an intro evidence course. If you are taking an Evidence course based on the Federal Rules, I am not sure that this book is a whole better than getting the Federal Rules and reading its comments. Then why I am rating this book at 4 stars, rather than lower? Because what this E&E book does, it does well.

Editorial Review:

A favorite among law students and professors alike, the Examples & Explanations series is ideal for studying, reviewing and testing your understanding through application of hypothetical examples. Authored by leading professors with extensive classroom experience, Examples & Explanations titles offer hypothetical questions in the subject area, complemented by detailed explanations that allow you to test your knowledge of the topic, and compare your own analysis.

Ladies And Gentlemen Of The Jury: Greatest Closing Arguments In Modern Law

Michael S Lief, Ben Bycel, H. Mitchell Caldwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Celebrity cases, mostly of the left - certainly not the "greatest." 3 out of 5 stars.
12 of 20 people found this review helpful.

The authors claim that these "greatest closing arguments in modern law" were chosen for the "quality of [their] summation, as well as for [their] historical significance." The immediate question is who is judging the quality of the summation and, more importantly, their historical significance?

The view here is obviously that left-wing causes have the most historical significance, though some cases, such as Nuremburg, are politically neutral. Clarence Darrow's summation in behalf of two young men who brutally murdered another is an argument against the death penalty. Many would consider the resulting verdict an injustice, compounded by early release of one of the murderers. Also, the fact that the case was argued in a Cook County, Illinois courtroom, one of the most corrupt jurisdictions in the nation, casts the power of this closing argument into doubt since the parents of the murderers were wealthy and in Cook County, money has always spoken loudly even when passed in silence from one hand to another.

Gerry Spence is without a doubt one of the most eloquent and effective litigators in the nation. But the science his Silkwood argument rests upon is, to some, suspect as were the alleged facts.

The closing arguments are presented with a wrapping of context, though it is a bit on the light side. With that in mind, the closing defense argument in the John DeLorean case is truly great, cataloging a series of government misdeeds. But the reader searching for political balance may be troubled by equally meritorious closing arguments in the Rosenberg and Alger Hiss cases.

Vincent Bugliosi's closing in the case against Manson and his followers is competent, but isn't great. It is a narrative that virtually any competent prosecutor could have put together. The Manson case involved celebrities, but otherwise wasn't much different than many murder cases of the same nature: groups of people motivated to murder. Johnny Cochran's closing in the O. J. Simpson case was far more powerful, in my opinion, far outclassing Bugliosi in persuasiveness.

The inclusion of Robert Jackson's closing at Nuremberg is puzzling. It was not an American trial. The guilt of the accused was beyond doubt, though law underpinning the tribunal was not. From the commentary, I derived the feeling that the authors were trying to rescue Jackson's reputation from his disastrous cross examination of Hermann Goering.

William Kunstler, in the opinion of many, was a living insult to the practice of law. The authors describe his closing in the Chicago Seven case as a "four-part clinic in how to excel in persuasive argument." Others might see it and Kunstler's behavior in a circus presentation of how to flout the law. All of Kunstler's clients were convicted: so much for the persuasiveness of his argument. The convictions were overturned owing to the trial judge's behavior. Again, this was in Cook County, Illinois where for many years both the state and federal judiciaries were of abysmal quality, products for the most part of the Democratic political machine. (Many of the "murderers" convicted under the current Chicago Mayor, Richard M. Daley, had their convictions overturned because DNA testing became available. At least one Cook County judge accepted bribes to free a murderer. Great place.)

The authors note that it is probably "terribly presumptuous" of them to choose the ten greatest arguments - and they are correct. They admit to choosing only "noteworthy" trials . . . and it is there that they blinded themselves to a far wider range of great closing arguments.

All the arguments are interesting and all the lawyers who made them were clearly eloquent, so more so than others. But to call these ten the greatest in modern law? I think not.

Jerry

Editorial Review:

Presents to the reader a selection of the finest closing arguments in American history. Softcover. DLC: Summation (Law)--U.S.

Law School Confidential: A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience

Robert H. Miller

List Price: $17.95 By: St. Martin's Griffin Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $0.50

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Total reviews: 167 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

I wish I knew then what I know now!

Don't get to the end of your law school career muttering these words to yourself! Take the first step toward building a productive, successful, and perhaps even pleasant law school experience...read this book!

Written for students about to embark on this three year odyssey, by students who have successfully survived law school. Law School Confidential demystifies the life-altering thrill ride that defines an American legal education by providing a comprehensive, blow-by-blow, chronological account of what to expect. Law School Confidential arms students with a thorough overview of the contemporary law school experience. This isn't the advice of graying professors or battle-scarred practitioners decades removed from the law school. Fresh out of University of Pennsylvania Law School, Robert Miller has assembled a panel of recent law school graduates all of whom are perfectly positioned to shed light on what law school is like today. Law School Confidential invites you to walk in their steps to success and to learn from their mistakes. From taking the LSAT, to securing financial aid, to navigating the notorious first semester, to exam-taking strategies, to applying for summer internships, to getting on the law review, to tackling the bar and beyond...Law School Confidential explains it all.