VI. PRE-LAW READING LIST
The following list of Pre-Law readings offers prospective law students an overview of selected classics and current titles in certain subjects: Law School and Legal Education, the Legal Profession, Biography, Jurisprudence and Legal Issues, and Financing Law School. This list should not be construed as an official bibliography; it is beyond the scope of this publication to provide any sort of definitive catalog of Pre-Law readings. Some of these books have already withstood the test of time, and are as relevant today as when they were first written and published, generations ago. Examples are Richard Kluger's Simple Justice -- a rare glimpse into the private workings and deliberations of the Supreme Court -- and Karl Llewellyn's The Bramble Bush -- a classic study of how legal education shapes our legal institutions.
Other, more recent titles simply reflect the most current writing on the subjects listed above and are not necessarily recommended simply because they appear on this list. It will be up to you to search out the titles that pique your interest and make your own determination of their worth. The aim of our list is merely to give you a head start in locating the newest published titles in the field. We hope that those interested in pursuing legal studies will find the issues raised and the ideas discussed in these works helpful in making the decision to choose law as a career.
A. Law School and Legal Education
Barber, David H. Winning in Law School:
Stress Reduction. 2d ed. Dillon, CO: Spectra, 1986.
Bay, Monica. Careers in
Civil Litigation. Chicago: American Bar Association/Law
Student Division, 1990.
Bell, Susan J. Full Disclosure: Do You
Really Want to Be a Lawyer? Princeton, NJ: Peterson's
Guides, 1989.
Bell, Susan J. Interviewing for Success
and Satisfaction. Chicago: American Bar
Association/Young Lawyers Division,1989.
Calamari, John D., and Joseph M. Perillo, eds.
How to Thrive in Law School.
Pelham Manor, NY: Hook Mountain Press,1984.
Carter, Lief H. Reason in Law. Boston: Little, Brown
and Company,1988.
Chase, William C. The American
Law Schooland the Rise of Administrative
Government. Madison, Wl: University of Wisconsin Press,
1982.
Curry, Boykin, ed. Essays That Worked for Law
Schools: 35 Essays from Successful Applications to the
Nation's Top Law Schools. New York: Fawcett Book Group,
1991.
Deaver, Jeff. The Complete Law School
Companion. New York: John Wiley & Sons,
1984.
Delaney, John. How to Do your Best on
Law School Exams. 2d ed. Bogota, NJ:
John Delaney Publications, 1988.
Directory of Law SchoolJoint Degree
Programs. 2d ed. Washington, DC: Federal Reports, Inc.,
1991.
Dutile, Fernand N., ed. Legal Education and
Lawyer Competency: Curricula for Change. Notre Dame,
IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981
Dworkin, Elizabeth, Jack Himmelstein, and Howard
Lesnick. Becoming a Lawyer: AHumanistic Perspective
on Legal Education and Professionalism. St. Paul, MN:
West Publishing, 1989.
Farnsworth, Edward A. An Introduction to the
Legal System of the United States. 2d ed.
Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, 1983.
Gillers, Stephen, ed. Looking at Law
School: A Student Guide from the Society of
American Law Teachers. 3d ed. NAL/Dutton, 1990.
Goldfarb, Sally F., and Edward A. Adams.
Inside the Law Schools: A Guide by Students for
Students. 5th ed. New York: Plume, 1991.
Goodrich, Chris. Anarchy and Elegance:
Confessions of a Journalist at Yale Law
School. Boston: Little, Brown and Company,
1991.
Hegland, Kenney F. Introduction to the Study and
Practice of Law in a Nutshell. St. Paul, MN: West
Publishing, 1983.
Kaplin, William A. The Concepts and Methods of
Constitutional Law. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic
Press.
Kelman, Mark. A Guide to Critical Legal
Studies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1987
Kenny, Phillip H. Studying Law. 2d ed. Salem,
NH: Butterworth Legal Publishers, 1991.
Lasson, Kenneth, and Sheldon Margulies. Learning
Law: The Mastery of Legal Logic. Durham, NC: Carolina
Academic Press, 1992.
Legal Education and Professional Development - An
Educational Continuum. Report of The Task Force on Law
Schools and the Profession: Narrowing the Gap. Chicago:
American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and
Admissions to the Bar,
July 1992.
Llewellyn, Karl N. The Bramble Bush: On Our Law
and its Study. rev.ed. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana
Publications 1981.
Marke, Julius J., and Edward J. Bander, eds.
Deans' List of Recommended Readingfor
Pre-Law and Law Students: Selected by the Deans and
Faculties of American Law Schools. 2d ed. Dobbs Ferry,
NY: Oceana Publications, 1984.
Martinson, Thomas H., J.D., and David P.
Waldherr, J.D. Getting Into Law School: Strategies for
the 90s. New York: Prentice Hall, 1992.
Mayfield, Craig K. Reading Skills for Law
Students. Charlottesville, VA: Michie Co., 1980
Moliterno, James E., and Fredric Lederer. An
Introduction to Law, Law Study, and the Lawyer's Role.
Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 1991.
Re, Edward D., and Joseph R. Re. Law Students'
Manual on Legal Writing and Oral Argument. Dobbs Ferry,
NY: Oceana Publications, 1991.
Roth, George. Slaying the Law
School Dragon: How to Survive--and Thrive--in
First-Year Law School. 2d ed.
New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1991.
Simenhogg, Mark. ed. My First Year As A
Lawyer. New York: Walker and Company, 1994.
So You Want to be a Lawyer: A Practical Guide.
Newtown, PA: Law School Admission Service, Inc., 1993.
Stevens, Robert. Law SchooI: Legal Education
in Americafrom the 1850s to the 1980s.
Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press,
1983.
Stover, Robert V. Making It and Breaking It: The
Fate of Public Interest Commitment During Law
School. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois
Press, 1989.
Swygert, Michael I., and Robert Batey, eds.
Maximizing the Law School
Experience: A Collection of Essays. St. Petersburg,
FL: Stetson University College of Law,1983.
Turow, Scott. One L.: An Inside Account of Life
in the First Year at Harvard Law
School. New York: Penguin Books, 1978.
Vanderbilt, Arthur T. Law
School: Briefing for a Legal Education. New
York: Penguin Books, 1981.
Williams, Glanville. Learning the Law: A Book for
the Guidance of the Law Student. 11th ed. London:
Stevens, 1982.
Wydick, Richard C. Plain English for Lawyers. 2d ed.
Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 1985.
B. Legal Profession
Abel,
Richard L. American Lawyers. NewYork: Oxford
University Press, 1989.
Arron, Deborah. Running From the Law: Why Good
Lawyers Are Getting Out of the Legal Profession.
Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1991.
Aaron, Deborah. What Can You do with a Law
Degree? A Lawyer's Guide to Career Alternatives Inside,
Outside, and Around the Law. Seattle: Niche Pres,
1992.
Caplan, Lincoln. Skadden: Inside the Business of
Law in America. New York: Farrar, Strauss
& Giroux, 1993.
Bailey, F. Lee. To Be A Trial Lawyer. New
York: John Wiley & Sons, 1985.
Carey, William T. Law Students: How to Get a Job
When There Aren't Any. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic
Press,1986.
Couric, Emily. The Trial Lawyers: The Nation's Top
Litigators Tell How They Win. New York: St. Martin's
Press, 1988.
Delaney, John. Learning Legal Reasoning:
Briefing, Analysis and Theory, rev. ed. Bogota, NJ:
John Delaney Publications, 1987.
Epstein, Cynthia Fuchs. Women in Law. 2d ed.
Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1993.
Foonberg, Jay G. How to Start and Build a Law
Practice. 3d ed. Chicago: American Bar Association/Law
Student Division, 1991.
Galanter, Marc, and Thomas Palay.
Tournament of Lawyers: The Transformation of the Big Law
Firm. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Glendon, Mary Ann. A Nation Under Lawyers: How
the Crisis in the Legal Profession is Transforming American
Society. New York: Farrar, Straus & Girous,
1994.
Harrington, Mona, Women Lawyers: Rewriting the
Rules. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.
Henslee, William D. Careers in Entertainment
Law. Chicago: American Bar Association/Law Student
Division, 1990.
Kelly, Michael J. Lives of Lawyers: Journeys in
the Organizations of Practice. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press, 1994.
Killoughey, Donna M. ed. Breaking Traditions:
Work Alternatives for Lawyers. Chicago: American Bar
Association, Section of Law Practice Management, 1993.
Kronman, Anthony T. The Lost Lawyer: Failing
Ideals of the Legal Profession. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press (Belknap Press), 1993.
Linowitz, Sol M., with Martin Mayer. The
Betrayed Profession: Lawyering at the End of the
Twentieth Century. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1994.
Luney, Percy R., Jr. Careers in Natural Resources
and Environmental Law. Chicago: American Bar
Association/Law Student Division,1987. Mayer, Martin. The
Lawyers. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980.
Moll, Richard W. The Lure of the Law: Why People
Become Lawyers, and What the Profession Does to Them.
New York: Penguin Books, 1990.
Munneke, Gary A. The Legal Career Guide: From Law
Student to Lawyer. Chicago: American Bar Association
Career Series, 1992.
O'Neill, Suzanne B., and Catherine Gerhauser
Sparkman. From Law School to
Law Practice: The New Associate's Guide. Philadelphia:
American Law Institute/American Bar Association Committee
on Continuing Professional Education, 1989.
Shaffer, Thomas L. with Mary M. Shaffer. American
Lawyers and Their Communities: Ethics in the Legal
Profession. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame
Press, 1991.
Shropshire, Kenneth. Careers in Sports Law.
Chicago: American Bar Association/Law Student Division,
1990.
Stewart, James B. The Partners. New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1983.
Thorner, Abbie Willard, ed. Now Hiring:
Government Jobs for Lawyers (1990-1991 edition).
Chicago: American Bar Association/Law Student
Division,1990.
Utley, Frances, and Gary A.
Munneke. From Law Student to Lawyer: A Career Planning
Manual. Chicago: American Bar Association/Law Student
Division, 1984.
Utley, Frances, with Gary A.
Munneke. Nonlegal Careers for Lawyers: In the Private
Sector. 2d ed. Chicago: American Bar Association/Law
Student Division,1991.
Wayne, Ellen. Careers in Labor Law. Chicago:
American Bar Association/Law Student Division,1985.
C. Biography
Auchincloss,
Louis. Life, Law and Letters: Essays and
Sketches. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.,1979.
Baker, Leonard. John Marshall: A Life in Law.
New York: Macmillan, 1974.
Barth, Alan. Prophets with Honor: Great Dissents
and Great Dissenters in the Supreme Court. New York:
Vintage Books, 1975.
Darrow, Clarence. The Story of My Life. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons,1932.
Davis, Deane C. Justice in the Mountains: Stories
& Tales by a VermontCountry Lawyer.
Shelburne, VT: New England Press, 1980.
Davis, Lenwood G. I Have a Dream: The Life and
Times of Martin Luther King. Westport, CT: Negro
Universities Press, 1973.
Davis, Michael D. and Hunter R. Clark.
Thurgood Marshall: Warrior at the Bar, Rebel
on the Bench. New York: Birch Lane Press/Carol
Publishing Group, 1993.
Douglas, William O. Go East Young Man: The Early
Years. New York: Random House, 1974.
Douglas, William O. Court Years,
1939-1975: The Autobiography of William 0.
Douglas. New York: Random House, 1980.
Dunne, Gerald T. Hugo Black and the Judicial
Revolution. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1977
Goldman, Roger with David Gallen. Justice William
J. Brennan, Jr.: Freedom First. New York:
Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1994.
Griffith, Kathryn. Judge Learned Hand and the
Role of the Federal Judiciary. Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1973.
Gunther, Gerald. Learned Hand: The Man and the
Judge. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.
Jeffries, John, Jr. Justice Lewis F. Powell.
New York: Scribner, 1994.
Kahlenberg, Richard D. Broken Contract: A Memoir
of Harvard Law School. New
York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992.
Lynn, Conrad J. There is a Foundation: The
Autobiography of a Civil Rights Lawyer. Westport, CN:
Hill & Company, 1978.
Marke, Julius J. The Holmes Reader. Dobbs
Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications,1964.
Murphy, Bruce Allen. The Brandeis/Frankfurter
Connection. New York: Oxford University Press,
1982.
Nizer, Louis. Reflections Without Mirrors: An
Autobiography of the Mind. New York: Doubleday,
1978.
Noonan, John T., Jr. Persons and Masks of the
Law: Cardozo, Holmes, Jefferson, and Wythe as Makers of the
Masks. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1976.
Rowan, Carl T. Dream Makers, Dream Breakers. The
World of Justice Thurgood Marshall. Boston: Little
Brown & Company, 1993.
Schwartz, Bernard. Super Chief, Earl Warren and
His Supreme Court-A Judicial Biography. New York: New
York University Press, 1983.
Simon, James F. Independent Journey: The Life Of
William O. Douglas. New York: Harper & Row,
1980.
Thomas, Evan. The Man to See: Edward Bennett
Williams, Ultimate Insider; Legendary Trial Lawyer. New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.
Urofsky, Melvin I. Louis D. Brandeis and the
Progressive Tradition. Boston: Little, Brown and
Company, 1981.
Westin, Alan F. Autobiography of the Supreme
Court: Off-the-Bench Commentary by the Justices.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978.
White, G. Edward. Earl Warren: A Public Life.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
Wigdor, David. Roscoe Pound: Philosopher of
Law. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1974.
D. Jurisprudence and Legal Issues
Bodenhamer,
David J. andJames E. Ely, Jr., eds. The Bill
of Rights in Modern America. Bloomington
and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993.
Bickel, Alexander M. The Least Dangerous Branch:
The Supreme Court at the Bar of Politics. 2d ed. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.
Bickel, Alexander M. The Morality of Consent.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975.
Burns, James MacGregor, and Stewart Burns. The
People's Charter: Pursuing Rights in
America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.
Cahn, Edmond. The Moral Decision:
Right and Wrong in the Light of American Law.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1955.
Cardozo, Benjamin N. The Nature of the Judicial
Process. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921.
Dershowitz, Alan M. The Best Defense. New
York: Random House, 1982.
Dershowitz, Alan M. Taking Liberties: A Decade of
Hard Cases, Bad Laws, and Bum Raps. Chicago:
Contemporary Books, 1988.
Finkel, Norman J. Insanity On Trial. New
York: Plenum, 1988.
Greenberg, Jack, Crusaders in the Courts: How a
Dedicated Band of Lawyers Fought for the Civil
Rights Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 1994.
Guinier, Lani. The Tyranny of the Majority: Fundamental
Fairness in Representative Democracy. New York: Martin
Kessler Books (The Free Press), 1994.
Irons, Peter and Stephanie Guitton, eds.
May It Please the Court: The Most Significant Oral
Arguments Made Before the Supreme Court Since 1955.
[audiocassette]. New York: New Press, 1993.
Howard, A.E. Dick. The Road from Runnymeade:
Magna Carta and Constitutionalism in
America. Charlottesville, VA: University of
Virginia, 1968.
Irons, Peter. The Courage of their Convictions:
Sixteen Americans Who Fought Their Way to the Supreme
Court. New York: Penguin, 1990.
Kairys, David, ed. The Politics of Law: A
Progressive Critique. New York: Pantheon Books,
1982.
Kirk, Russell. The Roots of American Order.
Malibu, CA: Pepperdine University Press, 1981.
Kluger, Richard. Simple Justice: The History of
Brown vs. Board of Education and Black
America's Struggle for Equality. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf,1976.
Konefsky, Samuel J. The Legacy of Holmes and
Brandeis: A Study in the Influence of Ideas. New York:
DeCapo Press, 1974.
Lee, Rex E. A Lawyer Looks at the
Constitution. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University
Press, 1981.
Lewis, Anthony. Gideon's Trumpet. New York:
Random House, 1964.
Lewis, Anthony. Make No Law: The Sullivan Case and the
First Amendment. New York: Random House, 1991.
Pfeffer, Leo. Religion, State and the
Burger Court. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books,
1984.
Pound, Roscoe. Law and Morals. South Hackensack, NJ:
Rothman Reprints, 1969.
Rehnquist, William H. The Supreme Court: How It Was, How
It Is. New York: Quill Press, 1987.
Rosenberg, Gerald N. The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring
About Social Change? Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1991.
Savage, David. Turning Right: The Making of the
Rehnquist Supreme Court. New York: John Wiley &
Sons, 1992.
Shapiro, Joseph P. No Pity: People with
Disabilities Forgoing a New Civil Rights Movement. New
York: Random House,1993.
Simon, James F. The Antagonists: Hugo Black,
Felix Frankfurter and Civil Liberties in Modern
America. New York: Simon & Schuster,
1989.
Sobol, Richard B. Bending the Law: The Story of the
Dalkon Shield Bankruptcy. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1991.
Spence, Gerry. With Justice for None. New
York: Penguin, 1990.
Treanor, Richard Bryant. We Overcame: The Story
of Civil Rights for Disabled People. Falls Church, VA:
Regal Direct Publishing, 1993.
Tribe, Laurence H. God Save This Honorable Court:
How the Choice of Supreme Court Justices Shapes Our
History. New York: Penguin/Mentor,1986.
Tushnet, Mark V. Making Civil Rights Law:
Thurgood Marshalland the Supreme Court,
1936-1961. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Unger, Roberto M. Knowledge and Politics. New
York: The Free Press, 1984.
Van den Haag, Ernest, and John P. Conrad. The
Death Penalty: A Debate. New York: Plenum, 1983.
Westin, Alan F. The Anatomy of a Constitutional
Law Case: YoungstownSheet & TubeCo. v.
Sawyer. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.
Williams, Patricia J. The Alchemy of Race and
Rights. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1991.
Wishman, Seymour. Anatomy of a Jury. New
York: Penguin, 1987.
E. Financing Law School
The Black Collegian's Guide to
Graduate and Professional Fellowship for Minority
Students. 5th ed. New Orleans, LA: The Black Collegian,
1994.
Cantrell, Karen and Denise Wallen. Funding
for Law: Legal Education, Research and Study. Phoenix,
AZ: Oryx Press, 1991.
Cassidy, Daniel. The Graduate Scholarship Book:
The Complete Guide to Scholarships, Fellowships, Grants,
and Loans for Graduate and Professional Study. 2nd ed.
National Scholarship Reference Service, Prentice-Hall,
1990.
Cronin, Joseph Marr, and Sylvia Quarles
Simmons, eds. Student Loans: Risks and
Realities. Dover, MA: Auburn House Publishing Co.,
1987.
Johnson, Willis L. Directory of Special Programs
for Minority Group Members: Career
Information Services, Employment Skills Banks, Financial
Aid Sources. 5th edition. Garrett Park, MD:
Garrett Park Press, 1990.
Financial Aid for Minorities in Business and Law.
Garrett Park, MD: Garrett Park Press, 1994.
Kirby, Deborah M., ed. Scholarships, Fellowships,
and Loans: 1994-1995. 10th edition. Detroit: Gale
Research, Inc.
The Loan Repayment Assistance Report. Washington,
DC: National Association for Public Interest Law, 1993.
McWade, Patricia. Financing Graduate
School. Princeton, NJ: Peterson's Guides, 1993.
Schlachter, Gail Ann. Financial Aid for the
Disabled and their Families, 1994-96. San Carlos, CA:
Reference Service Press.
Schlachter, Gail Ann. Directory of Financial Aids
for Minorities, 1993-95. San Carlos, CA: Reference
Service Press.
Schlachter, Gail Ann. Financial Aid for Veterans,
Military Personnel, and Their Dependents, 1993-95. San
Carlos, CA: Reference Service Press.
Schlachter, Gail Ann. Directory of Financial Aids
for Women, 1993-95. San Carlos, CA: Reference Service
Press.
Williams, Franklin A. and Mark Fischer.
The Law Student's Guide to Scholarships and Grants.
New York: Scovill, Paterson, Inc., 1994.
For more information, contact:
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850 Columbia Avenue
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