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beastreader's review against another edition
4.0
When I was growing up I thought I would be a criminal defense attorney and then a Judge. However I changed my mind as I was not sure I wanted to commit myself to years of law school and being able to stand up and defend people that might be guilty. Even though my career goals may have changed, I have still been fascinated by this area from the guilty party to the forensics to the trial.
So when I had a chance to read this book, I jumped at the chance. I wanted to get to see the inside look at the whole law process and not the one that the news media tries to portray to the public.
I have never heard of Mark Geragos or Pat Harris. Yes, I am familiar with the big cases that they were involved with but I have never really paid attention to the attorneys involved in the cases and who they are. This is because while I am interested in criminal defense, I would rather watch true crime shows and read about them then really watch the long drawn out trial proceeding. Yes, I know I said I like the trial but sometimes I do have the attention span of a two year old.
I found this book to be just what I thought it would be. It did give me a good insight into what a criminal defense attorney is all about and why they do what they do. They are not the bad guys just their clients may be the bad guys. Also, our system is flawed. I liked the ways that the authors described things and the examples they used. They put their terminology into layman terms so that helped to make for easy reading.
So when I had a chance to read this book, I jumped at the chance. I wanted to get to see the inside look at the whole law process and not the one that the news media tries to portray to the public.
I have never heard of Mark Geragos or Pat Harris. Yes, I am familiar with the big cases that they were involved with but I have never really paid attention to the attorneys involved in the cases and who they are. This is because while I am interested in criminal defense, I would rather watch true crime shows and read about them then really watch the long drawn out trial proceeding. Yes, I know I said I like the trial but sometimes I do have the attention span of a two year old.
I found this book to be just what I thought it would be. It did give me a good insight into what a criminal defense attorney is all about and why they do what they do. They are not the bad guys just their clients may be the bad guys. Also, our system is flawed. I liked the ways that the authors described things and the examples they used. They put their terminology into layman terms so that helped to make for easy reading.
susanbrooks's review against another edition
4.0
Boy was I wrong about a lot of things. Enjoyed having my perceptions of the trial system proven wrong. Eyewitness IDs? Often faulty. Confessions? Often false. Cases “tried” in the media? Often wrong. Fascinating and cautionary tales of justice and injustice.
ernby's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book, but I think I was expecting more legal analysis than it provided. It was part educational, part memoir or reflection on cases. I enjoyed it for the most part, and I did learn quite a bit. If you're interested in the criminal justice system, especially the defense side, I recommend checking it out.
illyria1013's review against another edition
3.0
While I fundamentally agree with much of what was written about the growing abuse of power from prosecutors and the political need for judges to be outwardly "tough on crime", I had a very difficult time reconciling my feelings towards these attorneys who represented Michael Jackson and Scott Peterson and actually argued for their innocence in their book.
What factual information I did take away from the book was that everyone IS guaranteed to a fair trial, but the media makes it damn near impossible -- and this doesn't even address the dumpster fire that social media has added to the mix.
The book was colloquially written and took on a bit of a paparazzi flair and because of this, was a bit off putting with the humble bragging about celebrity clientele and the tangential rants about crooked cops, power hungry judges, and racist prosecutors. Again, not arguing that this doesn't happen, but the tone of the writing was a bit sensationalized for my taste.
The subject of law has always been of one those topics that I found both intriguing and frustrating at the same time. So much emphasis is placed on black and white and for someone who sees various shades of grey, this is one of those subjects that bother me from both the prosecuting attorney and defense attorney's perspective. The system is imperfect and one would be naive to think that money didn't factor in the quality of the defense one receives.
Next non-fiction book in my queue is _Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and The Rule of Law_ by Preet Bharara to give a counter balance to the issue.
I'm giving this book just 3 stars. If anyone has a better book on the subject of defense law to read, I'm open to suggestions.
What factual information I did take away from the book was that everyone IS guaranteed to a fair trial, but the media makes it damn near impossible -- and this doesn't even address the dumpster fire that social media has added to the mix.
The book was colloquially written and took on a bit of a paparazzi flair and because of this, was a bit off putting with the humble bragging about celebrity clientele and the tangential rants about crooked cops, power hungry judges, and racist prosecutors. Again, not arguing that this doesn't happen, but the tone of the writing was a bit sensationalized for my taste.
The subject of law has always been of one those topics that I found both intriguing and frustrating at the same time. So much emphasis is placed on black and white and for someone who sees various shades of grey, this is one of those subjects that bother me from both the prosecuting attorney and defense attorney's perspective. The system is imperfect and one would be naive to think that money didn't factor in the quality of the defense one receives.
Next non-fiction book in my queue is _Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and The Rule of Law_ by Preet Bharara to give a counter balance to the issue.
I'm giving this book just 3 stars. If anyone has a better book on the subject of defense law to read, I'm open to suggestions.
panda8882's review
4.0
Since my obsession with the Scott Peterson trial, I have followed Mark Geragos' career and was interested to hear him speak at a local bar function a couple years ago. I picked up a copy of his book then and had him autograph it but never actually got around to reading it until I got sucked into this new Scott Peterson documentary series. I was glad I finally got around to reading it - it was an interesting look at the criminal defense practice from someone really in the trenches but with a broader perspective too about how media and politics have played into it. Interesting tidbits about some of his better known cases as well.
skullfullofbooks's review against another edition
3.0
How long does the attorney-client privilege extend? Everything I've been taught is that the privilege can bind attorneys from even mentioning they represented a specific client, let alone name drop popular cases and talk about strategies. Maybe the information was all that was encompassed in public knowledge, but I still feel weird about reading the cases.
The case descriptions were the weakest part of the book. I ended up skimming or skipping most of them. I did like the points made and have seen some of them in case studies myself. I wish the bias was reduced a bit to talk about points more.
For example, Ann Coulter was talked about and things just went in a weird direction. I had loved the book until the first 20 pages when this popped up out of the blue.
The case descriptions were the weakest part of the book. I ended up skimming or skipping most of them. I did like the points made and have seen some of them in case studies myself. I wish the bias was reduced a bit to talk about points more.
For example, Ann Coulter was talked about and things just went in a weird direction. I had loved the book until the first 20 pages when this popped up out of the blue.
mui_buh's review
3.0
The book gives you a very good close-up look into the Americsn Justice System. Eventhough some parts of the book are a little boring - some cases are just not as interesting and shocking as others, is it still not only interesting but also funny. But it shows cases in which justice did it's job and that I didn't expect to see. It is just not what I was looking for. I thought it would mostly show cases in which the justice system failed.
The book used different cases to explain possibly scenarious in court,but sometimes never finished the story. So that the reader doesn't know how the case ends. And I am more interested in the cases than how exactly cross-exammination. Just taking that as an example since the book talks about many tips and tricks and musts in the court.
The book is average.
The book used different cases to explain possibly scenarious in court,but sometimes never finished the story. So that the reader doesn't know how the case ends. And I am more interested in the cases than how exactly cross-exammination. Just taking that as an example since the book talks about many tips and tricks and musts in the court.
The book is average.
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