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eberns's review against another edition
fast-paced
4.25
read this in basically one go instead of outlining for my last ever law school finals. a choice!!!!! like the author, i too believe law school is better than a job and way easier than putting on a duvet cover. unlike the author, literally nothing about actually getting to law school felt or came easy to me.
very relatable in parts and extremely unrelatable in others. that is to say, i kept taking pictures of certain passages to send around.
incredibly impressed with her brand of aloofness - elitist enough to gun for uc berkley but not giving a shit about oci or even knowing what HLS stood for until her 2L summer.
not to be too earnest, but i think, for the most part, what i took away from this is that i am glad to have had the law school experience that i did.
robertrivasplata's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
Portrait of the kind of people who are able to stumble into law school & then skate on into a career in law. Dorn paints herself as a bitchy stoner contrarian approval & drama junkie. The tone keeps it light even with all the messed up things going on, so that it almost reads like some character's adventures in law-land, except it's all stuff that really happened! I once read a quote from the great Walter Mosley where he said something like “the most important thing a writer can add to a character is a bit of himself”. If I hadn't read Exalted, I'd be like “who's this weirdo”? But having read her other book, I recognize this person from all the characters in Exalted. The main difference between Anna (as she portrays herself) & the exalted characters is that she actually is as talented & accomplished as Emily & Dawn pretend to be. For me, the biggest revelation in here are Dorn's insights into attorney brain, which I believe her odd chapter defending Tao is but one manifestation. (I'm with her that life is not black & white, & prison isn't the solution to rape culture, but you can still give some some side-eye for a guy who's a little creepy.) That said, I do appreciate her anti-carceral stance. Goes well with watching Better Call Saul.
madisonrbrooks's review against another edition
4.0
it wasn’t vagablonde but i’ll read anything anna writes in one sitting - i’d also date her
thebacklistreader's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
acrosstheskyinstars's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
2.5
This book struck me as average overall. As someone who previously worked in criminal defense and for a law school, I was able to understand much of what she was talking about intimately (though I am not a lawyer myself). Many of her stories were fascinating, particularly if you know what it's like to work in criminal defense. That being said, I thought the parts of the book not directly relating to her legal experience flagged (maybe that's just my personal taste). Toward the end of the book, she gives many sociopolitical takes about the US criminal justice/legal systems. These are very nuanced opinions that you may or may not like, though if you tend to have very strong opinions going in already it is likely you will find her discussion lacking in one way or another.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Addiction, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Violence
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Trafficking
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
katsherms's review against another edition
4.0
Woof all the trigger warnings, what a messy world we live in
wxlamora's review against another edition
2.0
I was sent BAD LAWYER by Hachette Books as part of their #HBSocialClub!
Anna Dorn shares her time in law school and the few years after when she casually practiced law throughout this short memoir. As the title hints, she wasn’t the most skilled or interested lawyer- her sights set instead on launching her writing career. This is where the two meet.
I had a Bad Lawyer this past year. Lawyers to me are like capital A Adults and I trusted that this person would handle my case effectively and professionally. Instead, they strung me along for the better part of a year - frankly forgetting my case and failing to remedy the situation when I finally questioned it. I wouldn’t be surprised if I looked back and Anna Dorn was my lawyer in disguise.
Dorn shares how she skated by in law school at Berkeley, mostly skimming material and relying on her natural organizational skills to drive her through the rest. It was pretty illuminating and a story about law and lawyers that you don’t really see - but, of course there are bad ones, right? Of course not all lawyers are like those we see on TV (and hey, even a good lot of them are also problematic).
I couldn’t quite connect with the cadence of Dorn’s tale. The book starts out light hearted and fun, I wanted to love and hang out with this stoner law student on a journey of coming out and figuring her way into the world. But, as the book went on, Dorn boldly puts a finger on her privilege then shrugs it off. Wants to work hard for underprivileged clients but then shrugs when it doesn’t really happen. Complains about the law and it’s racism, sexism and various other disparities but shrugs because she gets a LOT of creative writing done at work.
The last couple of chapters feel different in tone and highlight facts and disparities that make one feel like she’s really putting her foot down on the LAW, but really these are essays she wrote while approaching publishing the book. The rest that was back filled was mostly us being convinced how flippant she was about the whole process and how being a lawyer was, like, totally not for her.
I’d love to hear others perspective on her story. While the book isn’t published until May, I have this ARC to pass on to anyone who might be interested. Share the story with a lawyer in your life and see their reaction. It’ll be a funny little experiment, just like playing with the law was to Anna Dorn.
Anna Dorn shares her time in law school and the few years after when she casually practiced law throughout this short memoir. As the title hints, she wasn’t the most skilled or interested lawyer- her sights set instead on launching her writing career. This is where the two meet.
I had a Bad Lawyer this past year. Lawyers to me are like capital A Adults and I trusted that this person would handle my case effectively and professionally. Instead, they strung me along for the better part of a year - frankly forgetting my case and failing to remedy the situation when I finally questioned it. I wouldn’t be surprised if I looked back and Anna Dorn was my lawyer in disguise.
Dorn shares how she skated by in law school at Berkeley, mostly skimming material and relying on her natural organizational skills to drive her through the rest. It was pretty illuminating and a story about law and lawyers that you don’t really see - but, of course there are bad ones, right? Of course not all lawyers are like those we see on TV (and hey, even a good lot of them are also problematic).
I couldn’t quite connect with the cadence of Dorn’s tale. The book starts out light hearted and fun, I wanted to love and hang out with this stoner law student on a journey of coming out and figuring her way into the world. But, as the book went on, Dorn boldly puts a finger on her privilege then shrugs it off. Wants to work hard for underprivileged clients but then shrugs when it doesn’t really happen. Complains about the law and it’s racism, sexism and various other disparities but shrugs because she gets a LOT of creative writing done at work.
The last couple of chapters feel different in tone and highlight facts and disparities that make one feel like she’s really putting her foot down on the LAW, but really these are essays she wrote while approaching publishing the book. The rest that was back filled was mostly us being convinced how flippant she was about the whole process and how being a lawyer was, like, totally not for her.
I’d love to hear others perspective on her story. While the book isn’t published until May, I have this ARC to pass on to anyone who might be interested. Share the story with a lawyer in your life and see their reaction. It’ll be a funny little experiment, just like playing with the law was to Anna Dorn.