The Judicial Studies Shelf

Justice at Trial
James J. Brosnahan
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
www.rowman.com
9781538174432, $36.00, HC, 286pp

https://www.amazon.com/Justice-Trial-Courtroom-Battles-Groundbreaking/dp/15= 3817443X

Synopsis: With the publication of "Justice at Trial: Courtroom Battles and = Groundbreaking Cases", readers can follow trial lawyer James J. Brosnahan's=
career through the demanding, often controversial, and suspenseful world o=
f jury trials, tension-filled appeals and the different worlds of courtroom=
s, jail cells, corporate boardrooms, and law firms.

Each of the cases in the nineteen chapters were selected from a total of hi=
s 150 jury trials to reflect issues of current importance, including refuge=
es on the Mexican border, gargantuan gender battles inside one of the large=
st corporations in the world, sexual taboos on national television, accusat= ions of terrorism, government agents who cheat, innocent prisoners in our j= ails, the constitutional right to speak and print the truth, bringing law t=
o a war zone, poverty and murder on Native American Reservations, current p= roblems of hunger in America, and more.

Critique: A combination of trial lawyer memoir and the contemporary justice=
system, "Justice at Trial: Courtroom Battles and Groundbreaking Cases" is =
an extraordinary, informative, insightful, professional, and personal story=
of life in the law. While very highly recommended, especially for communit=
y, college, and university library Contemporary American Biography/Memoir c= ollections and supplemental Judicial Studies curriculum studies lists, it s= hould be noted for law students, academia, political law reform advocates, = and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Ju= stice at Trial" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $34.00)=
..

Editorial Note: As a federal prosecutor and a defense lawyer, James J. Bros= nahan has tried 150 jury trials and is a member of the California Trial Law= yer's Hall of Fame. He was a senior partner at Morrison Foerster, a preemin= ent thousand-lawyer international law firm based in San Francisco. For 46 y= ears he has lectured internationally for the National Institute of Trial Ad= vocacy (NITA). He has authored articles for the American Constitutional Blo=
g, Law 360, The California Historical Society, The Daily Journal (Californi= a's legal paper), the New York Times, Bloomberg Law, and the Los Angeles Ti= mes. He has also appeared many times on national radio and television where=
he has been interviewed by ABC, CNN, Fox News, Larry King, National Public=
Radio, and PBS. (https://www.mofo.com/people/james-brosnahan)

Justice for Sale
Gary Stein
The Lyons Press
www.lyonspress.com
c/o The Globe Pequot Press
www.globepequot.com
Blackstone Audiobooks
https://www.blackstonelibrary.com
9781493072569, $35.00, HC, 448pp

https://www.amazon.com/Justice-Sale-Crooked-Federal-Gotham/dp/1493072560

Synopsis: Martin T. Manton was a corrupt federal appeals court judge in New=
York who was convicted in 1939 and sent to prison.

At the time, this was a hugely important story: Manton was considered the h= ighest-ranking judge in the United States after the nine Justices of the Su= preme Court, and was nearly appointed to that august body in 1922. Yet his = story has never been told in book-length form before, and never with the be= nefit of such exhaustive research.

More than just a biography, with the publication of "Justice for Sale: Graf=
t, Greed, and a Crooked Federal Judge in 1930s Gotham", attorney Gary Stein=
examines Manton's misconduct in the context of the culture of corruption a=
nd organized crime that permeated New York City in the first part of the tw= entieth century. Dozens of others (prominent business executives, leading W= all Street lawyers, accountants, bankers, fixers, con men, another federal = judge) participated in Manton's crimes.

"Justice for Sale" profiles these unscrupulous and often colorful character=
s as well. It wasn't until Manhattan D.A. and future presidential candidate=
Thomas Dewey's successful pursuit of Manton, a federal grand jury investig= ation, and a sensational prosecution and trial in federal court that shocke=
d the nation that Manton and his corrupt schemes were finally brought down.

Critique: Given the growing contemporary awareness of corruption and surrep= titious bribery of two Supreme Court justices, and the rapidly growing susp= ensions of the judicial system given the pressing and divisive political/so= cial/cultural divides of today, "Justice for Sale: Graft, Greed, and a Croo= ked Federal Judge in 1930s Gotham" is a definitively researched, expertly w= ritten, impressively informative account of how a major American judicial f= igure became corrupt and how he was brought to a justice he could not buy h=
is way out of in a similar time to what we see happening in various element=
s of the justice system today. While especially and unreservedly recommende=
d for personal, professional, community, college, university, and law schoo=
l Judicial History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, i=
t should be noted for law students, academia, judicial reform activists, an=
d non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Just= ice for Sale" is also available in a digital book formatl (Kindle, $24.99) = and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 979821237847=
5, $31.95, CD).

Editorial Note: Gary Stein has been a practicing lawyer in New York for 35 = years since graduating from NYU School of Law. For nearly nine years, he wa=
s a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan and serve=
d as Chief of Appeals of that Office, appearing regularly before the Second=
Circuit Court of Appeals that Manton once headed. He is now a lawyer in pr= ivate practice in New York City. Gary has published numerous articles and b= ook reviews on law and legal history in, among other publications, the Wash= ington Post, Just Security, Morning Consult, the Jewish Review of Books, Co= nstitutional Commentary, the NYU Law Review, the NYU Journal of Legislation=
& Public Policy, the New York Law Journal, and the Business Crimes Bulleti=
n. He has twice received the Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing.

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Midwest Book Review
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