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Vol. 72, No. 7, July 1999 |
Book Reviews
This Month's Featured Selections
 Lawyer: A Life of Counsel and Controversy
By Arthur L. Lipman
(New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 1998).
Hard. 384 pgs. Retail $21.
Reviewed by David F. Loeffler
Arthur Liman's death in 1997 deprived the profession
of a premier corporate litigator. But Liman's memoir of
a life in the law should reassure anxious or depressed lawyers,
especially litigators, that they too can lead meaningful and
useful legal lives.
The book is a retrospective of pieces of complex and high
stakes corporate litigation. Liman was a "first chair"
who spent hours deciding what the dominant theme or narrative
of his case would be, and then invested many additional hours
absorbing every relevant fact, mastering each crucial document,
and personally prosecuting and defending every critical deposition.
For Liman, God (or the Devil) was in the details. Preparation
always determines a trial outcome, he tells us. And his considerable
successes, only some of which are recounted here, are the vindication
of his approach.
Memoirists, especially litigators, cast themselves in an overall
favorable light. Liman is no exception, but the unbridled self-promotion
and unqualified egoism that exude from most litigators'
stories of their career are not present here. Although Liman
is convinced that "his side" was invariably the side
of "justice and right," he is a sufficiently scrupulous
storyteller, so that, in almost every case, the trained reader
can conclude from Liman's narration that an alternative
view of the case was, at the least, a reasonable one. He includes
cases he lost.
Most interesting is Liman's observation, with illustrations,
that the litigator's basic skills - the ability to
think strategically while mastering dense detail, and a sense
of creative compromise as the road to settlement - enabled
him to wisely advise, up front, on large commercial transactions,
even though he has no particular transactional expertise in
matters of mergers, acquisitions, financing, or the black-letter
law of corporations.
These same litigation skills served Liman well when he served
as chief counsel of Gov. Rockefeller's investigation of
the Attica prison uprising, and as a chief counsel of the congressional
joint committee investigating the Iran/contra affair.
Arthur Liman was a loyal advocate. He never hesitated to bring
the bad news, unvarnished, early on. However, he never cut and
ran, either to preserve a reputation for success or to opportunistically
minimize costs at the expense of the quality of representation,
if any doubt arose as to a client's ability to continue
to pay. His personal anguish is palpable as he recounts the moment
at which Judge Kimba Wood imposed a 10-year sentence on his client,
Michael Milken, after Liman had laboriously negotiated a guilty
plea bargain (in which the government promised not to seek more
than five years imprisonment), a bargain Judge Wood ignored.
Arthur Liman is perhaps best known to the general public and
to most lawyers for his role as chief counsel to the joint congressional
committees investigating the Iran missile/contra diversion transaction.
The committees investigated that matter with a view toward determining
whether President Reagan committed impeachable offenses. Liman
and the committee concluded that he did not, largely because
of the lack of evidence that the President, in fact, knew very
much at all about the activities of his National Security Advisor,
Admiral Poindexter, and Poindexter's assistant, Col. Oliver
North. Liman's observations on President Reagan's hands-off
style of foreign policy management, as revealed by the committee's
record, are not complimentary to the President.
On a matter of some immediate relevance, Liman's experience
with the Iran/contra matter convinced him that the Office of
the Independent Counsel was an unwise, if not unconstitutional,
delegation of responsibility for democratic governance by politically
responsible decisionmakers in the executive and legislative branches.
He was deeply disappointed that most Americans thought Col. North
was a true patriot - doing what was necessary to do what
was right. Liman thought that North, and others, were renegades,
contemptuous of the constitutional processes of our democracy.
Characteristically, Liman blamed the manner in which Liman had
conducted the investigation for what he perceived to be a terrible
failure in understanding by most members of the public.
Arthur Liman loved the law. The manner in which he discharged
all his duties for nearly 40 years reaffirms Oliver Wendell Holmes'
faith that a lawyer can live grandly in the law.
David F. Loeffler is a corporate litigator
in Milwaukee affiliated with the law firm of Krukowski &
Costello S.C.
Competing Interests in Family Law: Legal
Rights and
Duties of Third Parties, Spouses, and Significant Others
By John C. Mayoue
(Chicago, IL: ABA Family Law Section, 1998).
Soft. 187 pgs. Retail $84.95.
Reviewed by Jolene D. Schneider
This book is a well-written, organized introduction to some
of the unique issues confronting the family law practitioner.
As the title implies, legislators and jurists are frequently
required to balance competing, yet compelling interests in their
creation of family law.
Attorney John C. Mayoue begins his analysis by identifying
various evidentiary and civil issues that may arise in the context
of a divorce action, including wiretapping. Most family law attorneys
have encountered clients in the midst of placement disputes who
believed that they gathered valuable evidence in their cases
by recording telephone conversations between their spouses and
their children. Those same attorneys likely would find Mayoue's
readable, concise summary of federal law on the subject useful
in dealing with such clients. (Fellow practitioners, take note:
Attorneys suffer significant liability exposure if they disclose
and/or use an "intercepted" communication.)
Mayoue also examines the rights of third parties and relates
how parties' competing legal interests may result in additional
issues being raised within the context of domestic litigation.
For example, judicial recognition of third party ownership interests
in marital property may dramatically alter the parameters of
an equitable property division.
Finally, Mayoue addresses changes in the law that recognize
the growing number of "alternative" relationships in
our society. The recent expansion of rights afforded to grandparents
and stepparents results in diminished parental rights, and the
ensuing tension between these and other competing interests illustrate
the delicate nature of many issues challenging our legal system.
As the foregoing suggests, Mayoue raises many issues for which
there is no quick or easy resolution. The reader may be left
with more questions than answers. However, the book does enable
one to identify situations where additional research would be
either necessary or desirable in representing a client. Fortunately,
the reader need not look far for additional sources of information.
The numerous appendices and works cited will provide a strong
foundation for further research of any of the topics addressed
within this book.
Because Mayoue is speaking to a national audience, readers
should view his book as a handy guide to potential issues rather
than as an exhaustive reference. Frankly, seasoned family law
practitioners may find that Competing Interests in Family
Law is a bit too simplistic to be useful. On the other hand,
newer attorneys and general practitioners probably would view
this handbook as a welcome addition to their libraries.
Jolene D. Schneider, U.W. 1997 cum laude,
is an associate at Robinson, Peterson, Berk & Cross LLP,
Appleton. Her practice focuses on family law.
Hot Docs® In One Hour for Lawyers
By Bruce W. Miller
(Chicago, IL: ABA Law Practice Management Section, 1998).
Soft. 55 pgs. Retail $34.95.
To order, call (800) 285-2221.
Reviewed by Martin A. Blumenthal
HotDocs® is a nifty software application that lets the
user automate document preparation. For example, assume a lawyer
prepares the same real estate contract for all residential properties.
He or she normally may go through the document on the word processor
and manually change the terms (for example, buyer name, seller
name, price) to fit each transaction. HotDocs automates this
process and lets the lawyer insert all of the terms that change
from contract to contract (called "variables") on one
screen while the computer does the rest.
Hot Docs® in One Hour for Lawyers is a step-by-step
manual for learning this program. To run the program, your computer
will need at least 6 MB of space left on the hard drive, 8 MB
of RAM and a 386 CPU. (If you are still using a 386 machine with
8 MB of RAM, get rid of it. I recommend at least a 120 Mhz CPU
with 32 MB of RAM.) HotDocs is not available in DOS or MAC and
needs Windows 3.1, 95 or NT 3.51 or 4.0 to run it. It also is
compatible with three popular word processors: WordPerfect for
Windows (version 5.2 or later), Word for Windows (version 6.0,
7.0 or 97), and AmiPro for Windows (3.0 or 3.1).
In four easy lessons, complete with detailed steps and on-screen
illustrations, the manual guides the reader through the program's
capabilities from basic to advanced. "That's great!"
you say, "but I can't learn how to use a program from
a book alone." Well, you don't have to if you have
Internet access. Just point your browser to www.capsoft.com to
download a copy of HotDocs that's good for 30 days.
An extra lesson explores the advanced features of HotDocs
that greatly increase the program's usefulness, and the
author adds helpful advice culled from his own experience.
This book will get you up and running quickly and will shorten
your learning curve significantly.
Martin A. Blumenthal, IIT-Chicago Kent
1981, is a CPA and practicing attorney in Illinois and Wisconsin.
America's Achilles' Heel: Nuclear, Biological,
and Chemical Terrorism and Covert Attack
By Richard A. Falkenrath, Robert D. Newman,
and Bradley
A. Thayer
(Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1998).
354 pgs. Retail $22.50.
Reviewed by Daniel B. Baskin
An Achilles' heel is a unique vulnerability in an otherwise
impregnable entity: the chink in one's armor, so to speak.
Achilles was the son of a mortal father and the goddess Thetis.
To make him immune from physical harm, his mother dipped the
infant Achilles in the river Styx. As she dangled him in the
river, Thetis held tiny Achilles by the heel of one foot. Achilles'
heel, untouched by the river water, remained the one vulnerable
spot on his body. During the Trojan War, Achilles died when he
was struck by an arrow in this very spot.
The Cold War is over, and no longer is there an empire that
can challenge America's global preeminence. While relatively
secure from outside military attack, America remains vulnerable
to covert attack from within. It is this vulnerability that is
America's Achilles' heel. A nuclear, biological, or
chemical (NBC) covert attack may not be imminent, but the threat
is very real and growing stronger each day. Indeed, such acts
already have occurred in the industrialized world.
The authors carefully examine the logistics of acquiring weapons
of mass destruction and their various effects. They also analyze
the motivations and limitations of both "state actors"
(nations) and "nonstate actors" (private groups or
individuals) with regard to the use of these weapons. Such weapons
are well within the reach of those perseverant and fanatical
enough to develop or acquire them. Historically, the use of weapons
of mass destruction has not served the interests of most traditional
terrorist organizations; they understand that overplaying violence
can lead to abandonment by sponsors and sympathizers. A noteworthy
development, however, is the rise of terrorists who, rather than
using violence as a means to an end, regard violence itself as
the end. Timothy McVeigh and company are examples of this new
breed.
The authors suggest measures to help America better prepare
for covert NBC attack. They argue that the time to plan for such
a disaster is now, before judgments are clouded with emotion.
Otherwise, in the ensuing panic of a covert NBC attack, Americans'
civil liberties could be early casualties.
For those interested in a comprehensive review of the NBC
threat, America's Achilles' Heel is a good place
to start.
Daniel B. Baskin, U.W. 1990, presently
practices law in the Milwaukee area.
 Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary
By Juan Williams
(New York, NY: Times Books, 1998).
Hard. 459 pgs. Retail $19.25.
Reviewed by Julita Kishma de Leon
It is fitting that someone should write a biography of Thurgood
Marshall, one of the most influential Americans in this century.
Juan Williams' Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary
is a wonderful attempt to shed light on Marshall's life
and legacy.
Marshall's prominence arises from his contribution to
public law, specifically his interpretation of the First and
Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, his landmark
decisions such as Stanley v. Georgia (1969) and Grayned
v. City of Rockford (1972), and his exemplification of individual
rights and civil liberties.
Williams, the best-selling author of Eyes on the Prize,
is a seasoned political analyst with the Washington Post.
He gives a thorough account of Marshall's boyhood in Baltimore,
his life as an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund, his tenure as an appellate court judge, and his reign as
solicitor general. The author meticulously relates aspects of
Marshall's life - such as his familial relations, his
middle-class background, his bout with racial discrimination,
and his contribution to the 1960s civil rights movement -
to Marshall's work as an attorney. Williams also nudges
the reader to view Marshall as a product of an integrated community
who fought incessantly to integrate American society. According
to Williams, "the key to Marshall's work was his conviction
that integration - and only integration - would allow
equal rights under the law to take hold." In fact, Williams
seems to support this view and he discretely nudges the reader
to arrive at the same conclusion.
Although Williams painstakingly explains and illuminates Marshall's
achievements as an attorney, he offers little on Marshall's
contribution as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. While Marshall
is well known for his influence on civil rights law, he contributed
significantly to First Amendment jurisprudence. This biography
does not include this aspect of Marshall's tenure at the
Supreme Court. In fact, the reader longs to see Marshall's
intellect, his views on other areas of the law, and his view
of a judge's role in our legal system.
Nonetheless, Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary
is an undertaking of considerable merit. The book gives a solid
view of a distinguished American who changed our society by "creating
a new legal landscape." It also paves the way for a more
definitive work on Marshall's legacy as a U.S. Supreme Court
justice.
The book would be most useful to those who are concerned about
effectuating social changes and are thinking about attending
law school but are unsure of how to use the law as an instrument
to effectuate social change. It also may be useful for disillusioned
attorneys who, at the nadir of their careers, are rethinking
what it means to be a lawyer. Lastly, the book would be useful
to those who provide legal representation to the economically
dispossessed in this country.
Julita Kishma de Leon is a 1996 graduate
of the U.W. Law School.
 Inventing Software: The Rise of
"Computer-Related" Patents
By Kenneth Nichols
(Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1998).
Hard. 169 pgs. Retail $55.
Reviewed by Aida Michlowksi
Inventing Software: The Rise of Computer-Related Patents
is not for the faint of heart. This work is clearly written for
the highly computer literate. To read it is to go through "a
dense forest of legal and technical verbiage."
The first two chapters are replete with computerese and the
alphabet soup of acronyms. Then one finds a clearing in chapter
3. Of particular interest to intellectual property practitioners
are the definitions of novelty, obviousness and nonobviousness,
along with software patent examples such as a text-search system,
an object-oriented database, a "C" source code blocker,
and a special-purpose sorting method. But a thick fog of software
patent controversy descends in chapter 4 followed by a ray of
sunshine in chapter 5 with a proposal for change.
Targeting the software developer in chapter 6, Nichols offers
suggestions on how to minimize infringement risk such as: documentation
of the sources of the algorithms, defensive publishing, source
code availability, and contingency planning. Nichols also includes
the all-important section on how to choose a lawyer - one
who would take the initiative to safeguard the software inventor's
interest. Nichols recommends full-service firms and lawyers with
computer science backgrounds for obvious reasons. The book ends
with discussions of programming in chapter 7 and the crisis of
the patent paradigm.
Nichols sums the software patent controversy succinctly, "that
the legal scheme surrounding software is a mess" and "[I]f
only software changed as slowly as the law, maybe then we could
all get some much-needed rest." Unfortunately, such is not
the case and although Nichol's style is straightforward,
I didn't learn anything new. Maybe I should start with Computer-Related
Patents for Dummies.
Aida Michlowski, Marquette 1991, is
a full professor at Silver Lake College in Manitowoc.
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