Book Reviews
A Civil Action
By Jonathan Harr (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1997). Nonfiction.
512 pgs. $13. Paper.
Reviewed by Kurt R. Anderson
Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action chronicles the epic
litigation between several residents of Woburn, Mass., and two
multinational corporations (W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods) accused of
poisoning a vital city aquifer with trichloroethylene (TCE). In the
early 1970s, children within a specific neighborhood in Woburn served by
the aquifer began developing leukemia at alarming rates. Grass-roots
organizational efforts among the affected families sought medical
information establishing a connection between TCE exposure and leukemia,
and legal advice concerning potential claims against Grace and Beatrice.
Their efforts eventually led to the involvement of attorney Jan
Schlichtmann, a flamboyant, intensely focused rising star in the Boston
legal community.
Harr's total access to the families and Schlichtmann's team provides
readers of A Civil Action with a uniquely intimate account of
the grief in Woburn, the grueling, marathon litigation and the eventual
unraveling of Schlichtmann and his firm. Harr is privy to every detail -
the gut-wrenching emotion of the families' battle against leukemia, and
the strategy sessions and settlement negotiations once litigation is
commenced. Harr devotes attention to the legal nuances at play between
the cutthroat participants without bogging down his up-tempo narrative
style. Post-trial interviews of counsel for Grace and Beatrice round out
Harr's research and give the book a balanced perspective.
More than anything else, A Civil Action is the story of Jan
Schlichtmann. At the outset, Schlichtmann knows no fear. Every case he
touches is better than the last. When he turns down a temptingly
lucrative settlement offer on behalf of a client, he gets a better
result from the jury. Success brings the spoils of sudden riches and a
feeling of invincibility. When he turns his attention to the Woburn
case, he excludes all else in his life. As if blinded by his focus,
Schlichtmann ignores the pleas of his partners and advisors to drop the
case due to the staggering costs and time anticipated. Grace and
Beatrice are defended by star litigators from large firms with unlimited
resources, and the ensuing years of litigation take their toll on
Schlichtmann. He deteriorates mentally and physically, losing touch with
reality as the case overwhelms him. His firm, once a showcase of
extravagant prosperity, is reduced to battling creditors as the Woburn
case drags on for years and dries up the cash flow.
Harr's years in the ringside seat give A Civil Action an
intimacy and perspective typically associated with the omniscience of
fictional work, allowing a unique glimpse into the hearts of the parties
and the minds of the litigants. The delicate weaving of detailed legal
discussion with emotion and human spirit in an engaging narrative style
provides an interesting and informative read.
A Guide to Wisconsin Statutes of Limitation
and Other Time Limits, 1997 edition
Compiled by Jennifer Darling and Margaret Dewind (Madison, WI:
State Bar CLE Books, 1997). 463 pgs. $35. To order, call (800)
362-8096.
Reviewed by Lisa M. Arent
One-fifth of legal malpractice claims originate in missed dead-lines
or other calendaring errors. There are many statutes that set forth
limitation periods and other deadlines. For these reasons, the State Bar
of Wisconsin published the Fourth Edition of A Guide to Wisconsin
Statutes of Limitation and Other Time Limits 1997 (the
Guide). The Guide is cosponsored by the State Bar and
Wisconsin Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co., and is compiled by attorneys
Margaret Dewind and Jennifer Darling.
The Guide is a companion to the Wisconsin Statutes. It aims
to provide a user- friendly summary of statutory time limits. The book
is hefty but is an improvement on the statutes setting time limits,
which are scattered throughout the volumes of the Wisconsin
Statutes.
There are 423 pages of statute summaries. The statutes are covered
sequentially, beginning with Wis. Stat. section 1.11(2)(d), and ending
with statutes from Chapter 990, regarding construction of statutes.
Designed for quick reference, each summary contains: 1) the statute
number; 2) the action required; 3) the time within which the action must
be taken; and 4) the event from which the time period is calculated. The
Guide does not analyze the statutes beyond their terms - it
does not explain how the terms have been interpreted and applied. It
also does not include other procedural prerequisites to suit. For
example, its entry for Wis. Stat. section 893.82 does not include the
requirements for the notice of claim to the state, which are strictly
construed.
The Guide succinctly records a large amount of information
in one volume. It appears to cover all areas of substantive law
addressed by the statutes - from elections law, through tax claims,
civil actions and criminal law. The Guide is not limited to
statutes of limitation. It includes other deadlines. For example, it
includes the notice periods for evictions. For the probate lawyer, it
tells the time within which to file the inventory and the estate tax
return.
How easy to use is the Guide? It takes practice and some
advance information. If the user has in mind the applicable chapter or
sections (for example, chapter 893), then the statute summary can be
located quickly. If not, one must find answers in the index, or page
through the summaries to find the appropriate chapter. The index is key
to the Guide's usefulness, but it has its shortcomings.
The index is not as thorough as the index to the actual statutes,
which cross reference synonyms and common terms. For example, if people
want to find the statute section for the time for filing an answer, they
won't find it by looking for "answer" in the Guide's index.
They will only find it by searching under "pleadings" and then scanning
chapter 802. If a person knows generally that a notice of claim is
required before suing the state, the index does not help find the
applicable statute. The index does not reference the statute under
"notice of claim" or under "state, actions against." One must look
through the statute of limitations chapter 893 to discover sections
893.80 and 893.82.
A Guide to Wisconsin Statutes of Limitation is a good tool
for quickly surveying the field of deadlines and limitations periods.
Its summaries provide helpful practice checklists. The Guide is
not a substitute for careful research or for reading the statutes
themselves. Moreover, it does not cover important sources such as local
court rules or local laws. It does, however, serve as a useful map for
maneuvering the web of procedural and substantive statutes containing
limitation periods and deadlines.
The Medical Malpractice Handbook: The
Plaintiff
By Bruce Livingston and Stephen Morewitz (Bethesda, MD: Austin
& Winfield Publishers, 1996). 113 pgs. Paper. $44.95. To order, call
(800) 992-8784.
Reviewed by Dennis E. Robertson
The underlying premise of The Medical Malpractice Handbook: The
Plaintiff is that health-care providers have the law, medicine,
lawyers and money in their favor when defending medical malpractice
cases. Through very brief discussions of various stages of handling a
patient's claim, the louder lesson is that only experienced, well-funded
and well-versed counsel should take cases for injured patients after
close circumspection.
Although the book's theme may be correct, those believing from the
title that it will help them through their first plaintiff's malpractice
claim will be very disappointed. Aside from some generalized advice,
random case citations and unhelpful transcript excerpts, there is
nothing here that is not well known to any personal injury
litigator.
This work's tone and organization suggest that it originally may have
been intended for customers of the author's medical witness recruitment
business while the content suggests a perspective obtained entirely from
that of a witness recruiter/case evaluator. It is suggested, for
example, that attorneys should not try to conduct an initial interview
of a prospective malpractice client without a hired physician present to
assist - a suggestion that would be followed only by one who paid $44.95
for this small publication.
One could edit these writings by deletion only and produce a
reasonable chapter in a book for new lawyers to prevent their unintended
entry into the minefield of plaintiff's malpractice litigation. It will
not help them out, however.
There have been scores of attempts to merge medicine with law for a
perceived large audience but with limited value to both fields. The best
medical handbooks for lawyers are still those written for medical
residents. The accurate, comprehensive and useful Lawyers Medical
Cyclopedia, originally published by Allen Smith Co. in l959 (now
published by Michie Co.), while not specific to medical negligence,
remains one of the very few successful marriages of medicine and law
even as it approaches its golden anniversary.
The Mirror of Justice: Literary Reflections
of Legal Crises
By Theodore Ziolkowski (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1997). 272 pgs. $47.50. Hard. To order, call (609)
258-5714.
Reviewed by Jack Stark
Law and literature is a burgeoning field. As Theodore Ziolkowski
asserts, the field is composed mainly of literary criticism about works
that have something to do with law and of analyses, in the mode of
literary criticism, of legal opinions. Neither approach has been very
fruitful. With a few exceptions (for example, Martha Nussbaum's
Poetic Justice), the former category is standard literary
criticism that reveals little about the law. Also with a few exceptions
(for example, James Boyd White's work), the latter category is not very
useful or revealing. In The Mirror of Justice Ziolkowski offers
a much more promising approach: beginning with the law, in particular
with crises in its development that are caused by a disjunction between
recent developments in it and prevailing moral beliefs, and then
examining literary works that comment on those crises.
Occasionally, Ziolkowski is successful at pointing out ways in which
literary works illuminate those crises and, thus, illuminate the law.
For example, his discussion of Aeschylus' The Eumenides as a
reflection on the transition from a law based on custom and enforced by
individuals' exertion of force to a more formal law administered by the
state is illuminating. However, his book is diffuse. Sometimes it is not
clear whether he is trying to explain the law applicable to the time
when a work of literature was written or the law of the time when the
work's action occurs. Often he embarks upon meandering excursions into
either law or literature. Sometimes he briefly analyzes several works
that relate to the legal crisis he is delineating, thereby blurring his
focus. Sometimes he discusses not a legal crisis but an enduring
problem, such as the relation between positive law and natural law.
One of the main values of this book are the insights scattered
throughout it; Ziolkowski is incisive and amazingly erudite. The other
main value is his method. If he had limited himself to a few literary
works that comment on legal issues crucial when the works were written,
had delved more deeply into both the legal issues and the literary works
and had avoided detours, he would have produced a monumental work. As it
is, he has produced a very interesting book that shows how later
scholars can produce even better books.
Wills, Trusts and Technology: An Estate
Lawyer's Guide to Automation
By Daniel B. Evans (Chicago, IL: ABA Law Practice Management and
Real Property, Probate and Trust Law sections, 1996). 200+ pgs. $74.95.
To order, call (800) 285-2221.
Reviewed by Stephanie G. Rapkin
I was excited to get a copy of Wills, Trusts and Technology
for review. Although I am not technophobic, I am not as
computer-advanced as I should be. I hoped this book would provide me
with advanced techniques on how to better automate my will and trust
practice. Instead it provides a solid primer on using computers in a law
practice, and it just happens to concentrate in the area of wills,
trusts and probate. However, the basic concepts apply to any practice
area with a multitude of repeated tasks and repetitious use of
forms.
It is the perfect book for my father, Sheldon Rapkin, who refuses
even to turn on the computer. This is the book technology-hesitant
readers must have; it discusses such matters as why one should automate,
what calculations can be done on a computer and how well-organized the
calculations and projections look. In other words, this book shows how
and why one would want to become a consumer of automation. It describes
how efficient one can make a practice that constantly requires the
repeated use of basic forms that are modified for specific needs.
The book contains an appendix listing the various relevant software
programs available, including disks on estate planning, valuation,
actuarial calculations, tax return preparation and document assembly,
and how to order them. The appendix also lists tax research programs
available on CD-ROM; however, they omitted two major publishing houses -
Matthew Bender and CCH as resources that have extensive tax libraries on
CD-ROM. Consequently, it is best not to rely solely on appendices for
complete information. The caveat to all appendices is that they should
be used as only one research resource.
To summarize, computer-literate readers shouldn't bother with this
book, but computer-phobic readers will see what they've been
missing.
Judges and Politics in the Contemporary
Age
By Richard Hodder-Williams (Dulles, VA: Bowerdean Briefing
Series, 1997). 144 pgs. $14.95. Paper. To order, call (800)
243-0138.
Reviewed by James J. Casey Jr.
One of the most complex and perplexing issues in American political
and legal theory (and in reality) is the relationship between the
judicial branch and the two more political branches of government. What
is and should be the relationship between judges and politicians? In
Judges and Politics in the Contemporary Age, Richard
Hodder-Williams provides a solid introduction into these and related
topics.
The commonplace assumption in the United States is that impartial
judges render objective law and that judges are not "political animals"
in the sense of legislators and executive officials. While attorneys,
judges and some of the general public know this not to be the case, the
author maintains that although this assumption is inaccurate, it is
necessary because it legitimizes the judiciary in the eyes of the
general public. In fact, the assumption is necessary in our democratic
form of government.
In covering additional topics, such as legal interpretation
philosophies, judicial protection of minorities' rights and judicial
application of statutes, the author emphasizes the importance of the
separation of powers concept in our form of government. While judges may
act "political" when rendering decisions that essentially allocate
values, the separation of powers still is desirable to avoid an
excessive concentration of power in the legislative and executive
branches of government.
The author deepens the analysis of these and other topics by using
examples from the U.S., U.K. and France. As a professor of politics and
dean of the faculty of social sciences at the University of Bristol
(U.K.), he succeeds in using this comparative approach.
Upon finishing the book, the reader may wish it was longer and more
specific. Though short, the book provides readers with a broad overview
of the relationship between the judicial and political branches of
government.
Wisconsin Lawyer
