Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Audiobook (abridged)6 hours
In the Shadow of the Law
Written by Kermit Roosevelt
Narrated by Craig Wasson
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Morgan Siler is one of Washington, D.C.'s most powerful K Street law firms, its roster of clients stocked with multibillion-dollar corporations. The obsessive efforts of its senior partner, Peter Morgan, have transformed it from an old-fashioned business into a veritable Goliath. As Peter reaches the pinnacle of his career, his firm is embroiled in two difficult cases: a pro bono death penalty case in Virginia, and a class action lawsuit brought against Hubble Chemical of Texas after an on site explosion killed dozens of workers. Assigned to these cases is a group of seasoned partners and young associates struggling to make their way in the firm. Mark Clayton, fresh out of law school, is beginning to loathe the dullness of much of his work and to be frightened by the deterioration of his personal life when he is assigned to the pro bono case. Assisting him is the mercurial Walker Eliot, a brilliant third-year associate whose passion for the law is as great as his skill at unraveling its intricacies. The aggressive, profane, and wildly successful litigator Harold Fineman is leading the Hubble defense, assisted by the new associate Katja Phillips, whose odd combination of efficiency and idealism intrigue him, and Ryan Grady, whose quest to pick up girls is starting to interfere with his work.
In this complex, ambitious, and gripping first novel, Kermit Roosevelt vividly illustrates the subtle and stark effects of the law not only on the lives of a group of lawyers but also on communities and private citizens. In the Shadow of the Law is both a deftly plotted page-turner and a meditation on the life of the law, the organism that is a law firm, and the consequences for those who come within its powerful orbit.
In this complex, ambitious, and gripping first novel, Kermit Roosevelt vividly illustrates the subtle and stark effects of the law not only on the lives of a group of lawyers but also on communities and private citizens. In the Shadow of the Law is both a deftly plotted page-turner and a meditation on the life of the law, the organism that is a law firm, and the consequences for those who come within its powerful orbit.
Unavailable
Author
Kermit Roosevelt
Kermit Roosevelt, author of In the Shadow of the Law, is an assistant professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. A former clerk to a U.S. Supreme Court justice, he is a graduate of Yale Law School and a member of the Human Rights Advisory Board of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Related to In the Shadow of the Law
Related audiobooks
Plaintiff in Chief: A Portrait of Donald Trump in 3,500 Lawsuits Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bribery and Corruption Casebook: The View from Under the Table Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rogue Justice: The Making of the Security State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When They Come for You: How Police and Government Are Trampling Our Liberties - and How to Take Them Back Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Proof of Collusion: How Trump Betrayed America Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Death of Outrage: Bill Clinton and the Assault on American Ideals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights Is Tearing America Apart Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond These Walls: Rethinking Crime and Punishment in the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unprecedented: A Simple Guide to the Crimes of the Trump Campaign and Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Guilty By Reason of Insanity: Why The Democrats Must Not Win Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clarence Thomas and the Lost Constitution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Injustice System: A Murder in Miami and a Trial Gone Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Scheme: How the Right Wing Used Dark Money to Capture the Supreme Court Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Democracy Under Fire: Donald Trump and the Breaking of American History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Case Against the New Censorship: Protecting Free Speech from Big Tech, Progressives, and Universities Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lawyer Bubble: A Profession in Crisis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Deep State: How an Army of Bureaucrats Protected Barack Obama and Is Working to Destroy the Trump Agenda Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swamp Wars: Donald Trump and the New American Populism vs. The Old Order Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOperation Greylord: The True Story of an Untrained Undercover Agent and America's Biggest Corruption Bust Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Thrillers For You
The Silent Patient Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfect: A Thriller That Will Grab You By Your DNA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Inmate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guest List: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wrong Place Wrong Time: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Lie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Perfect Marriage: a completely gripping psychological suspense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rose Code: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Local Woman Missing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Teacher Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The It Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bright Young Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Terminal List: A Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Turn of the Key Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Mercedes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hidden Pictures: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Housemaid Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fool Me Once Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for In the Shadow of the Law
Rating: 3.405402702702703 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
37 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kermit Roosevelt writes a very insightful novel that delves into the experiences of first year law associates in In the Shadow of the Law. The book's real strengths reside in its ability to understand each character as a person first and a lawyer second. These characters have real egos, needs, and insecurities. They are all very accomplished people, but they are human none the less. Roosevelt does a great job of writing a story that really exposes the world of high profile law firms.Some of the plot is dull and at times tedious. Some parts of the book are unneccessary to the overall novel. Overall, it's a very solid novel by a gifted writer who used his personal experience as an attorney and later law professor to really put together an above average story.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If "In the Shadow of the Law" is to be categorized as a legal thriller, emphasis must be added to the word "legal." This is not a book for those seeking a light-hearted romp through the legal justice system or a romanticized view of the high-powered attorney lifestyle. Rather, it's a scathing portrayal of the pressures and absurdities that confront the legions of young associates who are forced to bill like the wind to pay back their law school loans through indentured servitude in today's mega-firms as well as the mid-life crises engulfing the partners who have sacrificed their personal lives in pursuit of ever-loftier partnership profits. That's not to say that this novel isn't an entertaining read. Told from the perspective of half a dozen comically-stereotypical attorneys in a Washington law firm who are involved in a prono bono death penalty case and defense of a mass tort suit, Roosevelt hooks you by building a foreboding sense of suspense in the early chapters and then keeps you guessing with some nifty plot twists in the later stages. But unless you have a legal background, you may not appreciate the real genius of this book. As the title aptly conveys, the characters and plot of this novel are ultimately overshadowed by the law itself, which serves in equal shrift as villain and protagonist. The law operates as the villain in the hands of the greedy partners who have abandoned the role of lawyer as counselor in favor of lawyer as crass profiteer and mouthpiece for unsavory clients. Yet the law also acts as the protagonist when wielded by Mark and Katja, two neophyte associates who have still retained their youthful ideals and sense of justice. And, most interesting of all for this reader, the complex and mysterious personality of the law is beautifully depicted through the internal struggle of ex-Supreme Court clerk Walker Eliot who tries in vain to reconcile the Platonic version of legal precedent dispensed by the appellate courts with law as sullied by the mere mortals wrestling with bad facts in the lower courts. Somehow, though, I can imagine Professor Roosevelt exhorting his law students to be prepared to walk the muddy path of the law spurned by Eliot. -Kevin Joseph, author of "The Champion Maker"