August 2023 MBR The Judicial Studies Shelf

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/153817443X

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 of jury trials, tension-filled appeals and the different worlds of courtrooms, jail cells, corporate boardrooms, and law firms.

Each of the cases in the nineteen chapters were selected from a total of his 150 jury trials to reflect issues of current importance, including refugees on the Mexican border, gargantuan gender battles inside one of the largest corporations in the world, sexual taboos on national television, accusations of terrorism, government agents who cheat, innocent prisoners in our jails, the constitutional right to speak and print the truth, bringing law to a war zone, poverty and murder on Native American Reservations, current problems 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 community, college, and university library Contemporary American Biography/Memoir collections and supplemental Judicial Studies curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for law students, academia, political law reform advocates, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Justice 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. Brosnahan has tried 150 jury trials and is a member of the California Trial Lawyer's Hall of Fame. He was a senior partner at Morrison Foerster, a preeminent thousand-lawyer international law firm based in San Francisco. For 46 years he has lectured internationally for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA). He has authored articles for the American Constitutional Blog, Law 360, The California Historical Society, The Daily Journal (California's legal paper), the New York Times, Bloomberg Law, and the Los Angeles Times. 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 highest-ranking judge in the United States after the nine Justices of the Supreme 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 benefit of such exhaustive research.

More than just a biography, with the publication of "Justice for Sale: Graft, Greed, and a Crooked Federal Judge in 1930s Gotham", attorney Gary Stein examines Manton's misconduct in the context of the culture of corruption and organized crime that permeated New York City in the first part of the twentieth century. Dozens of others (prominent business executives, leading Wall Street lawyers, accountants, bankers, fixers, con men, another federal judge) participated in Manton's crimes.

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

Critique: Given the growing contemporary awareness of corruption and surreptitious bribery of two Supreme Court justices, and the rapidly growing suspensions of the judicial system given the pressing and divisive political/social/cultural divides of today, "Justice for Sale: Graft, Greed, and a Crooked Federal Judge in 1930s Gotham" is a definitively researched, expertly written, impressively informative account of how a major American judicial figure became corrupt and how he was brought to a justice he could not buy his way out of in a similar time to what we see happening in various elements of the justice system today. While especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, university, and law school Judicial History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for law students, academia, judicial reform activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Justice for Sale" is also available in a digital book formatl (Kindle, $24.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9798212378475, $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 was a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan and served 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 private practice in New York City. Gary has published numerous articles and book reviews on law and legal history in, among other publications, the Washington Post, Just Security, Morning Consult, the Jewish Review of Books, Constitutional Commentary, the NYU Law Review, the NYU Journal of Legislation & Public Policy, the New York Law Journal, and the Business Crimes Bulletin. He has twice received the Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers. Full permission is given to post any of these reviews on thematically appropriate websites, newsgroups, listserves, internet discussion groups, organizational newsletters, or to interested individuals. Please give the Midwest Book Review a credit line when doing so.

The Midwest Book Review publishes the monthly book review magazines "California Bookwatch", "Internet Bookwatch", "Children's Bookwatch", "MBR Bookwatch", "Reviewer's Bookwatch", and "Small Press Bookwatch". All are available for free on the Midwest Book Review website at www (dot) midwestbookreview (dot) com

Anyone wanting to submit books for review consideration can send them to:

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129

To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugalmuse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number, and list price).

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review