Above The Law Select Their Top Legal Themed Titles of 2018

Here’s their roundup of the best of the best from 2018 so far.

The Distinguished Dozen: ATL Book Club’s Top Legal Picks For 2018

IF YOU PREFER LEGAL FICTION

  1. An American Marriage: A Novel, by Tayari Jones – A love story at heart, this acclaimed novel centers around a man’s wrongful conviction and five-year imprisonment, and the lasting effects on him and those closest to him. A New York Times Best Seller and an Oprah’s Book Club selection, the novel continues to garner praise from lawyers and non-lawyers alike.

STORIES OF A BROKEN SYSTEM

  1. Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores, by Dominique DuBois Gilliard – If you were moved by the documentary 13th on Netflix, this book might be right up your alley. Tackling America’s system of mass incarceration from a historical and theological perspective, Gilliard addresses the unjust and biased practices of today’s lucrative prison industry through the lens of Christianity and its role in justice.
  2. The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken, by Secret Barrister – America’s not alone when it comes to failings in its justice system. In this book, an anonymous barrister exposes the true inner workings of the UK’s criminal justice system. Ranging from funny anecdotes about why judges wear wigs to serious pieces about defending guilty clients, the author unpacks the moving and human side of the messy justice system across the pond.

TO SATISFY YOUR TRUE CRIME CRAVINGS

  1. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, by Michelle McNamara – Thanks in large part to pop culture hits like Making a Murder, The Jinx, and Serial, interest in true crime stories is at an all-time high. McNamara adds her work to the popular genre, chronicling her unbelievably exhaustive pursuits to uncover the identity of the infamous Golden State Killer.

FOR THE ASPIRING LAWYER IN YOUR LIFE

  1. How to Be Sort of Happy in Law School, by Kathryne M. Young – If you’re still one of the last remaining souls that thinks it might be a good idea to go to law school just for fun, you should at least prepare yourself for the realities of the experience. Young advises wannabe lawyers on how to tackle law school on their own terms, based on actual studies of student experiences. As they say, the best offense is a good defense.

FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF LAWYERS

  1. The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Coloring Book: A Tribute to the Always Colorful and Often Inspiring Life of the Supreme Court Justice Known as RBG, by Tom F. O’Leary – Who doesn’t want a coloring book dedicated to the legal groundbreaker and feminist icon RBG? Feel free to embrace your inner dissenter and color outside the lines.
  2. Turning Pages: My Life Story, by Sonia Sotomayor – It’s never too early to start inspiring the next generation to dream big. Justice Sotomayor does her part by telling her own story, with the help of artist Lulu Delacre, in this charming children’s book.

(Don’t worry, we won’t tell if you order either of these for yourself. In fact, we encourage it.)

BEST BOOK TO DISPLAY ON YOUR COFFEE TABLE

  1. The Unstoppable Ruth Bader Ginsburg: American Icon, by Antonia Felix – The Notorious RBG has achieved the status of full-fledged pop culture icon. Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of her Supreme Court appointment, this book offers a photo retrospective of her life and work. Come for the 130 beautiful pictures, stay for the inspiring quotes and speech highlights.

FOR THE MORE BUSINESS-MINDED

  1. We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights, by Adam Winkler – While litigation may get a lot more play on TV and in the movies, much of the legal industry focuses instead on business matters. In this work of non-fiction, Winkler recounts the largely unknown struggle of how corporations came to have many of the same rights as people under the Constitution.

FOR THE HISTORY BUFFS

  1. Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and His Times, by Joel Richard Paul – The Supreme Court has been in the spotlight lately, raising interest in its inner workings. This historical account of the longest-serving Chief Justice in the court’s history provides in-depth insight into the early days of the Supreme Court and Marshall’s lasting influence.

TOPICAL NON-FICTION PICKS

  1. The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America, by Beth Lew-Williams – Immigration is one of the biggest hot-button issues in the Trump era, but exclusionary policies are nothing new. Lew-Williams goes all the way back to the 1850s to paint a historical narrative of immigration in American and how the concept of the alien came to be.
  2. Epstein on Intellectual Property by Michael A. Epstein – Not only a peerless primer on  copyright, trademarks, patents and other foundational aspects of  intellectual property law, Epstein covers hot topics ranging from biotechnology to claims under the “law of ideas.”  Published by Wolters Kluwer.

We look forward to seeing the new crop of legal books to come in 2019. Until then, happy reading!