If your legal passions are running cold the following books (and films!) may help reignite your fire.
We asked GSU Law professors for a list of books that have inspired them to be better lawyers. These are the books that shaped them. You will find that a couple of judges have weighed in too.
Books (with recommenders)
Alter (translator), The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary (W.W. Norton, 2004) (Carey)
Auchincloss, Powers of Attorney (Radford)
Bass, Taming the Storm: The Life and Times of Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., and the South's Fight over Civil Rights (Judge Phyllis Kravitch, 11th Circuit)
Bass, Unlikely Heroes (Emanuel, Floyd, Knowles, Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch, 11th Cir.)
Bingham, Class Action (Tonsing)
Bogus, Why Lawsuits are Good for America: Disciplined Democracy, Big Business, and the Common Law (Tonsing)
Bolt, A Man for All Seasons (Floyd)
Carlin, Lawyers On Their Own: The Solo Practitioner in an Urban Setting (Girth)
Drachman, Sisters in Law: Women Lawyers in Modern American History (Girth)
Dubus, House of Sand and Fog (Crawford)
Earley, Circumstantial Evidence : Death, Life, And Justice In A Southern Town (Bliss)
Galanter, Tournament of Lawyers: The Transformation of the Big Law Firm (Girth)
Greene, Praying for Sheetrock (Sobelson)
Grisham, A Time to Kill (Radford)
Harr, A Civil Action (Girth)
Keeva, Transforming Practices: Finding Joy and Satisfaction in the Legal Life (Floyd)
Kluger, Simple Justice (Tonsing)
Kronman, The Lost Lawyer (Edmundson)
Larson, Summer for the Gods: the Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion (Sobelson)
Lazarus, Closed Chambers: The First Eyewitness Account of the Epic Struggles Inside the Supreme Court (Radford)
Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (Floyd, Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch, 11th Cir.)
Lewis, Gideon's Trumpet (Knowles)
Llewellyn, The Bramble Bush (Griffith)
Lopez, Rebellious Lawyering: One Chicano's Vision of Progressive Law Practice (Girth)
Minnow & Bellow, Law Stories (Law, Meaning and Violence) (Budnitz)
Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation (Scott)
Plato, Crito and Gorgias (Edmundson)
Prejean, Dead Man Walking (Floyd)
Publius, The Federalist Papers (Justice P. Harris Hines, Supreme Court of GA)
Ray, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood (1999) (Hogue)
Rehnquist, Grand Inquests (Radford)
Rehnquist, The Supreme Court (Radford)
Renteln, The Cultural Defense (Tonsing)
Smith, ed. -- Rebels in Law: Voices in History of Black Women Lawyers (1998)(Girth)
Wexler, Fire in a Canebreak: The Last Mass Lynching in America (Sobelson)
Williams, Biography of Thurgood Marshall (Floyd)
Wishingrad, Legal Fictions, Short Stories About Lawyers and the Law (Budnitz)
Woodward & Armstrong, The Brethren (Radford)
For the religiously inclined, there is a wealth of inspiring essays in the special Faith and the Law issue of the Texas Tech Law Review, volume 27, issue 3 (1996). Forty-five authors from a diverse array of religious backgrounds describe in very personal essays how their religious faith has influenced their legal career. (Floyd)
Individual Biographies of any Supreme Court Justices (see also, “Supreme Court Justices 1789-1995: Illustrated Biographies” by The Supreme Court Historical Society) (Radford)
Films:
The Accused (Kinkopf)
The Advocate (Kinkopf)
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, NPR Documentary [for details contact historical society at 404-335-6395] (Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch, 11th Cir.)
Judgment at Nuremberg (Spencer Tracy's judge character is pretty inspiring) (Floyd)
Memory of Justice (Bross)
My Cousin Vinny (Kinkopf)
Philadelphia (watching Denzel Washington overcome his own homophobia to become a great advocate for Tom Hanks is pretty inspiring) (Floyd)
Rudy (Washington)
The Sorrow and the Pity (Bross)
The Sweet Hereafter (Kinkopf)
Witness for the Prosecution (Kinkopf)
Authors:
Jefferson, Thomas (Justice P. Harris Hines, Supreme Court of GA)
King, Jr., Martin Luther (Justice P. Harris Hines, Supreme Court of GA)
Washington, Georgia (Justice P. Harris Hines, Supreme Court of GA)
