Double Billing: A Young Lawyer's Tale Of Greed, Sex, Lies, And The Pursuit Of A Swivel Chair
Author: Cameron Stracher
List Price: $14.00
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ISBN: 0688172229
Publisher: Perennial (03 November, 1999)
Sales Rank: 94,027
Average Customer Rating: 3.84 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
After 20 years in the legal profession, I can assure you that this is, without a doubt, the most accurate book about the way things really are in law firms. I got into law because the guys on TV were always in the courtroom. Little did I know that the first year of practice means 20 hours a day in the library, 7 days a week. The second year means graduating to reviewing 100,000 documents which "may" have something to do with the case, but probably don't. Even the partners who do a lot of courtroom work (based on the research, writing, and busywork of the lower echelon) are not in the courtroom as often as Perry Mason.If you are looking for a classic courtroom thriller of the John Grisham/Steve Martini variety, this isn't it. What it is, is the perfect gift for that person who wants to go to law school. Once they read the unvarnished truth, instead of the drama, they will probably change their career goals. Real-life civil litigation isn't Ally McBeal, it isn't L.A. Law ... it's boring and stressful. Stracher is the first attorney to tell the truth about it.
A must-read for all future and current law students.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Double Your Displeasure with a Career in the Law
Cameron Stracher paints a pretty bleak picture of an associate's life with a big, blue chip law firm: extremely long hours, colleagues who are by turns backstabbing, cold, unemotional, selfish, and completely unthinking. Only the secretaries and word processors come across as even remotely likable. He does an apt job describing assignments for which a first year associate is both over- and underqualified: they're painstaking and menial, yet he isn't given the most rudimentary instructions that would actually enable him to do the job accurately.I do have a beef with his title: there's no sex in the book, unless you count a paralegal making out with an associate at a Christmas party, and the story line relating to the swivel chair takes up about 10 lines. This book is moderately well written, but the author's style is so dry and detached that his personality never really comes through. We get a sense of someone who is ethical, responsible, a good judge of character, who doesn't want to be a cog in a great greedy wheel, but there's no spark in this book. He never really breathes life into his characters. Which is too bad, because the subject matter has huge potential: the blue chip law firm as the modern-day dark, satanic mill.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Don't be disillusioned
Maybe I'm one out of a million, but I work in a reasonably big firm and although no job is perfect, most of the picture this book paints is foreign to me. Sure, there is pressure to bill. However, I was awarded important cases, with supervision, as soon as I proved my ability. Then, in due time, I had much less supervision. I receive respect and confidence from the partners in my firm - which I credit to them more than to myself. I am a woman being paid more than the male associates (after establishing a winning record), have a beautiful home, and I now work about 40 to 45 hours a week with generous time off. There are months with much more pressure, depending on deadlines, but overall, I smile everyday to pull into our parking garage. There are no cliques in our firm and I feel fulfilled. I did work temporarily for a firm that was more similar to the firm described by this book and its reviewers, but for new lawyers or lawyers stuck in firms from hell, don't lose hope. My job is less time consuming (albeit more stressful) than my jobs were prior to law school and I'm making roughly 800% more. Don't let this book shape your goals. After reading the reviews, I think I'll make this review anonymous so my firm won't realize how good I have it!!! Similar Products
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