TheCapitol.Net > Legal Spectator & More, by Jacob Stein

Legal Spectator & More
By Jacob A. Stein

A compilation of Washington, DC, attorney Jacob Stein's essays about lawyers, judges, clients, literature, and popular culture. The essays in this volume have previously appeared in Washington Lawyer, American Scholar, the Times Literary Supplement, and Wilson Quarterly.

2007 · 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 1 · 320 pages
EISBN 13: 9781587332302
Softcover · ISBN 1-58733-009-1 · $22.50
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2008 · 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 1 · 320 pages
Hardcover · ISBN 978-1-58733-179-4 · $27.50
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The complete book is available at no charge online as a pdf file (923 k)

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"Writing in the first person and sounding very much the after-dinner raconteur, >Stein tells stories that connect lawyers to their ups, downs, fears, quirks, ironies, history, and even such unlikely subjects as the French Impressionists. What is so refreshing is that, unlike other big-name lawyers in Stein's elevated loft, he is ever the self-effacing narrator and eschews any mention of his own courtroom triumphs. ... What makes this collection so fascinating is that it is not limited to lawyers, judges and courtrooms. Indeed, Stein treats us to a delightful series of essays about such figures as Bing Crosby, Peter Arno, Franz Kafka, George M. Cohan, Somerset Maugham, Winston Churchill, and Ernest Hemingway."
-- Peter D. Baird, Litigation, Fall 2004 (click for full review)

"One of these days a tired lawyer, in retreat from the quickly running statue of limitations, and hiding out in a bookstore as I have done, will discover this book. And it may just happen that one or two of the remarks that follow will remind the tired counselor that the ungrateful client, the unresponsive judge, the damnation of deadlines are all common to those of us who must extract a living from the contention of others."
From the Preface

From the Washington Lawyer:

The writings of Jacob Stein, columnist to the Washington Lawyer magazine since 1990, have recently been collected in a new book, Legal Spectator & More. They include selections from "Legal Spectator" in Washington Lawyer, as well as articles published in the American Scholar, Litigation, and other journals.

Stein, president of the D.C. Bar in 1982-83, began writing essays in 1968. According to Stein, he generally writes a column when he should be drafting a motion for summary judgment. "I like to get an O. Henry ending, a surprise ending," he said, "which even O. Henry couldn't do all the time."

This book is the third compilation of Stein's reminiscences about lawyers, judges, and clients. The essays range widely over literature and popular culture as well, and draw upon Stein's acquaintances, famous, unknown, or forgotten.

"An Evening With Louis Armstrong," for instance, recounts several hours in the company of Armstrong and a mutual friend. He recalls that Armstrong's conversations were as artistic and entertaining as his music and that he was a firm, and outspoken, believer in the importance of a reliable daily laxative.

The collection includes the essay that began the "Legal Spectator" column, "The Columbian Building," about the Diana statute memorializing J.J. Darlington at Judiciary Square.