With Justice for None

Critiques lawyers, law schools, and big business for putting personal objectives before ethical issues, argues that the poor and disenfranchised suffer the consequences, and offers ideas for changing the system

Passionately eloquent and innovative, trial attorney Spense ( Gunning for Justice , etc.) here argues the evils of the justice system itself and its abuse by monied interests such as corporations, "the most cruel, calculating, and accomplished criminals of all time." Convicted of crime, corporations are spared admission of guilt by buying their way out with payment of fines, he charges, while the poor are punished. The author's bold reforms for more efficient judicial procedures include the drafting of judges in the manner of juries, revision of law school admission criteria, along with curricula stressing clinical studies and designed to produce lawyers with conscience. He also advocates prosecution and jail terms for corporate managers who break the law, confiscation of crime-derived profits and/or punitive damage awards. First serial to New Age Journal.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Spence, one of America's most famous trial attorneys (he represented Karen Silkwood), takes on the whole legal system--the law schools, the attorneys, the judiciary, and so on--and tells where he believes it is going wrong. Justice is reserved only for those with wealth and power, he says, and most lawyers only care about top-dollar corporate clients, not about ordinary citizens. His ideas for improvement range from idealistic to impractical (such as drafting judges from a pool of trial lawyers). Spence pulls no punches in giving his views, and often becomes bombastic: He appears to consider himself one of the few good lawyers left. Readers will find some good information about the legal system, and more about Spence than they may wish to know. An optional purchase for public and law libraries.
- Sally G. Waters, Stetson Law Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.