Daniel R. White

Daniel R. White (1953- ) - attorney, author, teacher, raconteur - rose to prominence as the author of "The Official Lawyer's Handbook" (Simon & Schuster), a satire of the legal profession that vaulted onto bestseller lists across the United States in the early 1980s. The success of the Handbook, which ranked #1 on The Washington Post best seller list and presumably drew on White's personal experience practicing law with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells), led to television appearances, speaking engagements, other books, and marriage.

The American Lawyer magazine declared White "The Official Lawyer's Comedian." The Washington Post called him "the legal profession's court jester" and credited him with having "helped launch the current wave of legal humor."

Calling the Handbook his "vehicle of liberation from the practice of law," White now makes his living as a writer, professional editor, corporate entertainer, legal comedian, legal writing instructor, and college essay consultant in Los Angeles.

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, White attended Westminster, a college preparatory school, graduating in 1979. He obtained a B.A. in Government from Harvard College, graduating magna cum laude in 1975, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1979. He served as Articles Editor of the Columbia Law Review, which published his first legal writing, "Pacifica Foundation v. FCC: 'Filthy Words,' the First Amendment, and the Broadcast Media," a discussion of comedian George Carlin's famous "Seven Dirty Words" monologue.

An extraordinary number of lawyers populate White's family tree. These include his oldest brother, Ben White; his father, Ed White; his Grandfather B.B. Taylor, Sr.; Uncles B.B. Taylor, Jr., and John Taylor; Aunt Mary White; Great Uncle Pettus White; Cousins Pollard White, Lee White, Steve White, Jr., Steve White III, John White, and Amy White.

White's reputation as a legal humorist was fostered by his other books, especially "White's Law Dictionary" (Warner Books), a parody of the classic legal lexicon, Black's Law Dictionary; "Trials and Tribulations - An Anthology of Appealing Legal Humor"; and "What Lawyers Do - And How To Make Them Work for You," a light-in-tone but essentially substantive book that enjoyed the distinction of becoming a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.

His most recent work, "The Queen's Counsel Official Lawyers' Handbook" (Robson Books, hardcover), is a collaboration with Alex Williams, the noted British barrister, legal cartoonist, and Hollywood movie animator, whose credits include the Harry Potter movies, The Lion King, and other celebrated blockbuster films. This new work draws heavily on "The Official Lawyer's Handbook," but has been updated, expanded, and Englished up for readers on the other side of the Atlantic.

White has also written a number of relatively minor volumes, a non-exhaustive list of which includes "The Classic Cocktails Book," "The Martini," "Really Redneck," "The Birthday Book," and "Horrorscopes."