Listed below are selected books, organized by category, that you may find valuable in preparing for the law school experience. You can find these in our library and at most book stores.
We invite you to browse our web site for more information about the Legal Information Center. Be sure to look at
information for new students, which will have lots of useful web sites that will be helpful in preparing you for law school and providing information on what to expect.
We also have a list of lighter,
summer leisure reading.
On behalf of the Legal Information Center, best of luck on a successful legal career.
Click on the call number to find the book in the Legal Information Center.
This page includes:
Cases and Trials
- Burns, Robert P.
A Theory of the Trial
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999.
KF8910.B87 1999
- Gertz, Elmer.
Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc.: The Story of a Landmark Libel Case.
Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992.
KF228.G47 G47 1992
- Jonathan Harr.
A Civil Action
New York: Random House, 1995.
KF228.A7 H37 1995
Description: This book won the National Book Critics Award for nonfiction. It describes a lawsuit brought by the families of childhood leukemia victims against two corporate giants accused of industrial pollution.
- Kunen, James S.
Reckless Disregard: Corporate Greed, Government Indifference, and the Kentucky School Bus Crash.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
KF224.F67 K86 1994
- Lewis, Anthony.
Gideon's Trumpet.
New York: Vintage Books, 1989, 1964.
KF9646 .L48
Description: An indigent drifter who was convicted of a crime without legal representation wrote a note to the United States Supreme Court, who took his case. This case was the reason indigent defendants facing serious criminal charges have a right to legal counsel at the state's expense.
- Smith, R.C.
A Case about Amy.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996.
KF228.R63 S45 1996
- Sobol, Richard B.
Bending the Law: the Story of the Dalkon Shield Bankruptcy.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
KF228.A3 S6 1991
- Stern, Gerald M.
The Buffalo Creek Disaster: How the Survivors of One of the Worst Disasters in Coal-Mining History Brought Suit Against the Coal Company--and Won.
New York: Vintage Books, 1977, 1976.
KF228.P75S7 1977
- Toobin, Jeffrey.
Opening Arguments: a Young Lawyer's First Case, United States v. Oliver North.
New York: Viking, 1991.
KF224.N66 T66 1991
Law Students
- Hirshman, Linda R.
A Woman's Guide to Law School
New York: Penguin Books, 1999
KF283.H57 1999
- Kahlenberg, Richard.
Broken Contract: a Memoir of Harvard Law School.
New York: Hill and Wang, 1992.
KF373.K34 A3 1992
- Scott Turow
One L
New York: Putnam, 1977
KF373.T88 A33
Description: Before Scott Turow became famous for writing legal fiction, he wrote this nonfiction description of his first year at Harvard Law School.
- Woodcock, Raymond L.
Take the Bar and Beat Me: An Irreverent Look at Law School and Career Choices for Prelaws, Law Students, Advanced Paralegals--and the People Who Once Loved Them
Hawthorne, New Jersey: Career Press, 1991
KF283 .W66 1991
Law, Study and Teaching
- Deaver, Jeff.
The Complete Law School Companion: How to Excel at America's Most Demanding Post-graduate Curriculum.
New York: Wiley, 1992.
KF283 .D4 1992
- Dernbach, John C.
A Practical Guide to Writing Law School Essay Exams.
William S. Hein & Co. 2001..
KF283 .D47 2001
- Frank, Steven J.
Learning the Law: Success in Law School and Beyond.
New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1992.
KF283 .F73 1997
- Goodrich, Chris.
Anarchy and Elegance: Confessions of a Journalist at Yale Law School.
Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1991.
KF272 .G66 1991
- Holmes, Oliver Wendell.
The Common Law.
Boston: Little, Brown, 1881.
KF394 .H65
- Margulies, Sheldon.
Learning Law: the Mastery of Legal Logic.
Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 1993.
KF283.M37 1993
- Pound, Roscoe.
An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1954.
K246 .P68
- Helene S. Shapo
Law School Without Fear: Strategies for Success
Westbury, New York: Foundation Press, 1996
KF240 .S52 1996
Description: When the son of two law professors decided to go to law school, they wrote a book to help him through the trials and tribulations.
Legal Research and Writing
- Berring, Robert C. & Elizabeth A. Edinger.
Finding the Law.
St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Company, 1999.
KF240 .H6 1999
- Pratt, Diana Volkmann.
Legal Writing: a Systematic Approach.
St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Company, 1993.
KF250 .P73 1993
- Statsky, William P.
Case Analysis and Fundamentals of Legal Writing.
St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Company, 1995.
KF240.S78 1995
The Practice of Law
- Gill, James.
For James and Gillian: Jim Gill's New York.
New York: Fordham University Press, 2003.
KF373.G56 A3 2003
- Keeva, Steven.
Transforming Practices: Finding Joy and Satisfaction in the Legal Life.
Chicago, Illinois: Contemporary Books, 1999.
K116.K44 1999
- Kronman, Anthony T.
The Lost Lawyer: Failing Ideals of the Legal Profession.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1993.
KF300 .K76 1993
- Moll, Richard.
The Lure of the Law.
New York: Viking, 1990.
KF300.Z9 M57 1990
- Rivkin, Leonard & Jeffrey Silberfeld.
May it Please the Court! From Auto Accidents to Agent Orange: Building a Storefront Law Practice into America's Largest Suburban Law Firm.
Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2000.
KF368.R58 A3 2000
- Satter, Robert.
Doing Justice: A Trial Judge at Work.
New York: American Lawyer: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
KF8700 .S32 1990
- Sells, Benjamin.
The Soul of the Law.
Rockport, Massachusetts: Element, 1994.
K486.S45 1994
- Zitrin, Richard, and Carol M. Langford.
The Moral Compass of the American Lawyer: Truth, Justice, Power and Greed.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1999.
KF306.Z572 1999
United States Supreme Court
- Brisbin, Richard A.
Justice Antonin Scalia and the Conservative Revival.
Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.
KF8745.S33 B75 1997
- Cooper, Phillip J.
Battles on the Bench: Conflict Inside the Supreme Court.
Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1995.
KF8742 .C66 1995
- Irons, Peter H.
Brennan vs. Rehnquist: the Battle for the Constitution.
New York: Knopf, 1994.
KF8748.I76 1994
- Schwartz, Bernard.
Decision: How the Supreme Court Decides Cases.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
KF8742.S323 1996
- Tribe, Laurence.
God Save this Honorable Court: How the Choice of Supreme Court Justices Shapes Our History.
New York: Random House, 1985.
KF8742.T75 1985
- The Warren Court: a Retrospective
New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
KF8742.A5W367 1996
- Bob Woodward & Scott Armstrong
The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979
KF8742 .W66 1979
Description: Read this for an interesting in-depth inner look at the United States Supreme Court. Don't confuse it with the popular fictional book by the same name. May be hard to get at a book store but most libraries have it.
United States Supreme Court - Biographies
- Davis, Michael D.
Thurgood Marshall: Warrior at the Bar, Rebel on the Bench.
New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1992.
KF8745.M34 D38 1992
- Gunther, Gerald.
Learned Hand: the Man and the Judge.
New York: Knopf, 1994.
KF373.H29 G76 1994
- Newman, Roger K.
Hugo Black: A Biography.
New York: Pantheon Books, 1994.
KF8745.B55 N49 1994
- Richards, Robert D.
Uninhibited, Robust and Wide Open: Mr. Justice Brennan's Legacy to the First Amendment.
Boone, North Carolina: Parkway Publishers, 1994.
KF8745.B68 R53 1994
- Smith, Jean Edward.
John Marshall: Definer of a Nation.
New York: H. Holt & Company, 1996.
KF8745.M3 S63 1996
- Yarbrough, Tinsley E.
Judicial Enigma: The First Justice Harlan.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
KF8746.H3 Y36 1995