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Vol. 70, No. 12, December
1997
Book Reviews
A Civil Action
By Jonathan Harr (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1997). Nonfiction.
512 pgs. $13. Paper.
Reviewed by Kurt R. Anderson
Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action chronicles the epic litigation
between several residents of Woburn, Mass., and two multinational corporations
(W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods) accused of poisoning a vital city aquifer
with trichloroethylene (TCE). In the early 1970s, children within a specific
neighborhood in Woburn served by the aquifer began developing leukemia at
alarming rates. Grass-roots organizational efforts among the affected families
sought medical information establishing a connection between TCE exposure
and leukemia, and legal advice concerning potential claims against Grace
and Beatrice. Their efforts eventually led to the involvement of attorney
Jan Schlichtmann, a flamboyant, intensely focused rising star in the Boston
legal community.
Harr's total access to the families and Schlichtmann's team provides
readers of A Civil Action with a uniquely intimate account of the
grief in Woburn, the grueling, marathon litigation and the eventual unraveling
of Schlichtmann and his firm. Harr is privy to every detail - the gut-wrenching
emotion of the families' battle against leukemia, and the strategy sessions
and settlement negotiations once litigation is commenced. Harr devotes attention
to the legal nuances at play between the cutthroat participants without
bogging down his up-tempo narrative style. Post-trial interviews of counsel
for Grace and Beatrice round out Harr's research and give the book a balanced
perspective.
More than anything else, A Civil Action is the story of Jan Schlichtmann.
At the outset, Schlichtmann knows no fear. Every case he touches is better
than the last. When he turns down a temptingly lucrative settlement offer
on behalf of a client, he gets a better result from the jury. Success brings
the spoils of sudden riches and a feeling of invincibility. When he turns
his attention to the Woburn case, he excludes all else in his life. As if
blinded by his focus, Schlichtmann ignores the pleas of his partners and
advisors to drop the case due to the staggering costs and time anticipated.
Grace and Beatrice are defended by star litigators from large firms with
unlimited resources, and the ensuing years of litigation take their toll
on Schlichtmann. He deteriorates mentally and physically, losing touch with
reality as the case overwhelms him. His firm, once a showcase of extravagant
prosperity, is reduced to battling creditors as the Woburn case drags on
for years and dries up the cash flow.
Harr's years in the ringside seat give A Civil Action an intimacy
and perspective typically associated with the omniscience of fictional work,
allowing a unique glimpse into the hearts of the parties and the minds of
the litigants. The delicate weaving of detailed legal discussion with emotion
and human spirit in an engaging narrative style provides an interesting
and informative read.
Kurt R. Anderson, Hamline 1992, practices with Nelson,
Dries & Zimmerman S.C., Brookfield.
A Guide to Wisconsin Statutes of Limitation
and Other Time Limits, 1997 edition
Compiled by Jennifer Darling and Margaret Dewind (Madison, WI: State
Bar CLE Books, 1997). 463 pgs. $35. To order, call (800) 362-8096.
Reviewed by Lisa M. Arent
One-fifth of legal malpractice claims originate in missed dead-lines
or other calendaring errors. There are many statutes that set forth limitation
periods and other deadlines. For these reasons, the State Bar of Wisconsin
published the Fourth Edition of A Guide to Wisconsin Statutes of Limitation
and Other Time Limits 1997 (the Guide). The Guide is cosponsored
by the State Bar and Wisconsin Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co., and is compiled
by attorneys Margaret Dewind and Jennifer Darling.
The Guide is a companion to the Wisconsin Statutes. It aims to
provide a user- friendly summary of statutory time limits. The book is hefty
but is an improvement on the statutes setting time limits, which are scattered
throughout the volumes of the Wisconsin Statutes.
There are 423 pages of statute summaries. The statutes are covered sequentially,
beginning with Wis. Stat. section 1.11(2)(d), and ending with statutes from
Chapter 990, regarding construction of statutes. Designed for quick reference,
each summary contains: 1) the statute number; 2) the action required; 3)
the time within which the action must be taken; and 4) the event from which
the time period is calculated. The Guide does not analyze the statutes
beyond their terms - it does not explain how the terms have been interpreted
and applied. It also does not include other procedural prerequisites to
suit. For example, its entry for Wis. Stat. section 893.82 does not include
the requirements for the notice of claim to the state, which are strictly
construed.
The Guide succinctly records a large amount of information in
one volume. It appears to cover all areas of substantive law addressed by
the statutes - from elections law, through tax claims, civil actions and
criminal law. The Guide is not limited to statutes of limitation.
It includes other deadlines. For example, it includes the notice periods
for evictions. For the probate lawyer, it tells the time within which to
file the inventory and the estate tax return.
How easy to use is the Guide? It takes practice and some advance
information. If the user has in mind the applicable chapter or sections
(for example, chapter 893), then the statute summary can be located quickly.
If not, one must find answers in the index, or page through the summaries
to find the appropriate chapter. The index is key to the Guide's
usefulness, but it has its shortcomings.
The index is not as thorough as the index to the actual statutes, which
cross reference synonyms and common terms. For example, if people want to
find the statute section for the time for filing an answer, they won't find
it by looking for "answer" in the Guide's index. They will
only find it by searching under "pleadings" and then scanning
chapter 802. If a person knows generally that a notice of claim is required
before suing the state, the index does not help find the applicable statute.
The index does not reference the statute under "notice of claim"
or under "state, actions against." One must look through the statute
of limitations chapter 893 to discover sections 893.80 and 893.82.
A Guide to Wisconsin Statutes of Limitation is a good tool for
quickly surveying the field of deadlines and limitations periods. Its summaries
provide helpful practice checklists. The Guide is not a substitute
for careful research or for reading the statutes themselves. Moreover, it
does not cover important sources such as local court rules or local laws.
It does, however, serve as a useful map for maneuvering the web of procedural
and substantive statutes containing limitation periods and deadlines.
Lisa M. Arent, Indiana 1992, is an associate in the
litigation department of Foley & Lardner, Milwaukee.
The Medical Malpractice Handbook: The Plaintiff
By Bruce Livingston and Stephen Morewitz (Bethesda, MD: Austin &
Winfield Publishers, 1996). 113 pgs. Paper. $44.95. To order, call (800)
992-8784.
Reviewed by Dennis E. Robertson
The underlying premise of The Medical Malpractice Handbook: The Plaintiff
is that health-care providers have the law, medicine, lawyers and money
in their favor when defending medical malpractice cases. Through very brief
discussions of various stages of handling a patient's claim, the louder
lesson is that only experienced, well-funded and well-versed counsel should
take cases for injured patients after close circumspection.
Although the book's theme may be correct, those believing from the title
that it will help them through their first plaintiff's malpractice claim
will be very disappointed. Aside from some generalized advice, random case
citations and unhelpful transcript excerpts, there is nothing here that
is not well known to any personal injury litigator.
This work's tone and organization suggest that it originally may have
been intended for customers of the author's medical witness recruitment
business while the content suggests a perspective obtained entirely
from that of a witness recruiter/case evaluator. It is suggested, for example,
that attorneys should not try to conduct an initial interview of a prospective
malpractice client without a hired physician present to assist - a suggestion
that would be followed only by one who paid $44.95 for this small publication.
One could edit these writings by deletion only and produce a reasonable
chapter in a book for new lawyers to prevent their unintended entry into
the minefield of plaintiff's malpractice litigation. It will not help them
out, however.
There have been scores of attempts to merge medicine with law for a perceived
large audience but with limited value to both fields. The best medical handbooks
for lawyers are still those written for medical residents. The accurate,
comprehensive and useful Lawyers Medical Cyclopedia, originally published
by Allen Smith Co. in l959 (now published by Michie Co.), while not specific
to medical negligence, remains one of the very few successful marriages
of medicine and law even as it approaches its golden anniversary.
Dennis E. Robertson has practiced in personal injury
law since l970. He is a member of the litigation department of Brennan,
Steil, Basting & MacDougall, Madison.
The Mirror of Justice:
Literary Reflections of Legal Crises
By Theodore Ziolkowski (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
1997). 272 pgs. $47.50. Hard. To order, call (609) 258-5714.
Reviewed by Jack Stark
Law and literature is a burgeoning field. As Theodore Ziolkowski asserts,
the field is composed mainly of literary criticism about works that have
something to do with law and of analyses, in the mode of literary criticism,
of legal opinions. Neither approach has been very fruitful. With a few exceptions
(for example, Martha Nussbaum's Poetic Justice), the former category
is standard literary criticism that reveals little about the law. Also with
a few exceptions (for example, James Boyd White's work), the latter category
is not very useful or revealing. In The Mirror of Justice Ziolkowski
offers a much more promising approach: beginning with the law, in particular
with crises in its development that are caused by a disjunction between
recent developments in it and prevailing moral beliefs, and then examining
literary works that comment on those crises.
Occasionally, Ziolkowski is successful at pointing out ways in which
literary works illuminate those crises and, thus, illuminate the law. For
example, his discussion of Aeschylus' The Eumenides as a reflection
on the transition from a law based on custom and enforced by individuals'
exertion of force to a more formal law administered by the state is illuminating. However, his
book is diffuse. Sometimes it is not clear whether he is trying to explain
the law applicable to the time when a work of literature was written or
the law of the time when the work's action occurs. Often he embarks upon
meandering excursions into either law or literature. Sometimes he briefly
analyzes several works that relate to the legal crisis he is delineating,
thereby blurring his focus. Sometimes he discusses not a legal crisis but
an enduring problem, such as the relation between positive law and natural
law.
One of the main values of this book are the insights scattered throughout
it; Ziolkowski is incisive and amazingly erudite. The other main value is
his method. If he had limited himself to a few literary works that comment
on legal issues crucial when the works were written, had delved more deeply
into both the legal issues and the literary works and had avoided detours,
he would have produced a monumental work. As it is, he has produced a very
interesting book that shows how later scholars can produce even better books.
Jack Stark, U.W. 1979, is an assistant chief counsel
at the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. He has authored The Art
of the Statute and The Wisconsin State Constitution: A Reference
Guide. He is working on The Iowa State Constitution: A Reference
Guide.
Wills, Trusts and Technology:
An Estate Lawyer's Guide to Automation
By Daniel B. Evans (Chicago, IL: ABA Law Practice Management and Real
Property, Probate and Trust Law sections, 1996). 200+ pgs. $74.95. To order,
call (800) 285-2221.
Reviewed by Stephanie G. Rapkin
I was excited to get a copy of Wills, Trusts and Technology for
review. Although I am not technophobic, I am not as computer-advanced as
I should be. I hoped this book would provide me with advanced techniques
on how to better automate my will and trust practice. Instead it provides
a solid primer on using computers in a law practice, and it just happens
to concentrate in the area of wills, trusts and probate. However, the basic
concepts apply to any practice area with a multitude of repeated tasks and
repetitious use of forms.
It is the perfect book for my father, Sheldon Rapkin, who refuses even
to turn on the computer. This is the book technology-hesitant readers must
have; it discusses such matters as why one should automate, what calculations
can be done on a computer and how well-organized the calculations and projections
look. In other words, this book shows how and why one would want to become
a consumer of automation. It describes how efficient one can make a practice
that constantly requires the repeated use of basic forms that are modified
for specific needs.
The book contains an appendix listing the various relevant software programs
available, including disks on estate planning, valuation, actuarial calculations,
tax return preparation and document assembly, and how to order them. The
appendix also lists tax research programs available on CD-ROM; however,
they omitted two major publishing houses - Matthew Bender and CCH as resources
that have extensive tax libraries on CD-ROM. Consequently, it is best not
to rely solely on appendices for complete information. The caveat to all
appendices is that they should be used as only one research resource.
To summarize, computer-literate readers shouldn't bother with this book,
but computer-phobic readers will see what they've been missing.
Stephanie G. Rapkin, California Western 1982, practices
with Crossot & Rapkin, Mequon.
Judges and Politics in the Contemporary Age
By Richard Hodder-Williams (Dulles, VA: Bowerdean Briefing Series,
1997). 144 pgs. $14.95. Paper. To order, call (800) 243-0138.
Reviewed by James J. Casey Jr.
One of the most complex and perplexing issues in American political and
legal theory (and in reality) is the relationship between the judicial branch
and the two more political branches of government. What is and should be
the relationship between judges and politicians? In Judges and Politics
in the Contemporary Age, Richard Hodder-Williams provides a solid introduction
into these and related topics.
The commonplace assumption in the United States is that impartial judges
render objective law and that judges are not "political animals"
in the sense of legislators and executive officials. While attorneys, judges
and some of the general public know this not to be the case, the author
maintains that although this assumption is inaccurate, it is necessary because
it legitimizes the judiciary in the eyes of the general public. In fact,
the assumption is necessary in our democratic form of government.
In covering additional topics, such as legal interpretation philosophies,
judicial protection of minorities' rights and judicial application of statutes,
the author emphasizes the importance of the separation of powers
concept in our form of government. While judges may act "political"
when rendering decisions that essentially allocate values, the separation
of powers still is desirable to avoid an excessive concentration of power
in the legislative and executive branches of government.
The author deepens the analysis of these and other topics by using examples
from the U.S., U.K. and France. As a professor of politics and dean of the
faculty of social sciences at the University of Bristol (U.K.), he succeeds
in using this comparative approach.
Upon finishing the book, the reader may wish it was longer and more specific.
Though short, the book provides readers with a broad overview of the relationship
between the judicial and political branches of government.
James J. Casey Jr., Dayton 1988, works in the Office
of Research and Sponsored Programs at Northwestern University and is a lecturer
of public administration and law at Upper Iowa University.
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