VERDICT: Touchdown!

Courtroom Avenger: The Challenges and Triumphs of Robert Habush

By Kurt Chandler (Chicago: ABA Book Pub’g, 2014). 276 pgs. $39.95. Order, shop.americanbar.org.

Reviewed by Kate Wilkinson

Many people go to law school because they have a vague notion that they “want to help people.” Robert Habush is a Wisconsin lawyer (with Habush Habush & Rottier S.C.) and 1961 graduate of the U.W. Law School who actually spent his career helping people, and creating lasting change in product safety laws and standards as he did so.

Chandler’s book is an easy, quick read that highlights many of Habush’s noteworthy cases, as well as his political activism.  The book also tells the story of a life in the law, and illustrates the difference one person can make. Habush is a seminal figure in Wisconsin legal history, as well as one of the nation’s leading trial lawyers. This book is an interesting and worthwhile read on many levels.

Kate A. Wilkinson, U.W. 1998, is director of litigation at the Oregon School Boards Association, Salem, Ore.

VERDICT: It’s a Keeper

Approaching the Bench from Inside the Immigration Court

By William K. Zimmer (Bloomington, IL: AuthorHouse LLC, 2013). 195 pgs. $25.07. www.amazon.com.

Reviewed by Laura Suess

William K. Zimmer, a retired immigration judge with 35 years’ experience in the federal government, starts this comprehensive guide to immigration law with an overview of the history and purpose of U.S. immigration courts.  Zimmer’s book is useful to those unfamiliar with the general scheme of removal proceedings in that he describes the bifurcated process: an immigration judge (IJ) must determine first whether the allegations for removal have been proven and, if so, whether the facts support the alien respondent’s petition for temporary or permanent relief from removal via legitimate immigration status. During this multihearing process, an alien has numerous due process rights. The alien has the burden of proof to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she is eligible for relief from removal. Each chapter in Zimmer’s book discusses different aspects of immigration proceedings and differentiates between claims for asylum, legitimization of immigration status, and voluntary departure.

Zimmer argues that bureaucracy, the inherent influence of politics, and the blind application of law to achieve uniformity at the expense of justice impede immigration proceedings. He criticizes the common attitude in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) litigation unit that an IJ should act as investigator instead of impartial decision maker. Because the IJ has no authority to require or control an ICE investigation, he opines that a removal hearing is a “dull investigative tool” and that prosecutorial and investigative duties are ICE’s responsibility. He argues that for the immigration courts to be fundamentally fair, they must be shielded from influence by the executive branch, and that immigration courts should be converted to constitutional legislative courts that would proceed directly to circuit courts of appeal and eliminate appeals before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

The author criticizes the fact that notices to appear to begin removal proceedings can be issued by any immigration officer, who are lay people rather than lawyers, thus making the initiation of removal proceedings subject to the desires of nonattorney bureaucrats. Immigration regulations do not authorize attorneys to “decline prosecution” or to challenge the removal of an alien in immigration court, a flaw apparently not remedied, in the author’s view, by the fact that government counsel or any immigration officer could move for dismissal of the notice to appear. Further complicating matters is the unique challenge presented by the fact that counsel for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cannot always act independently in individual hearings, while immigration judges enjoy considerable independence applying the law to the facts of each case.

Zimmer asserts that “[t]he federal government is a titanic litigant in terms of power and resources and time compared to an individual. Occasionally, it behaves like a steam roller by rolling over and crushing deviations from the norm, rather than addressing them.” He argues that too much uniformity is detrimental to justice because flexibility is necessary to meaningfully address the unique situations faced by those appearing in immigration court. Besides this and other interesting metaphors, the retired judge includes anecdotes and practical examples of challenges facing litigants in immigration court, such as cultural and language barriers.

Zimmerman’s writing provides an insightful perspective to a politically charged field of litigation. The book could be more organized and occasionally digresses from certain topics with personal narratives, but these stories add value to the volume. It is a user-friendly guide for audiences seeking an insider’s view on immigration law.

Laura Suess, William Mitchell 1997, an attorney editor with 10 years’ experience at Thomson Reuters, works on the United States Code Annotated (USCA) in court opinions involving constitutional law.

VERDICT: It’s a Keeper

Supreme Ambitions

By David Lat (Chicago: Ankerwycke, 2015). Novel. 281 pgs. $22.95. Order, www.supremeambitions.com (links to online vendors).

Reviewed by Emily Kelchen

“There is always somewhere else to go. Always.” This message from one of the book’s main characters is the overarching theme of Supreme Ambitions – the characters in this novel, its well-known yet new author, and the American Bar Association.

Audrey Coyne is a legal ace – near the top of her class at Yale Law, the articles editor of the Yale Law Journal, and now a clerk to the ambitious Judge Christina Wong Stinson – it seems only a matter of time until she achieves her dream of clerking for the U.S. Supreme Court and living happily ever after. But she is a novice when it comes to interpersonal relationships and high-stakes political intrigue. Audrey’s cringe-worthy yet comical interactions with the book’s supporting characters and her struggles with ethical dilemmas arising from the cases she is assigned help her find her way and give the reader an entertaining look behind the curtain at the inner workings of the federal judiciary.

The title of the book hints at where Audrey and many of the other characters hope to go – the Supreme Court – but whether they can get there without sacrificing the rule of law is what makes the story interesting. Every character knows that getting to the high court often takes more than merit, and this is what drives the main story and each of the subplots forward. All the action makes for a true legal thriller, although it is much more about backroom maneuvering than courtroom drama.

Supreme Ambitions is the first novel by David Lat, founder and managing editor of the popular online legal tabloid Above the Law. Lat’s obsession with the judiciary and his snarky writing style come through as the story unfolds, but that is not the only part of reality that the book borrows from. Other reviewers have noted that Audrey shares some of Lat’s biography, and that several of the jurists described are based on actual judges and justices.

The American Bar Association is also branching into new territory with Supreme Ambitions. Ankerwycke, named for the legendary tree the Magna Carta was signed under, is the ABA’s new trade imprint, and Supreme Ambitions is its first work of fiction. The ABA plans to publish legal fiction and nonfiction that is accessible to a more general audience under the Ankerwycke name.

Emily Kelchen, U.W. 2011, is director of public affairs for the New Jersey Civil Justice Institute, Trenton.