lawyers in literature

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Hi,
I'm writing a paper about the changing depiction of lawyers in novels and I was wondering if anyone could recommend some novels? This is a literary/law paper rather than a sociological paper, so less John Grisham and more Charles Dickns; famous-books-I-haven't-read-yet with lawyers definitely a plus.
(Also if you know any academic papers on this topic...)
Ken

― kenchen, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Gotta mention Attacus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird.

― Michael White (Hereward), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:52 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.wvu.edu/~lawfac/jelkins/lawyerslit/intro.htm

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:53 (twenty-one years ago)

cf also Shakespeare, Henry VI part II, act IV

― the pomefox, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Henry VI - is that "first let's kill all the lawyers"? Nice.

Billy Budd by Herman Melville; Bartleby the Scrivner might be set in a lawyer's office, but I forget, of course, B is not a lawyer. There's a short story collection called "Legal Fictions".

― tomlang (tom), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 14:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes. Great scenes those are.

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

boris max, the communist lawyer in richard wright's "native son," plays a significant role - particularly late in the novel.

― a spectator bird (a spectator bird), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 14:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Dickens's Bleak House is centered around the old Chancery court (now defunct, thank &deity;), which is interesting. If you want to compare and contrast two almost contemporary views, then Blackmore's Lorne Doone also mentions the institution, but in much more flattering terms.

― SRH (Skrik), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Great Expectations by Dickens is cool. Jaggers and his clerk Wemmick make a great team.

― Fred (Fred), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

This may not really be what you're looking for but Hunter Thompson's buddy in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is always introduced as his attourney.

― Moti Bahat, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

These may be a bit too modern for your tastes, but these are two great books an attorney friend gave me - "Wilkes: His Life and Crimes" and "Wilkes on Trial" by Charles Sevilla.

― yesabibliophile (yesabibliophile), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 18:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Inherit the Wind springs to mind.

― SJ Lefty, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think Bartleby was set in a law office - I believe it was a publishing house or a printers.

William Deverell is a contemporary Canadian author of legal fiction, which paints a pretty acurate picture of the legal system up here. It might be a little too Grisham-y thought.

― Mary K, Thursday, 20 May 2004 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

There was a lawyer in Jane Eyre, if I recall. Rumpole was as advocate, in the Bailey if I'm not mistaken. There were lawyers in the Count of Monte Christo.

― Robert Burns, Friday, 21 May 2004 10:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent. Except for the bizarrely botched "twist" at the end, this is a great book, with a lot of great stuff on lawyering.

― David Elinsky (David Elinsky), Saturday, 22 May 2004 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a Lawrence Block character called Martin Ehrengraf that turns up in a few short stories, a lawyer who never, ever loses his cases, preferably avoiding trial altogether - ("I don't much care for the whole idea of leaving a man's fate in the hands of twelve people, not one of them clever enough to get out of jury duty.")
http://www.thrillingdetective.com/ehrengraf.html has a short bio

― Margo, Sunday, 23 May 2004 01:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Lawyers feature in various Anthony Trollope novels. And most fiction detectives seem to have a ;awyer buddy who explains things and bails them out for free.

― isadora (isadora), Saturday, 29 May 2004 05:45 (twenty-one years ago)

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