Tigar, Michael E. Fighting Injustice. Section of Litigation, American Bar Association, 2002. KF373.T58A3 2002

From the Publisher:
Famed trial lawyer Michael E. Tigar describes the battles—both inside and outside the courtroom—that have made him one of the world’s most courageous defenders of personal freedoms. This memoir combines the compelling details of Tigar’s trials (including private exchanges with judges, prosecutors, and defendants) with background information and observations about the law and American society. More than one lawyer’s struggle, the book is a brilliant exploration of the right to counsel and the threats that have jeopardized this right repeatedly over the past four decades—and today.

Includes Michael Tigar’s unvarnished account of some of his most memorable (and instructive) cases, such as his defense of Vietnam War draftees, the Chicago Seven war protestors, Angela Davis, John Demjanjuk, Terry Nichols and countless others.

About the Author:
In the 1960s, Micheal Tigar had his clerkship for Justice William Brennan Jr. revoked because of his membership in the left-wing Students for a Democratic Society. Brennan, dismissed Tigar under pressure from the Nixon administration, which was looking to force liberal judges off the high court. Regretting his action later, Brennan placed Tigar at Williams & Connolly.

Tigar has now become perhaps the most important human-rights lawyer in America, taking on the cases of the most reviled criminals of the day. One example is his representation of Terry Nichols, the alleged co-conspirator of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. In years past Tigar has represented members of the Black Panthers, suspected Nazis, and radical bombers. The Annapolis resident is currently suing former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for the wrongful death of a leftist Chilean military commander and is attempting to use the US courts to repatriate 4,000 former residents of Diego Garcia who were moved off the island when the United States built its Air Force base there.

Taken from Washingtonian Online 75 Best lawyers:
http://www.washingtonian.com/people/lawyers/75bestlawyers.html

Jacobson, Peter D. Strangers in the Night: Law and Medicine in the Managed Care Era. New York, Oxford University Press, 2002. KF1183.J33 2002

From the Publisher:
More than ever before, the legal system plays a vital role in virtually every aspect of the current health care system. From the congressional debate over patients' rights legislation to judicial rulings on the denial of health care services, the legal system is integrally involved in the organization, financing and delivery of health care. Patients thus have a large stake in how the law influences medical care. This book explains how the legal system helps shape health care delivery and policy, explores new ways of looking at the relationship between law and medicine, and reflects on why it all matters. The story focuses on the judicial response to the advent of managed care, especially challenges to cost containment initiatives, and shows how the legal system has facilitated managed care's dominance over the health care system. An equally important part of the story is the evolution of the relationship between physicians and attorneys and how their mutual antagonism affects patient care.

The legal system plays a much larger role in health care organization, financing, and delivery than most people realize- through regulatory oversight, legislation mandating benefits, and judicial ruling on substandard care. By imposing limits on costs and on physicians' autonomy, managed care has brought the interaction between the legal and medical professions to the fore. In lucid, non-technical terms, this book explains how the legal system helps shape health care, offers new ways of understanding the relationship between law and medicine, and reflects on why it all matters.

About the Author:
Peter D. Jacobson is a professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health
http://www.sph.umich.edu/

Sunstein, Cass R. Designing Democracy: What Constitutions Do. New York, Oxford University Press, 2001. K3165.S86 2001

From the Publisher:
Confronting one explosive political issue after another, from presidential impeachment to the limits of religious liberty, from discrimination against women and gays to the role of the judiciary, Sunstein constructs a powerful new perspective from which to show how democracies negotiate their most divisive real-world problems. He focuses on a series of concrete concerns that go to the heart of the relationship between the idea of democracy and the idea of constitutionalism. Illustrating his discussion with examples from constitutional debates and court-cases in South Africa, Eastern Europe, Israel, America, and elsewhere, Sunstein takes readers through a number of highly charged questions: When should government be permitted to control discriminatory behavior by or within religious organizations? Does it make sense to govern on the basis of popular referenda? Can the right to have an abortion be defended? Can we defend Internet regulation? Should the law step in if children are being schooled in discriminatory preferences and beliefs? Should a constitution protect rights to food, shelter, and health care? Disputes over questions such as these can be fierce enough to pose a grave threat. But in a paradox whose elaboration forms the core of Sunstein's book, it is a nation's apparently threatening diversity of opinion that can ensure its integrity.

About the Author:
Cass R. Sunstein is a professor at the University of Chicago Law School.
http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/sunstein/

Bingham, Clara and Laura Leedy Gansler. Class Action: the Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law. New York, Doubleday, 2002. KF228.J464B56 2002

From the Publisher:
In the tradition of A Civil Action and Erin Brockovitch, Class Action is a story of intrigue and injustice as dramatic as fiction but all the more poignant because it is true.

In the coldest reaches of northern Minnesota, a group of women endured a shocking degree of sexual harassment–until one of them stepped forward and sued the company that had turned a blind eye to their pleas for help. Jenson v. Eveleth Mines, the first sexual harassment class action in America, permanently changed the legal landscape as well as the lives of the women who fought the battle.

In 1975, Lois Jenson, a single mother on welfare, heard that the local iron mine was now hiring women. The hours were grueling, but the pay was astonishing, and Jenson didn't think twice before accepting a job cleaning viscous soot from enormous grinding machines. What she hadn't considered was that she was now entering a male-dominated, hard-drinking society that firmly believed that women belonged at home–a sentiment quickly born out in the relentless, brutal harassment of every woman who worked at the mine. When a group of men whistled at her walking into the plant, she didn't think much of it; when they began yelling obscenities at her, she was resilient; when one of them began stalking her, she got mad; when the mining company was unwilling to come to her defense, she got even.

From Jenson’s first day on the job, through three intensely humiliating trials, to the emotional day of the settlement, it would take Jenson twenty-five years and most of her physical and mental health to fight the battle with the mining company. But with the support of other women miners like union official Patricia Kosmach and her luck at finding perhaps the finest legal team for class action law, Jenson would eventually prevail.

Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy Gansler take readers on a fascinating, page-turning journey, the roller-coaster ride that became Jenson v. Eveleth Mines and show us that Class Action is not just one woman's story, it's every woman's legacy.

About the Authors:
Clara Bingham is a former White House correspondent for Newsweek and wrote Women On the Hill: Challenging the Culture of Congress. She has written for Talk, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Washington Monthly. She is a graduate of Harvard University.

Laura Leedy Gansler is a lawyer specializing in alternative dispute resolution and securities law. She is a former adjunct law professor at American University. After graduating from Harvard University, Gansler received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1989.