Synopses & Reviews
In America’s Court is the thoughtful, witty story of labor lawyer Thomas Geoghegan’s introduction to the world of criminal law. After twenty years of civil practice, in which “complex litigation” fades slowly into settlement, he is unprepared for the much quicker justice of state criminal court when he assists in the defense of a twenty-two-year-old who, at age fifteen, was sentenced to forty years in prison for acting as the unarmed lookout in a botched holdup. In an America that now routinely imprisons kids as adults, he comes to see this small case as a basic test of human rights.
The case leads Geoghegan to reevaluate his own career as a civil lawyer and the ways he might use the law to effect social change. Written with the author’s trademark intelligence and humor, In America’s Court is a compelling narrative and a candid look at the justice that our society provides for its citizens.
Review
"[Thomas Geoghegan] possesses a felicitous writing style that can marry anecdote and analysis." New York Times Book Review
Review
"Geoghegan's insouciant style makes fresh the ins and outs of an attorney's day and the way lawyers handle each other and judges....A letter to young law-school grads seeking to change the world." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Geoghegan writes with endearing verve and worldly good humor even when bemoaning what he regards as the worst excesses of the criminal justice system....What most enlivens the book, however, is a passion for justice that is found in precious few attorneys in America today." The Washington Post Book Review
Synopsis
[Thomas Geoghegan] possesses a felicitous writing style that can marry anecdote and analysis.
About the Author
Thomas Geoghegan is a practicing attorney and the author of several books, including
In America’s Court: How a Civil Lawyer Who Likes to Settle Stumbled into a Criminal Trial, the National Book Critics Circle Award finalist
Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be for Labor When It’s Flat on Its Back,
See You in Court: How the Right Made America a Lawsuit Nation, and
Were You Born on the Wrong Continent?: How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life, all published by The New Press. He has written for
The Nation, the
New York Times, and
Harper’s. He lives in Chicago.