Double Billing: A Young Lawyer's Tale of Greed, Sex, Lies, and the Pursuit of a Swivel Chair

I have been an attorney for almost six years and Stracher articulates the frustrations I have been feeling during that time. It's all in his book: the clueless supervisors with near-zero courtroom experience and the surefire instinct for the capillaries, the exultation of form at the expense of substance, the bravado, the mindless jockeying for position in motion battles, discovery disputes, and the quest for the most billable hours. This book demonstrates how the court system has been perverted from the search after truth to an arena where more often than we care to admit, victory goes to the law firms with the biggest battalions of lawyers and paralegals, and the clients with the most resources to wear down their adversaries. Read this book and it will make you realize that when Charles Dickens wrote about practicing law in equity court in "Bleak House", he was a little light on the realism. Mr. Stracher has done us a great service in writing this book. I hope he will continue doing so in the future.

This is a great book for anyone thinking of a law career, or just interested in how law is practiced at big corporate law firms. The writing is breezy and clever, and the characters are vivid and well-described.I take issue, however, with the review posted on Aug. 28. As lawyers know, Martindale Hubbell only lists the jobs an attorney chooses to list. If this reviewer cares to discover where Mr. Stracher worked, I suggest he read the October 1998 American Lawyer where the book was first excerpted.

I thought this book gave an excellent inside account of what a new associate undertakes in a corporate law firm. I am not a lawyer, although I have taken law courses in business school and I know a few lawyers who would corroborate Mr. Stracher's experiences as valid. This 228-page book is generally a page-turner and can most assuredly be read in a day. One of the underlying themes in the book cuts across all occupations: the issue of hourly v. contingently compensated employees. The author discussed the difference between a personal injury lawyer who is often compensated by a percent of ultimate recovery model v. a corporate lawyer who bills hourly and has no problem dealing with smaller issues that require many billable hours to investigate. These models are not good or bad per se; they just highlight the kind of disparate incentive structures and purposes in different law firms and occupations and how they give rise to certain actions and agendas. For example, how many billable hours can I amass (most of the lawyers in the book worked 12+ hours everyday, often including the weekend) v. going after the deep-pocketed insurance company. Another issue I found quite enlightening in the book was the importance, both strategically and politically, of the request for documents and discovery processes. It seems to me, the lesson regarding document production is that you can either bury the other side with any document that is remotely relevant, or nickel-and-dime them with privilege logs and common interest arguments. One could categorize the former as unduly burdensome, and the latter as purposeful frustration and stingy.At the end of this book, I really felt as if I knew the author is a meaningful way. I wanted to know about his experiences at his next job as an in-house counsel. Since the book is about his life, and he often includes streams of consciousness, the reader comes away with a fairly good grasp of the author's mindset and goals. Overall, the book brings out some important and ubiquitous issues regarding work and the rest of one's life. These issues revolve around the following: work-family balance; work knowledge v. other intellectual pursuits; work lifestyle and its detriment to healthy living; etc. As a whole, I thought the writing was top-notch, the topic fascinating, and the evolution of the author satisfying. If I were thinking of becoming a lawyer, I would read this book.

After 20 years in the legal profession, I can assure you that this is, without a doubt, the most accurate book about the way things really are in law firms. I got into law because the guys on TV were always in the courtroom. Little did I know that the first year of practice means 20 hours a day in the library, 7 days a week. The second year means graduating to reviewing 100,000 documents which "may" have something to do with the case, but probably don't. Even the partners who do a lot of courtroom work (based on the research, writing, and busywork of the lower echelon) are not in the courtroom as often as Perry Mason.If you are looking for a classic courtroom thriller of the John Grisham/Steve Martini variety, this isn't it. What it is, is the perfect gift for that person who wants to go to law school. Once they read the unvarnished truth, instead of the drama, they will probably change their career goals. Real-life civil litigation isn't Ally McBeal, it isn't L.A. Law ... it's boring and stressful. Stracher is the first attorney to tell the truth about it.A must-read for all future and current law students.

Perry Mason, LA Law, Ally McBeal, The Practice. Even putting aside the requisite Hollywood embellishments (carefree sex with glamorous coworkers and clients, witnesses who return your phone calls and show up when they're supposed to, etc.), practicing law looks like it ought to be fun -- or at least interesing. Then why are so many lawyers so miserable in their jobs?In this humorous and insightful memoir, Cameron Stracher provides some clues. For example, nothing can prepare a young lawyer for the first time a partner hands over an incomprehensible list of poorly drafted "Requests for Production" and turns you loose in a warehouse to locate and copy all "responsive" documents. Mr. Stracher describes this experience -- familiar to virtually any young litigator -- with the perfect mixture of humor and despair.Indeed, it is perhaps the greatest (and most disturbing) virtue of Mr. Stracher's book that he has chosen to focus not upon his own unique experiences, but upon those experiences that are a typical, universal, and -- aspiring lawyers take note -- nearly unavoidable part of big firm practice. Thus, for any lawyers-to-be who think they might actually be questioning witnesses, arguing motions, and generally frolicking in the vinyards of the law, this book is a wake up call: If you go to a big corporate law firm you won't. Why not? As Cameron Stracher deftly illustrates, at most large firms, the practice of law is primarily about making money. And since massive commercial cases (very few of which ever go to trial) are far more profitable than smaller personal injury, malpractice, or simple breach of contract cases (which provide far more opportunity for "hands on" experience), most associates at the big corporate law firms will never -- never -- see the inside of a courtroom during their tenure. Instead they'll find themselves churning out irrelevant research memos, exhaustive privilege logs, and tendentious legal briefs -- until they can't take the stress, the hours, or the ultimiate meaninglessness of the work anymore and they finally bail out.So if you're thinking of going to law school -- or if you're a law student who has been listening to the siren song of those seductive, high-paying, big city firms -- read this book. It may not change your mind, but you'll have a much better idea of what you might be in for.