Kermit Roosevelt writes a very insightful novel that delves into the experiences of first year law associates in In the Shadow of the Law. The book's real strengths reside in its ability to understand each character as a person first and a lawyer second. These characters have real egos, needs, and insecurities. They are all very accomplished people, but they are human none the less. Roosevelt does a great job of writing a story that really exposes the world of high profile law firms.

Some of the plot is dull and at times tedious. Some parts of the book are unneccessary to the overall novel. Overall, it's a very solid novel by a gifted writer who used his personal experience as an attorney and later law professor to really put together an above average story. ( )

If "In the Shadow of the Law" is to be categorized as a legal thriller, emphasis must be added to the word "legal." This is not a book for those seeking a light-hearted romp through the legal justice system or a romanticized view of the high-powered attorney lifestyle. Rather, it's a scathing portrayal of the pressures and absurdities that confront the legions of young associates who are forced to bill like the wind to pay back their law school loans through indentured servitude in today's mega-firms as well as the mid-life crises engulfing the partners who have sacrificed their personal lives in pursuit of ever-loftier partnership profits.

That's not to say that this novel isn't an entertaining read. Told from the perspective of half a dozen comically-stereotypical attorneys in a Washington law firm who are involved in a prono bono death penalty case and defense of a mass tort suit, Roosevelt hooks you by building a foreboding sense of suspense in the early chapters and then keeps you guessing with some nifty plot twists in the later stages.

But unless you have a legal background, you may not appreciate the real genius of this book. As the title aptly conveys, the characters and plot of this novel are ultimately overshadowed by the law itself, which serves in equal shrift as villain and protagonist. The law operates as the villain in the hands of the greedy partners who have abandoned the role of lawyer as counselor in favor of lawyer as crass profiteer and mouthpiece for unsavory clients. Yet the law also acts as the protagonist when wielded by Mark and Katja, two neophyte associates who have still retained their youthful ideals and sense of justice. And, most interesting of all for this reader, the complex and mysterious personality of the law is beautifully depicted through the internal struggle of ex-Supreme Court clerk Walker Eliot who tries in vain to reconcile the Platonic version of legal precedent dispensed by the appellate courts with law as sullied by the mere mortals wrestling with bad facts in the lower courts. Somehow, though, I can imagine Professor Roosevelt exhorting his law students to be prepared to walk the muddy path of the law spurned by Eliot.

-Kevin Joseph, author of "The Champion Maker" ( )

http://rivkat.livejournal.com/145518.html ( )