From Publishers Weekly
Geoghegan, a civil litigator specializing in employment cases, wangled an invitation from a public defender to help represent a young man named Rolando, accused of felony murder. About half of the resulting book tells the story of Rolando's trial. The accused was 15 years old when he took part in the robbery of a bar in which a bar patron was shot to death. His first trial resulted in a conviction that was later reversed on appeal. Now, seven years later and with Geoghegan assisting in the defense, the retrial begins. The author captures the bewilderment of a neophyte caught up in the arcane rituals of criminal procedure, from the obscure instincts guiding jury selection, to sweating out the jury's deliberations, to the exhilaration of the ultimate acquittal. Blended in with the author's account of the trial are a score or so of short riffs on politics and law. One of Geoghegan's persistent themes is the upsurge in inequality he sees in American society and in the law, illustrated by the nation's insistence on imposing adult penalties on child offenders. The author considers why a recent college graduate would decide on law school, and wonders whether he would follow that path if he were starting over. Likely he would choose the law again, he decides, even though it would be with profound reservations, because Geoghegan has not entirely lost faith in the liberal values he absorbed early on as a law student at Harvard. His book portrays well the anxiety and defiance of a believer in expanded human rights practicing law in a conservative age. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Chicago labor attorney Geoghegan (Which Side Are You On?), who has long experience as a civil lawyer, here describes participating in a criminal trial after arranging to assist in the defense of a young man accused of committing a felony murder. As the trial proceeds, he talks about his work as a civil lawyer, what it means to be a lawyer, and the issues lawyers face. Interesting, detailed, descriptive, and sometimes amusing, his observations center around the case at hand, in which the defendant was being retried after having been convicted in adult court at age 15 and sentenced to a long term in adult prison. But while he brings up substantive issues, such as the use of courts to assure justice and social change, much of the text is a chatty, meandering discussion. Geoghegan's purpose seems to be to inspire and enlighten lawyers, law students, and the general public, and in this he only partly succeeds. For larger public libraries and law libraries. Mary Jane Brustman, SUNY at Albany Libs.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Twenty-sixth and Cal is the Cook County criminal court house in Chicago that labor lawyer Thomas Geoghegan finds odd and surprising, despite his twenty years of practicing civil law. Geoghegan is accustomed to civil practice, in which "complex litigation" fades out slowly into settlement. Thus, when he is asked by a friend to assist in a criminal case he is unprepared for the much quicker folk justice of state criminal court. The case at hand is 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. Now there is a retrial, and Geoghegan must face the whims of jury selection, prosecutorial advantage, and the fact that one youth's life will be determined forever in just three days of court proceedings. 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 also leads Geoghegan to reevaluate his own career as a civil lawyer, and the ways he might use the law to effect social change. In America's Court argues that even now, despite the low comedy of so many lawyers' lives, we may be seeing the beginning of a new era of American law based on global human rights. Written with the author's trademark intelligence and humor, In America's Court is both a compelling narrative and a candid look at what kind of justice our society provides for its citizens.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Geoghegan, a civil litigator specializing in employment cases, wangled an invitation from a public defender to help represent a young man named Rolando, accused of felony murder. About half of the resulting book tells the story of Rolando's trial. The accused was 15 years old when he took part in the robbery of a bar in which a bar patron was shot to death. His first trial resulted in a conviction that was later reversed on appeal. Now, seven years later and with Geoghegan assisting in the defense, the retrial begins. The author captures the bewilderment of a neophyte caught up in the arcane rituals of criminal procedure, from the obscure instincts guiding jury selection, to sweating out the jury's deliberations, to the exhilaration of the ultimate acquittal. Blended in with the author's account of the trial are a score or so of short riffs on politics and law. One of Geoghegan's persistent themes is the upsurge in inequality he sees in American society and in the law, illustrated by the nation's insistence on imposing adult penalties on child offenders. The author considers why a recent college graduate would decide on law school, and wonders whether he would follow that path if he were starting over. Likely he would choose the law again, he decides, even though it would be with profound reservations, because Geoghegan has not entirely lost faith in the liberal values he absorbed early on as a law student at Harvard. His book portrays well the anxiety and defiance of a believer in expanded human rights practicing law in a conservative age. (July) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Chicago labor attorney Geoghegan (Which Side Are You On?), who has long experience as a civil lawyer, here describes participating in a criminal trial after arranging to assist in the defense of a young man accused of committing a felony murder. As the trial proceeds, he talks about his work as a civil lawyer, what it means to be a lawyer, and the issues lawyers face. Interesting, detailed, descriptive, and sometimes amusing, his observations center around the case at hand, in which the defendant was being retried after having been convicted in adult court at age 15 and sentenced to a long term in adult prison. But while he brings up substantive issues, such as the use of courts to assure justice and social change, much of the text is a chatty, meandering discussion. Geoghegan's purpose seems to be to inspire and enlighten lawyers, law students, and the general public, and in this he only partly succeeds. For larger public libraries and law libraries. Mary Jane Brustman, SUNY at Albany Libs.

Kirkus Reviews