Fundamental Cases

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Read an appealing book this weekend. No pun intended.

Growing up in India, lawyers used to be largely thought of as a profession where you would have to submit your life to reading fine print and navigating labyrinths of bureaucracy and corruption. There was money to be made at the end of a long, dark tunnel but, you’d have to sell your soul to the devil first. At a discount.

This book changed my views.

Maybe I missed out on the memo, perhaps because no one in my immediate family was into jurisprudence, it never was apparent to me that the justice system could be one of the finest intellectual pursuits a man can aspire to. This book emboldened that imprint in me.

Prof. Dershowitz presents a selection of about a dozen cases from the last 100 years of American Law and lays out the crux of each case without going into irrelevant detail. He beautifully unfolds the complexities, arguments and counterpoints. He also offers some social and moral opinions from his vantage point – and is very forthright about annotating them as such.

Is it fair if a system punishes 10 innocent people to ensure that every guilty man faces consequences ? Or should a justice system be biased such that no innocent man is convicted even if that means a few guilty men go unpunished ? Why should lawyers defend criminals ? If a lawyer comes to know that her client has actually committed a murder (or lied under oath), what should she do ? Prof. Dershowitz offers some takes on these difficult questions, often highlighting opposing viewpoints and never really trying to “sell” his position too hard – which is refreshing.

This book is best consumed as an aural lecture (audiobook); the author, as narrator, does a beautiful job of speaking his heart. It is a pleasure to listen to and I would heartily recommend this to anyone who wants to indulge in a cerebral read.

I have not read any other book by the author, but I surely hope to. Which brings me to this brief review I spied on Amazon – which underlines the fundamental premise of jurisprudence – one that Prof. Dershowitz brings to the forefront with immaculate clarity – there is always more than one side to a trial.