[excerpt]...There are 21 chapters in the book, all crafted in layman's verbiage, some of which have been lifted from Pattis' columns in The Connecticut Law Tribune. The last two chapters are devoted to Pattis' ardent opposition to the dealth penalty... Impatient with conventional nonsense and cant, Pattis' pony tail swinging like a baseball bat, here offers some necessary correctives.
The thing about Norm Pattis that differentiates him from many of lawyers that I know is that he always tells the truth. And he does so in an articulate, highly intelligent, and elegant way. In this book he tells the truth about the secrets that only trial practitioners know about our legal system. He tells of the foolishness, the waste, the ugliness, the irrationality, and the lies told by Judges that only those of us who labor in the legal system every day are aware of. This is a book that every concerned American should read. Parts of it will be shocking. Parts disconcerting. Parts, possibly offensive. But, then again, that is what the truth is, is it not?
