recommended reading

If you need a gift for someone who is graduating from law school this spring, a great choice would be a brand new book, The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law, by Mark Herrmann.  This is a collection of new and old articles by the author.  He tells it like it is, with the straightforward language that many a legal writing professor wishes she could use more often while still maintaining employment.

Full disclosure:  I've known Mark since we were college classmates in the mid '70's, and while he's always been a kind friend, he's also always been brilliant and never suffered fools lightly.  But then, most law firm partners don't.  And our students need to understand that reality.  So they could a learn a lot from this book.  (spl)