Screed or Scholarship: The Days of Whine and Roses

Abstract

This is a review of, The Destruction of Young Lawyers: Beyond One L. by Douglas Litowitz (Akron: University of Akron Press, 2006).

While the book may be a credible (if tiresome) account of Mr. Litowitz's own unhappiness as a law student and large firm new associate, and evidence of the fact there are unhappy lawyers in the world, it overpromotes itself on two counts. Although it is written by a law professor and published by a university press, and makes broad and universal claims about evils in the legal profession, it is largely a slapdash pastiche of hyperbole and anecdote. Nor is it a balanced view of the profession. Rather, it is one man's attempt to transpose his own journey through hopelessness and despair into a universal truth under the patina of scholarship.

Keywords: Litowitz, law profession, critical theory, Habermas, law firms, negativity bias

JEL Classification: K10, K20, K40