The Soul of the Law : Understanding Lawyers and the Law

by Benjamin Sells

Why do lawyers have the highest suicide rate and the highest alcoholism rate of all professionals? What's happened to truth, justice and the American way? Written by an attorney and psychotherapist who counsels lawyers, this book explains what's gone wrong, why, and what can be done about it.

Genres: Law, Nonfiction, Reference, Psychology

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1994

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this law book gave a very different take on the legal profession than most legal books. The author describes the legal profession as rigid, hierarcical, and adversarial (which are all true), but then he talks about how the institutional aspects of the profession affect an attorney as an individual such that life is not certain, logical and orderly like the law. Thus, Sells talks about how attorneys tend to be frustrated in their personal lives by the profession as a whole because they cannot escape the rigid structures of their chosen profession. For example, on page 96, Sells says "On the other hand the lawyer is only partly a lawyer and feels from within the powerful tug of other currents, other needs. This situation exists everywhere and for everyone, but is harder on the lawyer because of the Law's demanding tendencies. And so the lawyer must champion control and order while knowing in his or her heart that things are neither controllable nor orderly."

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoughtful and interesting. Can be read piecemeal. Bit depressing.