...Gibney] critiques everything — and I mean everything — wrong with the legal system, starting with how it educates new lawyers ... Gibney says he set out to write a plain-English 'wide-angle critique' of the legal system. The result is ambitious in scope if not necessarily groundbreaking, particularly for anyone deeply immersed in the legal system ... He includes enough interesting tidbits that even those with backgrounds in law and policy will probably learn at least something ... If only every serious book about law was this enjoyable ... He’s less successful when examining Washington’s dysfunctional lawmaking process ... Non-lawyers and many attorneys, too, will certainly have a better sense of what ails our justice system after reading this book, even if they’re no closer to fixing it.
A sweeping, vituperative examination ... In the early portion of his outside-the-box yet cohesive diatribe, the author constructs a philosophical foundation for his thesis. Then, chapter by chapter, he eviscerates the American criminal justice system, including police, prosecutors, public defenders, private defense attorneys, law professors, and judges ... Throughout the readable text, the author illustrates his criticisms by skillfully employing relevant analogies and metaphors, and his humor is subtle and mostly effective ... A keen, lively deconstruction of the American legal system’s seemingly countless flaws.
Lawyer and venture capitalist Gibney...takes the measure of the American legal system and finds it wanting. He systematically eviscerates virtually every aspect of it, including Congress ... Gibney is sometimes glib but often funny, and his criticisms are serious, well-argued, and provocative.
