Legal English

Crimes and violations of the law require punishment, and our legal system is set up to punish, but what if the system was recalibrated to also weigh grounds for forgiveness? What if something like bankruptcy - a fresh start for debtors - were available to people convicted of crimes? Martha Minow explores the complicated intersection of the law, justice, and forgiveness, asking whether the law should encourage people to forgive, and when courts, public officials, and specific laws should forgive.

Aspiring actress Stephane Olger just wants to be in pictures. But she may end up in mug shots instead when she gets herself caught up in a crime. Shortly after quitting her job and moving to Hollywood, she is picked up by a well-dressed man while hitchhiking. The man loses control of the car and they end up in a horrible accident. Both Stephane and the driver escape unscathed but the strange man flees the scene leaving Stephane to face a charge of manslaughter.

When Matilda Benson solicits the help of Perry Mason, her request seems simple enough: cruise to a gambling ship moored just beyond the twelve-mile limit and buy back the IOUs signed by Miss Benson's niece. But after Mason reaches the floating casino, he discovers problems aplenty - most notably the ship's owner with a bullet hole through his head. Strangely enough, Matilda and her niece are also on board that night...when someone tosses a gun over the railing. Does Perry Mason's client have something to hide?

On his way to finding out, Mason meets Mrs. Milfield, a barely distraught widow, and a slew of suspicious characters all intimately connected to the recently deceased, a man murdered on someone else's yacht. As the surprising scenario unravels, it takes a sharp mind like Mason's, the savvy of his secretary Della Street, and the legwork of investigator Paul Drake to pull all the clues out of the water before the case sinks like a deadweight.

Discover the timeless masterpiece that ignited the flames of justice and revolutionized the world of criminal law. Cesare Beccaria's "On Crimes and Punishments" unveils a groundbreaking exploration of human rights and the principles of a just legal system. In this riveting treatise, Beccaria fearlessly challenges the established norms of his time, exposing the flaws and cruelties rampant within the penal system.

Josie Baylor-Bates has a full plate caring for a troubled teen, but it's about to get fuller when her ex-cop lover, Archer, is accused of murdering his disabled stepson - a son Josie never knew he had. When Timothy Wren died at California's oldest amusement park, it appeared to be a tragic accident. But now Timothy's biological father and the district attorney are out for blood. Josie races against time to prove someone is framing Archer.

Meet Tony Valenti. His high-flying corporate law career just cratered. His society marriage blew up in a bitter divorce. He's returned to the Chicago suburbs to lick his wounds and regroup in the haven of the Valenti family home. But time to heal isn't in the cards. Tony's elderly father inexplicably shoots a sheriff's deputy on their front porch. Nobody knows why, and Papa isn't talking. Then their house becomes an unlikely target for condemnation and expropriation by corrupt local officials and their cronies.

While growing up together in a Boston neighborhood, Timmy Flaherty and Donny Faye are as different as night and day. Timmy lives by the rules while Donny refuses to accept them. After the boys serve in Vietnam, Timmy earns a law degree, but Donny stays in the military—a decision that surprises everyone who knows him. After Donny violates the army’s rules, he receives a dishonorable discharge and afterwards begins to work for Percy Dwyer, a notorious Boston crime boss.

As the fixer for Congressman John Mahoney in Washington, DC, Joe DeMarco has had to bend and break the law more than a few times. But when Representative Lyle Canton, House Majority Whip, is found shot dead in his office in the US Capitol and DeMarco is arrested for the murder, DeMarco knows he's been framed. Locked up in the Alexandria Jail awaiting trial, he calls on his enigmatic friend Emma, an ex-DIA agent, to search for the true killer.

Three victims, three bullets, three cities. The shooters' aim is as fearsomely precise as their target selection. When Lindsay realizes that the fallen men and women excel in a lucrative, criminal activity, she leads the charge in the manhunt for the killers. As the casualty list expands, fear and fascination with this suspicious shooting gallery galvanizes the country. The victims were no angels, but are the shooters villains . . . or heroes?

As one of just a few judges licensed to try murder cases at the Old Bailey, the author has presided over many of the high-profile cases that all too often grab our attention in dramatic media headlines—for every unlawful death tells a story. But, unlike most of us, a judge doesn't get to turn the page and move on. Nor does the defendant, or the family of the victim, nor the many other people who populate the court room. Peeling apart six dramatic murder and manslaughter cases, Unlawful Killings removes this distinction between 'them' and 'us'.

Steve Schwartz is a full-time author, teacher, and founder of LSAT Unplugged, an online standardized-test-preparation company helping pre-law students achieve top LSAT scores. Steve increased his LSAT score from 152 to 175 on the LSAT (99th percentile) and has taught the LSAT since 2005.

When nineteen-year-old Jill Moss goes missing near the Utah-Arizona border, everyone has an opinion. Only Norma Gallagher, a search and rescue volunteer, knows the real story. Norma’s already found Jill, huddled in a cave and terrified that her abusive boyfriend, Jake, will kill her. If he ever sees her again. To protect Jill from a dangerous man, Norma quietly delivers the girl to her grateful parents in California, even though she’s conflicted. Keeping Jill safe and hidden from Jake, the press, and the public will be their secret. But secrets can’t last forever.

After a traumatic injury took him off the job, prosecutor Solomon Shepard is back to work, teaming up with Sheriff Billie Gray to hunt down Utah’s most dangerous criminals. Shepard has spent years away from crime scenes and courtrooms, but one of those criminals still holds a grudge. Alonso Hafeez is out of prison after eleven years, and he’s determined to prove that Shepard tried him for a crime he didn’t commit. And he’s got something special planned: kidnapping Shepard and forcing him to revisit Hafeez’s case in an elaborately staged retrial.

After a lawyer friend is killed along with his client in a hail of gunfire outside the federal courthouse in San Diego, Madriani takes on another client who he believes is involved at the edges of the double murder. He takes the case not to defend the man, but to find out who killed his friend and why. Madriani is tortured by questions of conflict, his duty to a client who may have killed his friend, and the need to know the truth, wondering whether he himself had been marked for death only to have a friend die in his place.

Someone is posing as the outspoken, blue-eyed, blond attorney and is wreaking havoc around town, apparently determined to destroy everything Bennie loves. Only one person can pull off this double deception: Bennie's identical twin sister, Alice Connelly. But as far as Bennie knows, Alice left Philly long ago and never looked back.

Smack in the middle of a capital murder trial, small-town prosecutor Mara Brent gets a cryptic note from the defendant. He wants to cut a deal. His freedom in exchange for information about the kidnapping and murder of a young girl that made national news a decade ago. Is he telling the truth? Or is this just the desperate ploy of a marked man?

Major Sean Drummond never says die. Especially when an old flame begs him to defend her brigadier general husband in the biggest treason case in US history. And even when Drummond is up against the fiercest prosecutor in the Army and fighting two murder charges. With an unconventional and beautiful co-counsel, Drummond plunges into an investigation that will unearth a damning array of secrets and cover-ups - and reveal a master manipulator who doesn't care who or what goes up in flames.

When you're a rock god, fame and fortune are your two best friends, but they can be fickle bitches. Everyone wants a piece of me and I have no clue how to deal with it all. I'm being sued, pressured to sign contracts, and fending off rabid women who want to steal my virtue. Well, not that I really have any virtue, but still...my life has turned completely bat-shit crazy. That's why I need Emma Peterson. She got me out of a bit of a jam once, and I know she can do it again. The only problem is that sweet, prim, and totally straight-laced Emma doesn't want anything to do with me.

Compelling Evidence Paul Madriani was once a promising associate with the prestigious Potter, Skarpellos law firm, co-founded by his mentor, Ben Potter. But after a scandalous affair with Ben's wife, Talia, Paul left the firm to begin a brilliant career as a criminal defense attorney. Ben's impeccable reputation has made him a leading candidate for the Supreme Court, until he is found dead on the eve of the nomination, and Talia becomes the prime suspect.