My Reading Suggestions to Aspiring Lawyers

Today marks the 53-year anniversary of Thurgood Marshall being the first African American confirmed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. In honor of Mr. Marshall, I wanted to share with you a recent letter that I drafted to civil rights lawyer, activist, and professor Mr. Daniel J. Canon, Esquire. Mr. Canon was lead counsel in several landmark Supreme Court cases, and reached out to the National Lawyers Guild, of which I’m a member, for reading recommendations for a group of his students at Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. In my recommendations, I mention “Devil in The Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America.” If you feel so inclined, please read my letter to Mr. Canon and check out the books mentioned!

Professor Canon,

I am in receipt of your e-mail through the National Lawyers Guild requesting attorneys respond with reading materials that have changed the way we look at the law, lawyering, courts, or some other aspect of the practice. In so saying, I felt the need to recommend three books that have changed my outlook on law, and/or provided historical context as to legal practices that exist today.

Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future by Richard Susskind

Required reading for faculty of many top law schools, Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future, is a short missive providing insight into the changing nature of the practice of law which is currently driven by technology. Mr. Susskind touches on the threatening irrelevance of attorneys in society and offers solutions as to how to re-work the attorney “business model” to remain viable.

With any business, it is crucial to remain knowledgeable of new advancements within the profession and be on the cutting edge of implementing those strategies to beat the curve. Especially now, during the coronavirus pandemic, technology in the legal profession is at an all-time high, which is forcing the hand of those that may have resisted technological advancement and breaking the traditional business model of a practicing attorney. We have seen firsthand through this pandemic that old habits die hard if we continue to resist changing with the times, and firms that kept up with technological advancements were more easily able to adapt to these trying and unprecedented times. Thus, I recommend this quick read if you are looking to get ahead in your legal career instead of merely keeping up.

Devil in The Grove by Gilbert King

This book documents Thurgood Marshalls defense of the “Groveland Four,” which were four boys that were accused of raping a white woman in 1949. Marshall, also known as “Mr. Civil Rights,” was able to overturn the convictions at the Supreme Court and return the case to the state level for a retrial. Much violence followed the return of the case to the state, including homes being burned and attempted lynching of the boys, and unfortunately concluding in two of the “Groveland Four,” being shot, and one of them being killed. Throughout the pendency of this case, Mr. Marshall and co-counsel remained targets for violence, and an NAACP associate Henry T. Moore was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. The “Groveland Four” were posthumously exonerated April 18, 2017 by a resolution of the House or Representatives, which prompted the Senate to subsequently pass a similar resolution. Rick Scott then officially pardoned the four men.

This book reminded me of the perseverance that it takes to be an impactful attorney. As a young attorney, I have witnessed the monotonous nature that being a practicing attorney can take if not careful. We must remember that our role in society is not to maintain the status quo, but to instead use our skills to push society towards perfection, even though we know the same may be unattainable. Our careers are akin to a relay race, where we make all of the advancement that we can, with the expectation that we will one day hand off our baton to the next attorney who will do all he/she can. Thurgood Marshall and the others in the above-mentioned book laid it all on the line and risked their lives for a cause in which they believed, and I can only hope to be half as heroic. 

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Also recently made into a film, Just Mercy follows the career of Bryan Stevenson when he was a newly minted Harvard educated attorney after founding the Equal Justice Initiative. The Equal Justice Initiative was a legal practice dedicated to defending those desperately in need, including: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and the vulnerable. The book follows Mr. Stevenson as he encounters his clients unfair and unjust circumstances that he is sometimes able to navigate, but sadly sometimes not.

Just Mercy is a reminder that the word ‘justice,’ has and continues to hold extraordinarily little weight when it comes to the justice system. Unfortunately, the application of laws are unfair and those that are vulnerable in our society tend to be taken advantage of the most. As attorneys, we must be cognizant of these injustices and proactively anticipate them. Just Mercy paints a clear picture of the systemic patterns that result in certain demographics becoming more susceptible to being victims of the system.

Thank you for the privilege of allowing me to recommend these books to your students. I hope that these summations and applications to the practice of law will encourage your students to read some of these books.

Thank you,

Edward W. Wimp, Esq.