From Louis Auchincloss portraying lawyers of a large traditional law firm on Wall Street in The House of the Prophet,¹ to Harper Lee depicting a rape case in a small town in Alabama,² books can probably be a good way to experience the practice of law.

Good books and philosophical questions about law for paralegals

For example, have a look at Noon Wine³ and Billy Budd,⁴ which both concern impulsive homicides, and compare how the law treats the protagonists. The two books consider the role of the judicial process, especially the trial and sentencing, and how this process help maintain the current social order: if in Billy Budd, Billy has to face the harshest sentence for an act of insubordination, by contrast, Mr. Thompson in Noon Wine is acquitted.

However, in both cases, we can sense that the community is uncomfortable with the outcome, what went wrong with the process?

These books lead us to think about the significance of the situation in which a criminal act is committed and what role the circumstances play in determining whether an act is truly criminal in nature.

Good books and ethical dilemmas for paralegals

Books like Presumed Innocent⁵ by Scott Turow or works by Louis Auchincloss focus on the practice of law and highlight the small and large ethical dilemmas that the legal practitioner has to confront. For example, books can be a way to sample life in the district attorney's or public defender's office.

Reading exposes us to a wider range of work experiences and can help us conduct our job search and taking our place in the world of legal work.

A summer with “true-crime” books

Made respectable by Truman Capote “non fiction” novel In Cold Blood,⁶ these true-crime books can also open our eyes to timeless issues regarding race,wealth, or gender and their complex relationships with the justice system.

Usually in these books, the victim, his family, and friends are seen from multiple perspectives, and scenes of happier times are juxtaposed with shots of the lurid crime. For example, in Peter Meyer's Death of Innocence,⁷ we go through an engrossing story of murder and sexual assault by two teenagers, which led to the overhaul of the Vermont juvenile justice system in a special legislative session. Sometimes, true-crime books have even led to a change in the law itself, like for example Susan Bownmiller's Against our Will,⁸ on the subject of rape, which influenced some legislatures to amend rape statutes.

These true-crime books can be a good way to consider the merits of our justice system while at the same time enjoying good reading time!

In conclusion

Literature is an opportunity to appreciate the patient evolution of the US legal system, and its rich complexity, and books can certainly help us develop our moral readiness to uphold the honor of the paralegal profession.

¹Louis Auchincloss, The House of the Prophet (1981).
²Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960).
³Katherine Anne Porter, Noon Wine (1939).
⁴Herman Melville, Billy Budd (1924).
⁵Scott Turow, Presumed Innocent (1987).
⁶Truman Capote, In Cold Blood (1966).
⁷Peter Meyer, Death of Innocence (1985).
⁸Susan Bownmiller, Against our Will (1986).
⁹Sara P. Schechter, Literature about Law in the Paralegal Curriculum,7 J. Paralegal Educ. & Prac. 55 (1990).
¹⁰Susan Weiner, True Crime: Fact, Fiction, and the Law,717 Legal Stud. F. 275 (1993).