New Books - Fall 2005, List 1

Flying Solo

Flying Solo: A Survival Guide for the Solo and Small Firm Lawyer, Fourth Edition
edited by K. William Gibson
Chicago, Ill. : Law Practice Management Section, American Bar Association, 2005

KF298 .F34 2005 Third Floor
Shelved in New Books first, then at call number location

From ababooks.org:
Newly revised and completely updated, the fourth edition of this comprehensive guide includes practical information gathered from a wide range of contributors, including successful solo practitioners, law firm consultants, state and local bar practice management advisors, and law school professors. All the contributors share tips and advice that can be easily implemented in your solo or small-firm practice.

This classic ABA book first walks you through a step-by-step analysis of the decision to start a solo practice, including choosing a practice focus. It then provides tools to help you with financial issues including banking and billing; operations issues such as staffing and office location and design decisions; technology for the small law office; and marketing and client relations. What's more, the final section on quality of life issues puts it all into perspective. Whether you're thinking of going solo, new to the solo life, or a seasoned practitioner, Flying Solo provides time-tested answers to real-life questions.

K. William Gibson is a lawyer and arbitrator/mediator in Portland, Oregon. Mr. Gibson is a past Chair of the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Section. He presently serves as Chair of the Editorial Board of Law Practice magazine, a publication of the ABA Law Practice Management Section. He also serves on the ABA Standing Committee on Publishing Oversight.


How to Pay for Your Law Degree

How to Pay for Your Law Degree 2004-2006 Edition
complied by Gail Ann Schlachter and R. David Weber
El Dorado Hills, Calif. : Reference Service Press, 2004

KF266 .H68 Third Floor
Shelved in New Books first, then at call number location

From Reference Service Press:
How to Pay for Your Law Degree makes it easy to find the money you need. Described here are nearly 550 fellowships, internships, loans and forgivable loans, writing and other competitions, grants, and Bar Exam stipends available specifically to law students to support their study, training, research, and creative activities. All areas of law are covered, from administrative law to trusts and estates, and nearly 50 specialties in between.

Entries are grouped by type of funding (e.g., fellowships, internships) and detailed descriptions are provided for each. Every piece of information is here that you'll need to decide if a program is right for you. In seconds, you can read about the purpose, eligibility, monetary award, duration, special features, limitations, number awarded, and deadline date for any program that interests you. In addition, complete contact information is included: addresses, telephone numbers, e-mails, and web sites.

Gail Ann Schlachter has worked for more that three decades as a library administrator, a library educator, and an administrator of library-related publishing companies.

R. David Weber has been teaching economics and history at Los Angeles Harbor College since 1975.


Reading Like a Lawyer

Reading Like a Lawyer: Time-Saving Strategies for Reading Law Like an Expert
by Ruth Ann McKinney
Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2005

KF283 .M398 2005 Third Floor
Shelved in New Books first, then a call number location

From Carolina Academic Press:
The ability to read law well is a critical, indispensable skill that can make or break the academic career of any aspiring lawyer. Fortunately, the ability to read law well (quickly and accurately) is a skill that can be acquired through knowledge and practice. The sooner the student masters these skills, the greater the rewards.

Using seven specific reading strategies, reinforced with hands-on exercises at the end of each chapter, this book shows students how they can read law efficiently, effectively, powerfully, and confidently. Reading Like a Lawyer is divided into 3 parts: Part I introduces the reader to the fundamentals of legal reasoning upon which law-based reading builds; Part II introduces the reader to concrete strategies for reading effectively in law school; and Part III teaches strategies for reading law outside of the law school context.

Ruth McKinney is a professor of law at University of North Carolina School of Law.


Indian Gaming and Tribal Sovereignty

Indian Gaming and Tribal Sovereignty
The Casino Compromise

Steven Andrew Light and Kathryn R.L. Rand
Lawrence, Kan. : University Press of Kansas, 2005

E98.G18 L54 2005 BASEMENT
Shelved in New Books first, then at call number location

From University Press of Kansas:
From Connecticut to California, Native American tribes have entered the gambling business, some making money and nearly all igniting controversy. The image of the “casino Indian” is everywhere. Some observers suspect corruption or criminal ties, or have doubts about tribal authenticity. Many tribes disagree, contending that Indian gaming has strengthened tribal governments and vastly improved the quality of reservation life for American Indians.

This book provides the clearest and most complete account to date of the laws and politics of Indian gaming. Steven Light and Kathryn Rand explain how it has become one of today’s most politically charged phenomena: at stake are a host of competing legal rights and political interests for tribal, state, and federal governments. As Indian gaming grows, policymakers struggle with balancing its economic and social costs and benefits.

Light and Rand emphasize that tribal sovereignty is the very rationale that allows Indian gaming to exist, even though U.S. law subjects that sovereignty to strict congressional authority and compromised it even further through the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. Their book describes Indian gaming and explores today’s hottest political issues, from the Pequots to the Plains Indians, with examples that reflect a wide range of tribal experience: from hugely successful casinos to gambling halls with small markets and low grosses to tribes that chose not to pursue gaming. Throughout, they contend that tribal sovereignty is the key to understanding Indian gaming law and politics and guiding policy reform—and that Indian gaming even represents a unique opportunity for the emergence of tribal self-determination.

As political pressure on tribes to concede to state interests grows, this book offers a practical approach to policy reform with specific recommendations for tribal, federal, state, and local policymakers. Meticulously argued, Indian Gaming and Tribal Sovereignty provides an authoritative look at one of today’s most vexing issues, showing that it’s possible to establish a level playing field for all concerned while recognizing the measure of sovereignty—and fairness—to which American Indians are entitled.

“The most detailed study to date of Indian gaming. The authors show how money, the media, and misapprehensions continue to cloud the efforts of First Nations to attain economic sovereignty and deftly explain the complicated and ambivalent relationship between tribes and the federal and state governments.”—David Wilkins, author of American Indian Politics and the American Political System

“Light and Rand succeed in making a comprehensive, balanced, and even entertaining analysis of the complex issues relating to gaming on Indian reservations.”—Alexander Tallchief Skibine, author of Your Rights as American Indians

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