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In Praise of Litigation explains what civil society gains from litigation and why it is ultimately a social good.
List of contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Litigation and Democracy
- Chapter 2 Participation in Self-Government
- Chapter 3 Equality Before the Law
- Chapter 4 Transparency Through Litigation
- Chapter 5 Enforcement of the Law
- Epilogue
About the author
Alexandra D. Lahav teaches law at the University of Connecticut and has previously taught at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia law schools. Before becoming an academic she litigated civil rights cases in New York City.
Summary
In Praise of Litigation explains what civil society gains from litigation and why it is ultimately a social good.
Additional text
The central message of In Praise of Litigation is a powerful one: the benefits of lawsuits (and the harms from improperly restricting them) go far beyond the parties and their lawyers. The book is a tour de force in which Alexandra Lahav draws on a dazzling array of examples, from cases involving slaves seeking freedom in the 1850s to cases involving e. coli in fast-food hamburgers, and from little-noticed suits involving individuals to iconic Supreme Court decisions like Brown v. Board of Education, that stretch across both doctrinal boundaries and American history. Every law student and every lawyer should read In Praise of Litigation not just to understand more fully how litigation actually works today, but also to arm themselves better to defend equal access to the courts as a critical aspect of our democracy." -Pamela S. Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and Co-Director, Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Stanford Law School
