Question of the Week

What Is Your All-Time Favorite Legal Novel?

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This week, Michael Connelly’s legal thriller The Fifth Witness was named the winner of the 2nd Annual Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The book features recurring Connelly character Mickey Haller (aka “The Lincoln Lawyer” and the inspiration for that 2011 film), a maverick Los Angeles lawyer who after having taken on foreclosure cases represents a woman accused of killing the banker threatening to take her home away.

Five judges—plus readers voting in an ABAJournal.com poll— selected this year’s winner from among three finalists.

The Fifth Witness or another nominee may have been the best legal novel you’ve read in the past year. But is it also the best legal novel you’ve ever read? Tell us about your all-time favorite. And feel free to peruse our “30 Lawyers Pick 30 Books Every Lawyer Should Read” gallery from 2011 for inspiration.

Answer in the comments.

Read the answers to last week’s question: What’s Your Favorite Legal Show on TV Right Now?

Featured answer:

Posted by TimesSqLawyer:Suits is one of my favorites of the week, and while it’s the highly dramatized version of life you expect from TV, I think they get a lot of megafirm politics right in ways other shows don’t. Nonetheless, I don’t think anything today is as good as Boston Legal was at its high points. Yes, they got the law wrong—sometimes horribly, absurdly so—but they found interesting ways to point out the gaps in our social and legal structures, and had a great time doing it.”

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