Summary and Reviews of In The Shadow of The Law by Kermit Roosevelt

In The Shadow of The Law by Kermit Roosevelt

In The Shadow of The Law

by Kermit Roosevelt
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  • First Published:
  • Jun 1, 2005, 370 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jun 2006, 464 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

In this complex, ambitious, and gripping first novel, Kermit Roosevelt vividly illustrates the subtle and stark effects of the law on the lives of a group of lawyers, and also on communities and private citizens.

Morgan Siler is one of Washington, D.C.'s most powerful K Street law firms, its roster of clients stocked with multi-billion-dollar corporations. Through the obsessive efforts of its founder's son, Peter Morgan, his father's old-fashioned business has been transformed into a veritable goliath, embracing bankruptcy and merger divisions that Archibald Morgan had deemed ungentlemanly. As Peter reaches the pinnacle of his career, his firm is embroiled in two difficult cases: a pro bono death-penalty case in Virginia, and a class-action lawsuit brought against Hubble Chemical of Texas after an on-site explosion killed dozens of workers.

Assigned to these cases is a group of young associates and seasoned partners struggling to make their way in the firm. Mark Clayton, fresh out of law school, is beginning to loathe his dull workload, and to be frightened by the downgrading of his personal life, when he is assigned to the pro bono case. Assisting him is the mercurial Walker Eliot, a brilliant third-year associate whose passion for the law is as great as his skill at unraveling its intricacies. The aggressive, profane, and wildly successful litigator Harold Fineman is leading the Hubble defense, assisted by first-year Katja Phillips, whose twin devotion to productivity and idealism intrigue him, and Ryan Grady, another first-year, whose quest to pick up girls is starting to interfere with his work.

In this complex, ambitious, and gripping first novel, Kermit Roosevelt vividly illustrates the subtle and stark effects of the law on the lives not only of a group of lawyers, but also on communities and private citizens. In the Shadow of the Law is a meditation about the life of the law, the organism that is a law firm, and its impact on those who come within its powerful orbit.

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Reviews

BookBrowse Review

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As the story opens, the firm has two particularly challenging cases on, one a class action suit against a Texas chemical company, and the other a pro bono case assigned to eager young associate Mark Clayton. So far this sounds pretty much like many another legal thriller - but Roosevelt's is a little more thoughtful than most - combining enough twists and turns to keep thing interesting while also pondering some of the bigger questions about the law and the moral dangers to those who practice it...continued

Full Review (249 words)

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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).

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Beyond the Book



This is Kermit Roosevelt's first novel. He is an assistant professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a former clerk to a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

He's also a descendent of Theodore Roosevelt, but to his credit, this is a fact that I only gleaned when I asked his publisher a direct question, having noticed that he shared the same name as one of Roosevelt's sons.

Presumably this also makes him a relative of Kermit Roosevelt, the ...

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