The Case of the Pre-nup and the Porsche & Other True Accounts from the Files of a Family Lawyer
by Margaret Klaw
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2013
272 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
A woman seeking a divorce has no idea of the family finances - her husband doled out money only after she gave him requisition slips for her intended purchases. A lesbian couple wants to include their sperm donor in their child's life - the sperm donor is the brother of one partner, so he will be the biological father as well as the child's uncle. These are the clients who come knocking on family lawyer Margaret Klaw's door, hoping for resolution.
Keeping It Civil looks at hot-button issues, such as new reproductive technologies and gay marriage, through the lens of ordinary people seeking counsel. A case about a prenuptial agreement becomes a meditation on the financial independence of women. A father who sues for custody because his ex-wife sends their son to school in slippers offers a look at how a lawyer selects what is relevant when pleading a case, and how a judge determines what makes a "good" parent.
We accompany Klaw as she negotiates with opposing counsel, prepares witnesses for testimony, sifts through legal precedents to develop her courtroom strategy, presents an argument to the judge, and keeps her clients in check. Like the medical observations of Atul Gawande and Oliver Sacks, these actual cases reveal our cultural biases and make for addictive reading, while offering a deeper understanding of what we talk about when we talk about family.
"Starred Review. Substantive yet accessible enough to appeal to both law students and clients alike, this book accomplishes an admirable goal: to foreground the humanity in the halls of justice." - Publishers Weekly
"Conversational, entertaining... informative and smart... An accessible description of an intricate field of law, examined in an open-hearted style." - Kirkus
"Margaret Klaw's keen observations about the law and human nature are eye-opening and jaw-dropping. This book shows how today's cultural conflicts are played out in the lives of ordinary families in true-life cases that involve love, money, sex, betrayal, and power. A must read!" - Lisa Scottoline, New York Times bestselling author of the legal thrillers Save Me and Think Twice
This information about Keeping It Civil was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Margaret Klaw is a founding partner of Berner Klaw & Watson, a family law firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Named by Martindale-Hubbell as a "Preeminent Woman Lawyer," she has been recognized as a Pennsylvania "Super Lawyer" for the past five years. An adjunct professor of family law at Temple University's Law School, she speaks frequently on family law and blogs for the Huffington Post and dailyworth.com.
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