Overview

The law promises justice. Too often, it delivers inequality. This contradiction raises a basic question: Why does a legal system that claims to stand for fairness and equality fail to uphold these ideals over and over? In Law on Trial, legal scholar and Bronx native Shaun Ossei-Owusu draws on more than a decade of observation and reflection—first as a scholar of inequality, then as a law student, practicing lawyer, and now as an Ivy League law professor—to provide an unvarnished account of the legal system. He reveals that the promise of justice is too often a convenient fiction invoked by lawyers, recited by textbooks, and betrayed in practice. Street crime gets the fist of the state; white-collar crime gets a gentle hand. Laws meant to protect women and minorities are increasingly turned against them. Immigrants face the law with only the thinnest protections, while the rights of people with disabilities are routinely ignored. And, most quietly, lawyer-driven corporate deals shutter small-town hospitals, deepening America’s abandonment of the rural poor. These are not aberrations, but simply how law works in this country. In this legal odyssey, Ossei-Owusu takes us inside law school classrooms where human suffering is reduced to abstract principles. He brings us to government offices where protecting cities can mean crushing the vulnerable. We go to Big Law conference rooms where power is exercised far from the communities most affected. At every step, he pulls back the curtain on legal education and the legal profession, creating a revelatory, unforgettable account of a system that touches all of us, in one way or another. A book for nonlawyers, law students, and practicing lawyers alike, Law on Trial explains how a legal system dedicated to fairness is behind many of the social ills of our time, and shows how it can be fixed.

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9781324091264

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Reviews

""Law on Trial is required reading for every dreamer going to law school to change the world—and for anyone who wants to understand the divides that fracture our society. Shaun Ossei-Owusu’s tell-all tale is a sobering account of the legal system’s shortcomings as could only be told by an insider working in the belly of the beast…To borrow Muhammad Ali’s famous quote, this book will shake up the world of legal education."" -- Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, author of Crook County and Crime Fictions ""Shaun Ossei-Owusu had produced a revelatory study of how the American legal profession mirrors and magnifies social inequalities. From classrooms to courtrooms to boardrooms, Law on Trial dissects the myriad ways in which lawyers protect powerful interests, obscure inconvenient truths, and normalize injustice—all while telling the public, and themselves, that they are fighting the good fight. Panoramic in scope yet rich in detail, unsparing in its criticisms yet never self-righteous, this book deserves to be read by every law student."" -- David Pozen, author of The Constitution of the War on Drugs ""This book pulls back the curtain on the legal profession to expose the myths we cling to and the deeper injustices that are often overlooked or willfully ignored. Shaun Ossei-Owusu executes the rare feat of offering a book that blends personal narrative with scholarly rigor and arresting humor. This is the book I wish I had before law school and the one I’d hand to anyone who wants an accessible primer on how our legal system fails."" -- Bernadette Atuahene, author of Plundered

Author Information

Shaun Ossei–Owusu is a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches and writes about criminal law, civil rights, legal ethics, the welfare state, and the business of law firms. He has held appointments at Princeton, Harvard, and Columbia. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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