From the Publisher
"The author, a longtime attorney and legal writer, intrepidly embraces a daunting subject in this fine-tuned, well-researched intellectual biography of Richard Posner...An indispensable read for fans of Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein's Nudge"—Library Journal
Library Journal
★ 08/01/2016
The author, a longtime attorney and legal writer, intrepidly embraces a daunting subject in this fine-tuned, well-researched intellectual biography of Richard Posner, the formidable Seventh Circuit justice, former University of Chicago Law School professor, and law and economics (inter alia) scholar. Domnarski (Swimming in Deep Water: Lawyers, Judges, and Our Troubled Legal Profession) begins by recounting tales of Posner's early intellectual prowess. An English major at Yale University, Posner was brilliant, singularly focused, and obstinate, the very traits that enabled him to distinguish himself later. In law school he graduated at the top of his class and was a Harvard Law Review editor. After brief forays into practice and clerkship, Posner entered academe, first at Stanford Law School then transitioning to the University of Chicago Law School because of its connection to the famous Chicago Economics Department. Pursuing his interest in law and economics, he wrote voluminously on the subject, focusing on economic efficiency and "wealth maximization." Posner then advanced to become a prominent, albeit controversial, jurist and prolific author of legal opinions and books. VERDICT An indispensable read for fans of Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein's Nudge.—Lynne Maxwell, West Virginia Univ. Coll. of Law Lib., Morgantown
Kirkus Reviews
2016-06-21
A practicing attorney and close observer of the federal courts examines the career of a present-day legal titan.Each era produces a jurist who, while passed over for the Supreme Court, nevertheless exerts an outsized influence on the law. For our generation, that pre-eminent judge is Richard A. Posner (b. 1939) of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Measured in citations alone—i.e., the number of times other judges invoke his opinions as authority—Posner far outstrips any contemporary. Known principally for his pragmatism and economic analysis of law, he has authored thousands of opinions on a wide range of legal issues during his 35 years on the bench. His decisions are notable for their impeccable reasoning, broadly allusive language, original analysis, and memorable turns of phrase. In addition, as a teacher and scholar, legal reformer, frequent debater, lecturer, interviewee, and the author of more than 40 books and innumerable articles and essays, he has extended his provocative thinking and influence to an audience beyond the legal community. Relying on extensive interviews, a thorough familiarity with Posner's formidable paper trail, and a forthright acknowledgment of the judge's many critics—including the likes of philosophers Martha Nussbaum and Ronald Dworkin, former Harvard Law Dean Erwin Griswold, and Justice Antonin Scalia—Domnarski (Swimming in Deep Water: Lawyers, Judges, and Our Troubled Legal Profession, 2014, etc.) compiles a useful, well-informed guidebook to Posner. The author provides plenty of biographical information, most of it supplied early on in his treatment of the judge's youth, his undergraduate and law school days, and his years in Washington, D.C. But the focus is on the work, on the issues and ideas that preoccupied Posner through the decades, first as a professor at Stanford and Chicago Law and then as an appellate judge. Practitioners will better understand Posner's impact on the law; general readers will appreciate this introduction to that increasingly rare breed: a public intellectual worthy of their time.
