The Handy Law Answer Book (The Handy Answer Book Series) - Softcover

David Hudson, Jr. JD, is the author or coauthor of more than 20 books, including The American Bar Association Guide to Credit and Bankruptcy, The Encyclopedia of the First Amendment, and The Handy Supreme Court Answer Book. He works as a First Amendment scholar at the First Amendment Center and teaches at Vanderbilt Law School, the Nashville School of Law, and Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Using the format of works such as The Handy Anatomy Answer Book (2008) and The Handy Philosophy Answer Book (2010), the author poses more than 800 questions and answers that offer the reader information on significant events, meaningful principles, and practical points in various legal areas—beginning with a chapter on “Constitutional Law” (“What does the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution say?”) and ending with “Personal Injury Law” (“Can a business be liable for injuries caused to its patrons by third parties?”). Other chapters cover the Bill of Rights; the court system; lawyers and lawsuits; criminal procedures; and credit and bankruptcy, employment, and family law. One caveat: answering the question, “What does it take to become a lawyer?” the author states that “Lawyers must possess a degree from a law school and then pass a difficult test known as the bar exam,” ignoring the fact that several states still allow persons who have read the law under a practicing attorney or a judge to take the bar exam without attending law school. The many black-and-white illustrations relieve the Q&A format, and there are numerous sidebars titled “LegalSpeak” providing excerpts from actual rulings so that the reader can see the kind of language that prevails in legal documents. Appendix A addresses case and statute citations. The U.S. Constitution is found in appendix B, and appendix C lists many online legal resources. The 14-page glossary helps the reader with selected legal terms. Recommended for libraries and individuals who need an economically priced introduction to American legalese. --Sally Jane