The best inspirations come from books. Oftentimes, it is not the best books that bring us comfort and inspiration but those that we need at the moment – whether we are desperate, curious or lost. We read books because we want to get deeper into what happened to us or to understand something we have not experienced. Lawyers are not an exception. They need guidance and source of motivation in their practice. In fact, the best thing to get motivated as a lawyer is to read the stories of others. In this article, I am going to recommend 10 books 5 of which are fiction and 5 are self-motivation books. Read the one that your heart clicks most at the moment.
Fiction Books
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Kafka wrote The Trial in 1914 during the first months of World War 1. It is the story of a man who is arrested without having done anything wrong and continually persecuted and finally executed. Not only does it represent what injustice can do to individuals but also shows the fate of the victims of the legal and political injustice of the time.
Billy Budd by Herman Melville
This novel raises questions about the relationship between law and justice. It is a story of a sailor who fatally injures one of his shipmates. While the moral justice of the sailor is vividly shown in the novella, he still has to face a court-martial. This piece of writing raises the question of the conflict between the justice system and morality.
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
The developments around this case which is a real-life case brought to a campaign which led to the creation of the Court of Criminal Appeal in 1907. Quite an entertaining and educational piece of writing about how the justice system developed.
Njal’s Saga by Anon
The book displays how disputes can be settled by agreement and shows that awful things can happen in society if revenge is the guiding force. This book can be easily applied to modern times where revenge is a way to solve issues in many groups and communities.
Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy
This book is an excellent piece that gives thoughts about the effects of man-made laws. The main hero, a nobleman, comes to realize that there are much oppression and injustice in the golden aristocratic world and that the criminal justice system lacks fairness and humanity.
Self-motivation Books
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
As a lawyer, you need to develop habits that will guide you to a more successful path. This book will teach you to adapt to changes and take advantages of opportunities.
Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges by Antonin Scalia and Bryan A. Garner
If you are an attorney, you must speak and write persuasively and this book teaches exactly that. While you might think that persuasion is an innate quality of a person, the fact is that a lot can be learned by reading. The authors write in an entertaining way which keeps you reading the book to the last page.
The E-Myth Attorney: Why Most Legal Practices Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber
Want to know the common mistakes why legal practices don’t work? This is the book to read to build on existing experience. This is one of the most recommended books for lawyers. It tells you how to build your practice with forward thinking in the 21 century. It shows strategies that can make your work more systematized and coordinated.
First Things First by Stephen Covey and Roger Merrill
The book is about how to build a healthy work-life balance – something that lacks in the lives of many lawyers. Sometimes emergencies are really not emergencies. All you need to do is assign proper priorities to tasks.
How to Start & Build a Law Practice by Jay Foonberg
A pretty good source to get resourceful ideas and shape your business from planning to growing a successful practice.
