Broken Contract: A Memoir of Harvard Law School

Book is in good condition.

The book was in perfect quality! Not a single thing is physically wrong with the book, but the rich white privilege that oozes from this book is insufferable. The time I spent reading this book was time I will never get back, and that is something I have to come to terms with. Kahlenberg spends the entirety of the book complaining about how he went to Harvard Law and it was more difficult than he had anticipated- good god man get a grip. Seriously, did he expect it to be easy, try and come back to reality dude, you are at HARVARD LAW what about that reads as easy to you. At one point he talks about how he wishes that he could have gone back and changed his choice and go to a different college. While we all have our own valid struggles and issues, i am reluctant to sympathize and listen to a successful man complain on top of his stacks and stacks of money say that "oh boo-hoo I wish I didn't go to the most competitive college in the nation it was really really hard" no Kahlenberg, you just realized how average and not special you are. GET A GRIP I deeply hate this book, and it is disheartening to learn that a whiny baby-man like this can get a platform and discourage students form going to law school. super suspicious, don't want any competition??? Don't read this book, it's a steaming pile of garbage, and would be better used as kindling for fire.

First, let me list the good characteristics of the book. The author is intelligent, so it's not extremely tedious. The author's writing style is also very engaging, and he doesn't go into detail about all his term papers. It provides a new perspective on law school and the law in general. That's about all I can say for it.Now, for what I disliked. The author is a liberal and is constantly comparing things to a liberal standpoint and trying to get you to see why conservatives are like the Wicked Witch of the West. He is extraordinarily bitter when Bush beats Dukakis. I'm not stating my political association, I'm just saying that it's annoying. This is not objective journalism at all (the author has a journalism degree). Second, this guy is a whiner. He gets into the best law school in the country, and whines when he gets a B+. He resents his roommate for making Law Review while the author did not. He can tell from the first semester that law doesn't interest him, that public policy does, but for some reason unbeknownst to the readers he obstinately stays at Harvard instead of transferring to, say, the Kennedy School, where his wife is studying public policy. He does not spare any of his professors from harsh criticism, even the two or three he claims to like. He seems to be upset that almost everyone in his class decides to go to a corporate firm rather than public interest, but he himself comes within a day of taking a job at one of those same corporate firms. He also whines about how hard it is to find a place to work and decide where to go (he got offers from most of D.C.'s top law firms). Finally, he blames his law professors from his cynicism, yet it is evident from the first chapter that the author is a cynic. As he was writing this during law school, I don't think his professors can be given all the credit.I would only reccommend reading this book if A)you are stuck on a deserted island with nothing else to do. B)you want to tell yourself how miserable you would have been there anyway after you don't get accepted at Harvard or C)to make yourself thankful your spouse/children don't whine as much as this guy and that you're not a lawyer.

Broken Contract is the chronicle of Richard Kahlenberg's struggle to justify his classical liberal ideals with the harsh reality of law school: most entering law students have a desire to use the privilege of an education in the law to help the poor and downtrodden of society, "but upon graduating, the vast majority [scramble] to fill the ranks of the nation's top corporate law firms" (from the front flap). Through the framework of his struggle with these powerful opposing forces, Kahlenberg presents us with a fascinating look at Harvard Law School, its culture and the nature of the law education of the late 1980s. He paints a portrait of everyday life as a law student, scrambling for Law Review positions, summer internships, judicial clerkships and ultimately, for a job after graduation.As Kahlenberg searches for a job and dogmatically asks each interviewer about the firm's pro bono work (he is interested in little more), he occasionally comes across as an elitist; his sense of noblesse oblige is mildly nauseating. Throughout the book, Kahlenberg operates on the assumption that class-action lawsuits are morally right, that cases brought by poor people are just, that all big corporations are evil, that people have to sell-out to earn big salaries and that "conservatives" are willing to do anything to guarantee the rights of the rich.However, don't let these relatively small negative aspects of the book deter you from reading it, even if you identify yourself as a conservative. His larger point is this: "since each of us struggles daily with good and bad impulses, we might want to restructure our social institutions in order to make it a little easier to do good" (235). This book does not target a certain ideology, except perhaps greed. Kahlenberg does not pull any punches and the targets of his criticisms span the ideological spectrum (although he does let a few more land on the right side of the spectrum).Broken Contract rates a full four and a half stars. Broken Contract challenged me to think critically about my motivations for attending law school and broadened my perspective on life in general and on the legal community in particular.