Book Review: Defending Jacob

William Landay, a former prosecutor but never a defense lawyer, is a brilliant fictional writer who has given his readers much more than just a murder mystery in Defending Jacob. “A Reader’s Guide” with Landay at the back of the book presents profound ethical questions for parents, children, and lawyers. It should be the centerpiece of discussions at bar associations on such topics as the limits of advocacy; how we as attorneys teach others about what we do; what we can take from laypeople (clients, parents, friends, psychologists and experts) that will help us to better represent clients and mature as advocates and people; and learning to listen to others and our consciences.