| Double Billing: A Young Lawyer's Tale Of Greed, Sex, Lies, And The Pursuit Of A Swivel Chair | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 48 reviews)
Sales Rank: 88079
Category: Book
Author: Cameron Stracher
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Studio: Harper Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
Label: Harper Paperbacks
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0688172229
Dewey Decimal Number: 346.73066092
EAN: 9780688172220
ASIN: 0688172229
Publication Date: November 3, 1999
Release Date: October 20, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
By turns hilarious and horrifying, Double Billing is a clever and sobering expose of the legal profession. Writing with wit and wisdom, Cameron Stracher describes the grueling rite of passage of an associate at a major New York law firm. As Stracher describes, Harvard Law School may have taught him to think like a lawyer, but it was his experience as an associate that taught him to behave--or misbehave--like one. Double Billing is a biting glimpse into the world of corporate law from the perspective of the low man on the totem pole. In Double Billing, Cameron Stracher reveals a shocking nonfiction account of the ordeal of a young associate at a major Wall Street law firm. Fresh out of Harvard Law School, Stracher landed a coveted position at a high-powered corporate law firm and thus began his grueling years as an associate, a dreaded rite of passage for every young attorney. Only about five percent survive long enough to achieve the Holy Grail of partnership in the firm.As the author vividly describes, law school may teach you how to think like a lawyer, but it's being an associate that teaches you how to behave like one. Or misbehave. Stracher doesn't mince words about the duplicitous behavior and flagrant practices of many lawyers in his firm, which is one of the premier partnerships in America. In a stylish and witty manner that has earned him comparison to an early Philip Roth, Stracher does for the legal profession what Michael Lewis's Liars' Poker did for the financial industry. The result is a tell-all glimpse into the cutthroat world of corporate law from the perspective of the low man on the totem pole. In Double Billing, Cameron Stracher reveals a shocking nonfiction account of the ordeal of a young associate at a major Wall Street law firm. Fresh out of Harvard Law School, Stracher landed a coveted position at a high-powered corporate law firm and thus began his grueling years as an associate, a dreaded rite of passage for every young attorney. Only about five percent survive long enough to achieve the Holy Grail of partnership in the firm. As the author vividly describes, law school may teach you how to think like a lawyer, but it's being an associate that teaches you how to behave like one. Or misbehave. Stracher doesn't mince words about the duplicitous behavior and flagrant practices of many lawyers in his firm, which is one of the premier partnerships in America. In a stylish and witty manner that has earned him comparison to an early Philip Roth, Stracher does for the legal profession what Michael Lewis's Liars' Poker did for the financial industry. The result is a tell-all glimpse into the cutthroat world of corporate law from the perspective of the low man on the totem pole.
Amazon.com
In Double Billing, author Cameron Stracher puts the legal profession on trial and finds it guilty of waste, fraud, and other offenses. Stracher has based his inside account on three punishing years as a young associate at a New York City law firm, given the fictional name Crowley and Cavanaugh. With everyone facing nearly impossible odds to become partner, there are no lawyers in love at Stracher's firm--only lawyers at war. The lifeblood at C & C is "the billable hour." Even a first-year associate costs clients $150 an hour. What's more, there's little desire to save money. "The longer C & C fought on behalf of a client, the more C & C was paid," he soon learns. There is no literal double billing, but it comes close. Clients sometimes pay twice for virtually the same service--once by the associate and then again by the partners. Every associate's memo is revised by a partner, for example. Two corporate combatants often pay their respective attorneys outrageous fees to research and argue the same, narrow points of law. The outcome is rarely in doubt. Stracher's young lawyers are ambivalent and cynical--there are no illusions in the courtrooms of Generation X. "Today, law students have nothing but doubts: about the nobility of their chosen profession, about their interest in it and about its interest in them," he writes. Say goodbye to the idealism of John Osborn's The Paper Chase. So much for the committed bunch in Scott Turow's One L. Double Billing is a great read if you're thinking of becoming a lawyer or if you work with lawyers. It will no doubt change the way you think about our system of justice. --Dan Ring
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| Customer Reviews: Read 43 more reviews...
 Decent book June 23, 2008
This is a pretty decent book. It's not completely non-fiction but the author does state that its a compilation of his experiences. It's quite amusing and kept me interested, though the title is much more exciting than the actual story.
Glad I Didn't Choose Litigation September 14, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Double Billing is a fairly good representation of the life of a junior litigation associate in a large New York law firm. For all practical purposes, the firm described in the book may as well have been CS&M or S&C. I agree with some other reviewers that the title and subtitle for the book are a bit misleading, but the book is worth reading nonetheless for anyone interested in "BigLaw" and the money and prestige that come to the select few. Stracher shows that he is a talented writer in this entertaining tale and did a good job of portraying large firm life, the never-ending hours, the demanding partners and senior associates and the gradual loss of one's life and friends outside of work. Yet, despite knowing all of this, there are numbers of law school students ready to kill for a coveted summer associate position with one of these firms and the job offer at the end of the summer that usually accompanies it. Although I'm currently working in a New York law firm, the constant thought I had while reading this book was that I am glad I stayed away from litigation. I recommend this book for anyone interested in large law firm practice or civil litigation.
 Not worth the time July 7, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I disagree with the reviewers who state that this book is a "must read" for anyone considering law school, lawyers, etc. The book could not hold my attention. Stracher likes to complain. He complains about is frustration about the doors a Harvard law degree opens yet boasts on the same page about his elation of getting in, and the opportunities that await. He can't write or hold the reader's attention. Skip this book, and pick up something better.
 Stracher's Complaints - All the Whining Without the Raw Liver March 4, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Stracher's book is a fairly boring whine-fest. He comes across as a silly young man, who went from college to law school without stopping to take the time to determine if law school was right for him. Then, after law school, off he immediately went to take a job as an associate at an enormous law firm, and was ultimately surprised to find himself miserable. Stracher's insights into the world of law are mundane and simple. It takes him three years to figure out he took the wrong job. He (and the reader) would have been much better served if he had engaged in some introspection prior to applying to law school, and again prior to taking a job, instead of thoughtlessly following a path, and then whining that he doesn't like where he has found himself.
Real Life Lawyering January 18, 2007
Some of the other reviewers have described this book at "exhilirating," but I didn't find much excitement or action in the book, rather it is a very accurate portrait of life as a young associate at a law firm, which is seldom exciting or interesting. Though the job promises a lot of money, prestige and future opportunity, it also demands a lot of unpleasant grunt work and very long hours. Stracher does a great job detailing his emotions throughout the time at the firm (and his initial decision to join the firm) as well as the tasks he was asked to perform on a day to day basis and in doing so provides a very honest example for people thinking of doing big law. The writing itself is sometimes a little too flowery, but the story does move along very well and is very insightful, so I would recommend it to anyone considering a career at a big firm or people who just want to see what a big firm is really like (as opposed to the depictions you usually see on tv or in John Grisham novels).
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