Martin Paretz
Kahlenberg's brilliant and brilliantly written memoir of his years as a student at the Harvard Law School is the most compelling critique of legal education of this generation. Lively and devastating, Broken Contract is a must, not only for those who are already lawyers, but, more important, also for those who want to be lawyers. This book could change their lives.
Senator Charles S. Robb
In One L, Scott Turow wrote of Socratic cruelty at Harvard Law School. But that was just part of the story. Richard Kahlenberg's Broken Contract reveals an even more insidious and costly process: how law school can transmute idealism into avarice. Kahlenberg's writing seethes with the outrage of a man who feels jilted by the school he wanted to love. He cites incident after incident to show how students' natural public-spiritedness is turned into self-interest, cloaked in a grey flannel suit, and delivered almost exclusively to the service of the powerful. Broken Contract should be required reading for every college student considering law school.
John Grisham
Should be read by every bright mind even remotely contemplating law school. It's much more than a memoir. It's a brutally honest picture of how law schools transform idealism into greed. The book is an indictment of American legal education. Perhaps if it's read and passed around, the current stampede toward law will be halted.
