Warden, Karl P.

English

University of Denver

Denver Law Review Volume 39 Issue 4 Article 5 April 2021 Book Review: Write Me a Verbal Contract Karl P. Warden Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/dlr Recommended Citation Karl P. Warden, Book Review: Write Me a Verbal Contract, 39 Dicta 263 (1962). This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Denver Law Review at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Denver Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact jennifer.cox@du.edu,dig-commons@du.edu. JULY-AuGUST, 1962BOOK REVIEWWRITE ME A VERBAL CONTRACT. By W. Robert Abbott. Char-lottsville: The Michie Company, 1962. Pp. 160. $3.50.Lawyers seldom tell jokes to other lawyers. The stuff of intra-professional humor is the infinite variety of humanity migratingthrough the lawyer's world leaving spoor through the pages of theNational Reporter System. To the non-initiate in the legal fraternitythe punch line of this brand of humor is often lost in a morass oftechnical terminology not part of the public domain. Occasionallylawyers condescend to spin tales for the mass audience. Anatomyof a Murder is an outstanding example of the best of this condes-cension. The used book stores are full of privately printed first edi-tion copies of the worst. Thus when one hears of a new book by alawyer, especially a new book of amusing anecdotes from the prac-tice of a small town lawyer, all of the defenses are thrown up anda "show me" attitude comes to the fore. Write Me a Verbal Contractis one of the very latest efforts by a lawyer to tell lawyer talesto the general book buying public. This time the setting is the WestVirginia hills and the lawyers and their clients are the descendantsof the original mountain men who took the first giant steps westfrom the tide water colonies. One would expect to find in such abook a soggy collection of hillbillies and stills with Snuffy Smithovertones. Yet such is not the fact. Instead of broad slapstick onefinds between the covers of this little book a very human collectionof quiet good humor. The stories can be understood by the laymenyet clearly they are written by a lawyer for other lawyers; theysmack of truth. The lawyer reader is more apt to be reminded ofhis own experiences and derive pleasure from such past remem-brances than is the lay reader. Thus this book functions on twolevels - to the lawyer it is a spring board to pleasant recollection,to the non-lawyer it is a collection of funny stories about lawyersand their clients.The reviewer has a special interest in the book stemming fromtwo facts: He knows the lawyer and has substantial personal ad-miration for Mr. Abbott, its author, and he saw many of the storiesin the book as they unfolded. It is thus somewhat surprising to findMr. Abbott including among these choice few tales one discordantnote. He inserts a story about a lawyer and a toy satellite thatstrains the reader's credulity. Surely such a chain of events couldnever have happened and Mr. Abbott should be taken to task forits inclusion. Aside from this one obvious fabrication Mr. Abbotthas compiled a most pleasant collection of tales. Too many reviewssuggest that the reader should rush out and purchase the book im-mediately for without it no library would be complete. This review-er shall not thus bow to true tradition. He flatly states that youcould spend the balance of your life without purchasing the book-while you are at it why not give up women, cigarettes and liquortoo? Or if you prefer the hedonistic existence then rush right outand buy Write Me a Verbal Contract for without it no gentleman'slibrary will be complete.Karl P. Warden*Associate Professor of Low, University of Denver College of Low..DICTA

Book Review: Write Me a Verbal Contract

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Book Review: Write Me a Verbal Contract

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