Rentrée reading
‘La rentrée’ in France refers to the time of year at the beginning of September when everyone goes back to school, back to work, and back to other activities after the summer holidays. It is also the time when a lot of new books are published (the ‘rentrée littéraire’).
At the start of this new academic year, here are the English books relating to law that are on my reading list:
Sign Here: The enterprise guide to closing contracts quickly by Alex Hamilton. I recently listened to Louise Kulbicki’s interview with Alex Hamilton on studylegalenglish.com and I am looking forward to learning more about his vision for improving the contracting process.
How to Write Simple and Effective Small Works Contracts in 500 Words by Sarah Fox. Sarah Fox was also interviewed on studylegalenglish.com and I am interested to find out how she managed to draft a construction contract in just 500 words!
Online Courts and the Future of Justice by Richard Susskind. Richard Susskind has been writing about the future of legal services for a long time: see his website here. The original version of this book was published before the Covid pandemic but the latest (July 2021) version includes a new chapter reflecting on recent developments in online courts.
Justice in a Time of Austerity: Stories From a System in Crisis by Jon Robins and Daniel Newman. Access to justice is the key theme of this book and it is also one of the key topics in my English Legal Procedure module at Université Paris Nanterre. I will be recommending this well-researched book to my students.
My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Over the summer I watched 2 DVDs about the life of the late US Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg: ‘On the Basis of Sex’, a film about her early career (with an interesting example of the how the common law system of precedent works); and ‘RBG’, a documentary about her life and career. I thoroughly recommend these DVDs and I am now looking forward to reading this book.