The United States Legal System: An Introduction

This book is designed to give students the background they need to start law school successfully. Since the best law schools seek a diverse class in terms of background and education, not all incoming law students are familiar with our legal system.  This book introduces legal education, the legal profession, the legal system, and primary sources of the law including statutes and cases.  It covers basic principles of statutory construction and the evolution of the common law through judicial decisions.  While the book starts with the basics, it also introduces some more sophisticated issues including the United States Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, which weaves together several themes covered in the book.  The fourth edition updates all the statistical information about legal education and the legal profession, uses a new series of cases showing the evolution of the common law, and includes the Obergefell case to illustrate the complex interplay of legal doctrines.  PowerPoint slides are available to professors upon adoption of this book. Download a sample of the full 122-slide presentation here. If you have adopted the book for a course, contact bhall@cap-press.com to request the PowerPoint slides.