This new book offers an approachable user's guide to both the spirit and the letter of the law underlying the U.S. legal system. It provides explanations and examples of most of the concepts covered in law schools explained in plain English, with minimum use of jargon. It also offers copies of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. It's perfect for anyone who wishes a concise and approachable guide to the U.S. Legal system.

This concise primer offers an introduction to U.S. law from a comparative perspective, explaining not only the main features of American law and legal culture, but also how and why it differs from that of other countries. Students beginning LLM programs in the U.S., in particular international students, will find this primer invaluable reading.

The attorney-client relationship is one of the most important and delicate relationships in all of legaldom (if there is such a word). Lawyers cannot exist without clients. With rare exceptions, clients cannot make it without lawyers. The foundation of the attorney-client relationship is trust. Without the element of trust between the client and the attorney, the relationship simply will not work out. I am reminded of the story about the man who hated to worry about anything and went looking for a surrogate worrier. He approached a lawyer about the issue and said: Potential client: "I would like to retain your services. I'll give a thousand dollars if you will do the worrying for me." Lawyer: "That's fine. I'll do it. Now where's the thousand dollars?" Potential client: "That's your first worry." Trust works both ways in an attorney-client relationship. In order for an attorney to help the client, the attorney needs to know everything about the client's problem or issue. Most clients do not understand that, or simply ignore this point. In any event, few clients abide by it. To encourage clients to speak freely and reveal all to their lawyer concerning their problem or issue, the law grants an absolute attorney-client privilege. Whatever the client tells the lawyer about his or her case is secret and strictly confidential. Only with the client's expressed permission can the attorney reveal this secret and confidential information.

This brief, accessible, and inexpensive supplement on American courts and their functions provides undergraduate, or first-year law students, with an understanding of the key substantive and procedural concepts that they need to know to study the law or the judicial process. Recognizing that there are many substantive and procedural concepts about American courts that students must first grasp in order to study the law or the judicial process, this brief text answers important questions about justiciability, standing, jurisdiction, and judicial power. With a stronger historical context, this text is a perfect complement to a text on Constitutional Law, Judicial Process, or a legal casebook, and will help students master the legal vocabulary with which they are confronted.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.