In Defense of Women

February 7, 2011
In 1975 Gertner, an aggressive, dogged, and idealistic lawyer, began an illustrious career defending high-profile cases involving women's or civil rights issues just as those movements were being tested in the courtroom. Now a federal judge, Gertner tells familiar courtroom dramas along with the less familiar chronicle of how the legal culture responded to the growing number of women in the ranks and how the law changed in response to the gender-driven legal issues they raised. Gertner's first high-profile case was in defense of Susan Saxe, a Vietnam war protestor accused of murder and bank robbery. Gertner lost, but the ultimate plea to lesser charges was perceived as a victory. In 1989 Gertner took on Merrill Lynch in a sex discrimination case; made history by asserting the battered woman syndrome in defense of a woman charged with murdering her husband; and in 1987 challenged Harvard's denial of tenure to a woman law professor. Gertner adeptly describes insider courtroom strategy as well as both the blatant and insidious institutional sexism she faced. Her story is a well-told reflection of the growth and growing pains of the legal system regarding women as advocates, educators, plaintiffs, and defendants.

March 15, 2011

U.S. District Court Judge (Massachusetts) Gertner spent 25 years as a civil-rights and criminal-defense lawyer before being confirmed in 1994. Her thoroughly engaging, outspoken memoir about those years might be considered a bold move for a seated judge who should maintain an image of neutrality, but not a surprising one if you consider the values that have defined her career.

The author's story is that of "breaking into and succeeding in the quintessential man's world...told by one of many women who desperately tried to put her fancy legal skills at the service of society's most maligned members." She writes this memoir to preserve her pre-judge identity as an advocate, as well as to remind the next generation of women, particularly those rejecting feminism, of the choices she and her contemporaries fought hard to maintain. Gertner narrates her personal experiences—of a humble upbringing in Queens, attending Barnard and Yale, building a law practice, earning the respect of her opponents and balancing her job with a family (she has three children with husband John Reinstein, ACLU Legal Director)—alongside stories of the landmark cases she worked on. Defending anti–Vietnam War activist Susan Saxe from accusations of robbery and murder catapulted Gertner onto the legal stage at the beginning of her career. Rape, abortion, malpractice, murder, sexual harassment, extortion and academic discrimination trials followed, cementing her formidable reputation as one of Boston's best lawyers. While the author can be a little too obvious about the pride she takes in her impressive persona ("I suppose you have to be somewhat driven to characterize teaching at Harvard as time off"), the narrative is well-paced. Lofty musings on the justice system's ability to access "the truth" and the role of litigation in shifting social standards will be cited in law-school classes, while amusing anecdotes will resonate with general readers.

Fits Gertner's description of herself: "funny, irreverent, dramatic, prepared."

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 1, 2011
Nancy Gertner was born into tenement housing and raised in lower-middle-class Queens. Now a federal district court judge, she writes in her debut memoir, The issue is less where you start than where you end up and what you have spent your life doing. Prior to being named to the bench, she served as a civil-rights advocate and lawyer, working on the hot-button issues of our time: gender discrimination, sexual harassment, date rape, and battered-womens syndrome. In reviewing seminal cases she trieddating back to the 1970s, heady times for a civil-rights attorneyGertner presents an insiders view of a flawed justice system. Shes at her best when she brings her clients to the forefront, along with her own battles against a hostile, bigoted environment for female lawyers. She has a trial lawyers instinctive sense of storytelling, though she does detour at times into legal arcana. Gertner also often rushes her narrative to get to the next case, but one can hardly fault her desire to chronicle hard-gained victories now taken for granted.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)