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Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, 1841 The average American's understanding of our legal system is both reflected and shaped by our popular culture. Best sellers, movie theaters, and prime time television have long been inundated with images of lawyers, whether as savior-like heroes, despicable villains or complex human beings. The goal of this collection is to provide as broad a picture as possible of the image of the lawyer in the United States and British Commonwealth. The collection consists of works of fiction in all genres, as well as legal humor, plays, comics, pulp magazines, and feature films on video. The primary criteria for an item's inclusion is that it must either include a lawyer as a central character or have been authored by a lawyer. In this way, we are able to show both the public's perception of the lawyer and the lawyer's perception of the public. Although courtroom dramas and legal thrillers predominate, there are also many works in which the practice of law has little or nothing to do with the plot. No judgments are made as to quality; works of both high and low culture are included. We have Dickens and Shakespeare, Max Brand and Danielle Steele, Anatomy of a Murder and Witness for the Prosecution, The Mighty Ducks and Tom and Jerry the Movie. We believe that not only will these films and books be of use in the classroom, but they will also provide an opportunity for members of the legal profession to see how others see them. Books in the collection circulate to any one with a UT-Austin id or Tarlton Law Library borrower's card. The normal check out time is three weeks. They are also available for interlibrary loan. The videos circulate only to the UT law school community, i.e. students, staff and faculty, for two days. However, faculty in other UT-Austin departments who would like to use them for a course can place them on reserve in the UGL audiovisual library. The videos are not available for interlibrary loan. TALLONS, our web browsable online catalog, allows you to search the library's entire collection. Our filmography provides an annotated list of the videos in the collection. The Lawyer's Story is an extensive collection of full-text books and articles related to legal story-telling, including both narrative works and critical analyses. You can also peruse a subject list of our books, the artwork, a bibliography, and quotes by or about lawyers. The collection was created and is maintained by Marlyn Robinson, Reference Librarian. If you have questions concerning the collection, or suggestions for additions to the web pages, she will be happy to respond. |
