Abraham Lincoln, Esq.

There are thousands of books currently in print about Abraham Lincoln, his life, and his presidency, but only a handful of them focus on Lincoln's pre-presidential career: law. Lincoln practiced law for nearly twenty-five years in the Illinois courts. Other than part-time service in the Illinois legislature and the United States Congress, law was his full-time occupation. He handled cases in almost all court levels: justice of the peace, county, circuit, appellate, and federal. Like many of his colleagues at the bar, Lincoln was a general practice attorney and represented clients in a variety of civil and criminal actions including debt, slander, divorce, mortgage foreclosure, and murder. Lincoln was involved in more than 5,100 cases in Illinois alone during his 23-year legal career. Though many of these cases involved little more than filing a writ, others were more substantial and quite involved; Lincoln and his partners appeared before the Illinois State Supreme Court more than 400 times. In Abraham Lincoln, Esq., editors Roger Billings and Frank J. Williams have assembled a contributor list that includes notables Harold Holzer, William D. Pederson, and Mark Steiner, to examine not only Lincoln's Illinois law practice but also the effect his practice had on Lincoln's presidential actions. The book is separated into three parts: Evaluating Lincoln's Career, The Illinois Years, and The Washington Years, offering an expansive look at Lincoln's legal mind. Essays deal with many topics, including the rule of law, Lincoln's legal writing, ethics, the Constitution, and international law. Abraham Lincoln, Esq. provides a picture of Lincoln as a lawyer while emphasizing overlooked aspects of his career. This volume will be an excellent addition to our growing Lincoln list. Roger Billings is a professor at Northern Kentucky University's Salmon P. Chase College of Law. His articles have appeared in such publications as the ABA Journal, Journal of Illinois History, and International Law. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Frank J. Williams is a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, a member of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and a justice on the Military Commission Review Panel. He is the author of Judging Lincoln and the coeditor of Lincoln Lessons: Reflections on America's Greatest Leader. He lives in Hope Valley, Rhode Island.