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St. Sebastian School of Law: A Novel
Tommy McNeely, a former federal prosecutor frustrated by his failure to land Wall Street hedge fund sharks, has moved on to become a professor at St. Sebastian School of Law. As a newly appointed dean, he discovers that the domineering university president, a Catholic priest, is plotting to sell out the law school to pharmaceutical industry lobbyists looking to cloak their think tank in academic garb. He finds an unlikely ally in Maggie Holloran, a second-year law student who is facing her own trials in running her ailing father’s dive bar while also confronting charges of plagiarizing her paper on abortion law. Set during the days of the lawless Trump Administration as McNeely tries to find meaning in the "Rule of Law," this satire tackles political, class, religious, and legal divides blending humor with thoughtful insights into the lives of contemporary law students and faculty.
254 pages, Paperback
Published August 26, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 15, 2023
Each chapter of this wry academic satire starts off with a pithy quote—the relevant quips range from Voltaire to Janis Joplin, Loyola to Tupac. All these aphorisms lend an appropriately professorial touch to Tim Greaney’s contemporary tale of a thwarted federal prosecutor who switches jobs mid-career to teach at a second-tier private law school in New Jersey. Tommy McNeely, a newly appointed dean at St Sebastian, starts telling tales out of school and exposes hypocrisy and greed aplenty.
There’s a nexus of Big Pharma lobbyists, property developers, and the glad-handing Catholic priest who heads the school. The social class conflicts, misogyny, and petty rivalries in church and academia all ring true. Maggie Holloran, a barkeep’s daughter accused of plagiarism, wrestles with her future. Can idealism coexist with the slippery Rules of Law in the era of Trump? Fast-paced and funny, this book makes its case brilliantly.
There’s a nexus of Big Pharma lobbyists, property developers, and the glad-handing Catholic priest who heads the school. The social class conflicts, misogyny, and petty rivalries in church and academia all ring true. Maggie Holloran, a barkeep’s daughter accused of plagiarism, wrestles with her future. Can idealism coexist with the slippery Rules of Law in the era of Trump? Fast-paced and funny, this book makes its case brilliantly.
September 1, 2023
It is wicked, searing social commentary. It has characters you’d be happy to call friends. It has characters who are rotten, corrupt and greedy to the core while under the guise (and the painting) of saints. What a compelling read about life behind the curtain of a private law school. Cynical? Yes. Rings true? Yes.
This book is a must-read and entirely entertaining as a bonus!
This book is a must-read and entirely entertaining as a bonus!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews