SANTA ROSA, Calif., Sept. 15, 2006 – LAWFUEL – Law News, Law Jobs – Daniel J. Lanahan, J.D., proves that truth is often stranger than fiction and illustrates how history relates to the current times through an analysis of 20 famous United States trials in his new book, Justice for All: Legendary Trials of the 20th Century (now available through AuthorHouse).
Lanahan captures the essence of trials that took place in American history, and reminds readers that many old issues are still unresolved and subject to great continuing public interest. “Although the law has changed, expanded and become more complex, the issues tend to remain the same,” he says.
“Have we learned from our experiences over the last 100 plus years, or do we keep arguing the same issues, in the same manner with the same result?”
Justice for All addresses themes such as the death penalty, science versus religion, civil rights, affirmative action, military tribunals and commissions, conspiracies and freedom of speech through analyzing relevant court cases and the significance of the judicial resolutions. He also discusses the effects of political climate and the public’s perception of guilt or innocence on the results of the trials.
From the 1925 trial of Leopold and Loeb that set the precedent regarding executing minors to the ramifications of Roe v. Wade and the impeachment trials of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, Lanahan provides an easy-to-read summary of the trials in order to help readers understand the societal issues and legal principles at work and how they apply to similar court cases today. “I have selected specific cases involving real people during specific periods of our history to demonstrate ‘what goes around comes around,'” he says.
Lanahan was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., at the beginning of World War II. After three years of active duty in the U.S.
Army and attending college, he worked as an insurance claims investigator and manager while attending law school. He practiced law for 35 years, including founding the firm, Lanahan & Reilley LLP in 1997. He handled mass civil litigation in many states, including coordinating the L-Tryptophan liability litigation nationwide, resulting in the Japanese manufacturer indemnifying his 158 U.S. food supplement and vitamin industry clients for an amount in excess of $3 billion. He has worked as a police officer and taught the laws of search and seizure, arrests and the use of firearms at a police academy and published a book on those subjects. He has also served on many boards of directors, including the North Bay Council, California Rural Broadcasting Corporation and the St. Joseph Health System of Sonoma County. Lanahan teaches a course on legendary trials at Sonoma State University, Empire Law School and San Francisco Law School. This work is a product of that course.
