We are delighted to announce the publication of The Critical Legal Pocketbook. Law creates an ethical and rational facade for itself, but beneath the surface it has its monsters; the leviathan of the state, the golems of racism and misogyny, the hydra of coloniality, the vampire of capitalism. These roam around law’s subterranean structures, covered from view but still intensely operative. The work of law is often framed as the heroic defence of the innocent against these terrors, and legal education in particular likes to forget the ways that law is essential in generating structures of domination and subjection. The Critical Legal Pocketbook casts a different light on the law, illuminating some of the ways in which law (and legal education in particular) nourishes these monsters, while appearing to show them as tame and docile.

Drawing on recent developments in critical legal theory, The Pocketbook considers other dimensions of law: its ambiguity, susceptibility to capture, and its potential as a site of rupture. Edited by students at the University of Warwick, and written by expert critical legal researchers and practitioners, the Critical Legal Pocketbook is essential reading for law students in the UK and other common law jurisdictions. The Pocketbook includes twenty five substantive chapters on traditional legal subjects from Contract Law to Human Rights, and from Mooting to Property Law. Interspersed among these are fifteen key concept notes that aim to help students grasp the complexity and plurality of critical analyses of law. 

It is published by Counterpress, and is available in ebook and paperback. Most importantly, to ensure that the book is accessible as possible, the ebook is available at a pay-what-you-can price. Please spread the word!