Year in Review, 2010.

Books Read (in no particular order)

1. The Case for God (2009) by Karen Armstrong (reviewed 1/10/10);

2. In-N-Out Burger: A Behind the Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain that Breaks All the Rules by Stacy Perman (reviewed 1/17/10);

3. Patience with God: Faith for Those Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism) (2009) by Frank Schaeffer (reviewed 1/24/10);

4. Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility by David M. Walker (reviewed 1/28/10);

5. Hitch-22: A Memoir (2010) by Christopher Hitchens (reviewed 12/23/10);

6. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (2010) by Michael Lewis (reviewed 10/13/10);

7. No One Would Listen (2010) by Harry Markopolos (reviewed 8/18/10);

8. War (2010) by Sebastian Junger (reviewed 7/22/10);

9. Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight (2010) by Karl Rove (reviewed 7/6/10);

10. The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart (2008) by Bill Bishop (reviewed 6/13/10);

11. The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edward's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down (2010) by Andrew Young (reviewed 6/12/10);

12. Circle of Greed: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Lawyer Who Brought Corporate America to Its Knees (2010) by Patrick Dillon and Carl M. Cannon (reviewed 5/22/10);

13. Last Words (2009) by George Carlin with Tony Hendra (reviewed 5/19/10);

14. The Happiness Project (2009) by Gretchen Rubin (reviewed 4/21/10);

15. Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile (2008) by Rob Bell and Don Golden (reviewed 4/10/10);

16. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich (reviewed 4/9/10);

17. What the Dog Saw (2009) by Malcolm Gladwell (reviewed 4/4/10);

18. Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell (reviewed 3/15/10);

19. Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing Jobs [Most] Americans Won't Do (2010) by Gabriel Thompson (reviewed 3/8/10);

20. Too Big To Fail (2009) by Andrew Ross Sorkin (reviewed February 25, 2010);

21. The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions (2008) by David Berlinski (reviewed 2/24/10);

22. What's So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D'Souza (via CD) (reviewed 2/9/10);

23. $%&#@ Finish First (2010) by Tucker Max;

24. The Blind Side by Michael Lewis;

25. Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis;

26. Can I Be Sure I'm Saved by R.C. Sproul;

27. Better by John O'Brien

Losses Sustained

Dr. Lawrence Schoenhals (grandfather)

Film of the Year

Because screenwriter Aaron Sorkin improved book (The Accidental Billionaires, reviewed here on November 1, 2009), and Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake were revelations in their roles expect The Social Network to get "friended" by various award shows.

Book of the Year

Circle of Greed: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Lawyer Who Brought Corporate America to Its Knees by Patrick Dillon and Carl M. Cannon (reviewed 5/22/10).

Appeal of the Year

Any Question? Parts I-III (see posts on November 21, December 16 and 27, 2010).

Trial of the Year

My client sought to invalidate a grant deed purporting to remove his mother's house from her trust and granting it to his sister. The effect of this deed would have been to disinherit my client, since his mother had passed away and his sister sought to evict him from that house. I was able to show that the mother did not intend to give the property to her daughter outright. In invalidating the grant deed to the sister/daughter, the court relied upon testimony and documents of the daughter's prior attorney to the effect that the daughter knew (and acted like) the property was owned by the trust, notwithstanding the new grant deed to her. I was able to overcome the attorney-client privilege, in part, because the daughter sued her attorney and attached various documents to her court-filed documents in that prior action, which I obtained and used in my case.