Professor Paul Goldstein has been nominated for the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The ABA Journal's Allen Pusey provides a brief summary and critique of the novel Havana Requiem.

Three clients—a homeless Iraq war veteran, an aging Cuban musician and the troubled son of an assistant district attorney—are the focal points of three novels selected as finalists for the 2013 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.

The three finalists were announced Tuesday by the ABA Journal and the University of Alabama Law School, co-sponsors of the Harper Lee Prize. They are: David Ellis for The Wrong Man; Paul Goldstein for Havana Requiem; and William Landay for Defending Jacob.

…

Havana Requiem by Paul Goldstein

Fueled by alcohol and legal brilliance, Michael Seeley once oversaw his law firm’s most successful litigation. Until it all fell apart. Recklessness and overreach cost him his wife, his job, and likely the life of his last client, a Chinese dissident journalist. Havana Requiem, the latest Seeley novel from the acclaimed author Paul Goldstein, opens after a year’s sobriety has earned him back most of what he lost: the partnership in his Manhattan law firm, if not his corner office; the wary respect of most of his partners; the lucrative clients—but not the gin-sharpened passion.