Here's what people are saying about this book:
Justice Joseph R. Grodin (Cal. Supreme Court, Retired)
Dr. Alfred E. Osborne, Jr. (UCLA Anderson School of Business)
Dr. Steadman Upham (President, Claremont Graduate University)
Justice Arthur Gilbert (Presiding Justice, Division Six - Second Appellate District - California Court of Appeal)
This
work by Rafael Chodos on the Law of Fiduciary Duties has all the qualities of a
fine treatise on the law: it is thorough. scholarly, easy to read, and
practical, containing summaries of all relevant cases as well as relevant
statutory material. For anyone researching California
law on the subject, it will be an invaluable tool.
But
the book also has qualities which are not usually found in legal treatises. It
is inquisitive rather than merely assertive, posing the sorts of questions that
would naturally occur to an intelligent reader, and then sorting out the
answers, in an area central (as Chodos puts it) to society’s on-going quest
for integrity in interpersonal affairs. It is imaginative rather than merely
analytical, containing (for example) a number of “legal fairy tales”
designed to illustrate problems of fiduciary obligation. (When was the last time
you read about “Jack
and the Beanstalk” in a legal treatise?) And it does all of this in a
style and format that are as aesthetically appealing as they are enlightening.
It is, quite clearly, a work of love.
Chodos
and I share an ancestral rabbinical background. In a preface to one of his works
on talmudic interpretation, my grandfather wrote, “If a person who is capable
of writing a book fails to do so, it is as if he were a thief.”
Chodos’ escape from that indictment has enriched us all.
Joseph
R. Grodin
Chodos
has produced a remarkable resource for all fiduciaries and students of
governance. The research is
insightful and thorough with insightful inquiry into the fundamental duties of
civil responsibility in human affairs.
The Law of Fiduciary Duties is the definitive work in the field.
Prof.
Alfred E. Osborne, Jr.
Director, Price Institute
Anderson
School of Business, UCLA
The Law of Fiduciary Duties is an incredibly ambitious and important volume that seeks to place fiduciary duties alongside torts and contracts as a third major branch of the law. What I find equally meaningful is that the exposition not only presents a detailed summary and explanation of the law of fiduciary duties, but does so in a way that emphasizes the deep historical context of the law. Moreover, the presentations and explanations have significant cultural meaning because they are grounded in the quest for integrity in interpersonal affairs.
Steadman Upham, President
Claremont Graduate University
This book .. belongs in every lawyer's office. .. The book is a must for lawyers because fiduciary duties cut across all specialties. ... The book also is an excellent practice aid to lawyers. The topics are well organized and arranged in such fashion that the answers to difficult questions may be found quickly. ... It is tightly written and engaging.
From "Under Submission: Judging Books by Covers", column in the Forum section of the Daily Journal, June 4, 2001:
by Arthur Gilbert,
Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal in Ventura