Law of the Jungle

The corporate takeover of the most ruthless kind, sometimes known as the "Saturday Night Special" and its slightly less ruthless "bear hug," and the part played by lawyers in such transactions form the central action of Bruce Ducker's novel.

To build his case, Ducker follows a young Harvard Law School graduate through the beginnings of his legal career with a prestigious firm in a fictitious Midwestern city; his progress in the firm, which includes marriage to the daughter of one of its more prestigious clients; and his establishment, along with others from this firm, of a new firm which competes with the Establishment for business. It is the senior of his new partners who introduces the disease of "conglomeritis" into the community, and we are led through a number of increasingly predatory takeovers and their echoes in the community. Finally, our Harvard graduate's sense of morality brings about the inevitable, and we are left to decide whether or not it is too late.

There is no doubt that Ducker has had considerable exposure to the corporate takeover and to corporate law practice since his technical descriptions of takeover techniques and of law office procedures have an authentic ring. But technical precision alone does not necessarily make for a good novel. Ducker's prose style still shows the influence of his background in the detail of law office memoranda. As the result, there is an unfortunate lack of discrimination between too many intertwined plots which makes it difficult to become involved with the characters.

But one should resist the temptation to compare this first novel with the finished work of Louis Auchincloss or James Gould Cozzens. Ducker tells an interesting and at times exciting tale.

RULE BY PROXYBy Bruce Ducker '60Crown, 1977. 312 pp. $8.95

Mr. Russell, a Yale Law School graduate, issenior partner in a New York law firm.