title: Law Man: My Story of Robbing Banks, Winning Supreme Court Cases, and Finding Redemption
author:  Shon Hopwood 
description: <b>Magnificentthe story will inspire anyone who reads it.<br /></b>--Michael Santos, Huffington Post<br /><b><br />A story that moves from bleak to fairy-tale fantastic[the] transformation is both moving and inspiring.<br /></b>--Bookpage<br /><br /><b>Tells a good story of the deepest kind of redemptionWell, written, inspiring and thoroughly enjoyable.<br /></b>--Tim Challies, Challies.com<br /><br /><b>Affectingan unusal tale of punishment and redemptionreaders will root for Hopwoods attempts to follow a different path.<br /></b>--Kirkus Reviews<br /><br /><b>"The only thing more remarkable than Shon Hopwood's against-all-odds redemption is the skill with which he's told his story.</b> A good lawyer needs brains, compassion, insight, and a sense of humor. LAW MAN displays all these traits in abundance. <b>The verdict is in, and this is</b> <b>an outstanding book."</b><br />-- Jeffrey Ian Ross, Ph.D., coauthor BEHIND BARS: SURVIVING PRISON<br /><br /><b>LAW MAN transcends the 'prison memoir' genre andoffers a redemptive tale of the human spirit.</b> From his damning portrait of his own transgressions tohis exploration of criminal law, family, God, and love, Shon Hopwood<b>paints a broad, troubling, wonderful canvass of a life transformed."</b><br />--James S. Hirsch, New York Times bestselling author of HURRICANE: THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF RUBIN CARTER <br /><br /><b>A magnificent book that captures the complexity of the American prison system  both its casual savagery and its unanticipated ennobling aspects.</b> What is ironic about this tale is also what is hugely intriguing, that a man sentenced to ten years for flouting the law is ultimately redeemed by his passion for the law, and for justice. <b>This amazing story provides hope that people really<i> can</i> change their lives</b> <b>and make a difference.</b><br />--Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law, and author of THE CONSERVATIVE ASSAULT ON THE CONSTITUTION
zlib_text: ![](Images/image00182.jpeg)
  
  **rack-e-teer** one who obtains money illegally, as by fraud, extortion, etc.
  
  CHAPTER 1
  
  I am a lawyer, and I am in prison. It’s a long story.
  
  I’m forty-three years old and halfway through a ten-year sentence handed down
  by a weak and sanctimonious federal judge in Washington, D.C. All of my
  appeals have run their course, and there is no procedure, mechanism, obscure
  statute, technicality, loophole, or Hail Mary left in my thoroughly depleted
  arsenal. I have nothing. Because I know the law, I could do what some inmates
  do and clog up the courts with stacks of worthless motions and writs and other
  junk filings, but none of this would help my cause. Nothing will help my
  cause. The reality is that I have no hope of getting out for five more years,
  save for a few lousy weeks chopped off at the end for good behavior, and my
  behavior has been exemplary.
  
  I shouldn’t call myself a lawyer, because technically I am not. The Virginia
  State Bar swept in and yanked m