This book should replace The Buffalo Creek Disaster as the primary supplement to all first year civil procedure cases. Charles Carreon demonstrates how a sole practitioner, with his wits about him, can invoke and deploy the awesome power of the federal courts for the benefit of his client.And it's a hell of a lot of fun to read. To summarize, Carreon took, as a contingent fee, an interest in the domain name "Sex.com" in exchange for his services in retaking the domain for the benefit of his client, the Internet entrepreneur Gary Kremen. Kremen registered this domain in the early days of the Internet (before domain names were understood as property) only to have it stolen out from under him by an extremely sophisticated con artist and forger named Steve Cohen. During the Internet boom of the late 90's, Kremen watched in horror as the stolen domain was converted by Cohen into a goldmine for Internet pornography, with massive proceeds. Cohen hid the fruits of his theft with a byzantine fortress of shell corporations, offshore accounts and forged documents.Kremen was the victim of a crime, but no sane lawyer would touch his case. Cohen's asset protection castle looked impregnable, the value of any treasure inside uncertain. After years of shopping his case around, Kremen finally found Charles Carreon, who was at the time a sole practitioner and criminal defense attorney. With limited resources, in an unsettled area of law, against impossible odds, Carreon took the case on and heroically litigated it to unconditional victory. This book is the roadmap to that victory.Even if Civ Pro bores you to tears, this is a sensational book that keeps the pages turning. But if you want to learn how a wily solo can use the Rules like a sorcerer - if you want to learn how to use discovery to expose even the most sophisticated and shameless liars, this book is for you. Reading the Rules, cold, will teach you nothing about how the game is really played. This book shows how litigation works in practice, where the lawyer in question actually cares about the outcome and not just the billables.Carreon has a lot of heart, and he is candid about his failures. This sort of candor is extremely rare in legal war stories; most lawyers are terrified of appearing weak. But war stories are cheap, rarely true, and utterly unhelpful to the young lawyer. Carreon's strength is his willingness to share. He made serious strategic mistakes, played right up to the lines of ethics, was sued by Cohen for defamation and by his own client for malpractice. Worst of all, he did not collect in full. But he discloses all of this up front, so we can learn. Importantly, Carreon focuses on the delicate human relationships spawned by the bizarre personalities of wealthy clients. He walks us through the minefield of shifting allegiances and strange bedfellows that developed throughout the case. The author is streetwise, and street wisdom comes only from the school of hard knocks.This is most interesting book I have ever read about the practice of law. It should be read by all law students and young lawyers, especially those who will be swimming with sharks.