Book excerpt: This book explores legal concepts, legal reasoning, and legal processes--illustrated with case vignettes from social work practice--in order to provide social work practitioners and students with practical and accessible legal knowledge. It introduces readers to scholarship about the law and to conceptual knowledge that can be applied to any interaction with the legal system. The volume features a discussion of recent reform movements, including Alternative Dispute Resolution, and an appendix of sources for legal information and research on the law.