Supreme Ambitions details the rise of Audrey Coyne, a recent Yale Law School graduate who dreams of clerking for the U.S. Supreme Court someday. Audrey moves to California to clerk for Judge Christina Wong Stinson, a highly regarded appeals-court judge who is Audrey’s ticket to a Supreme Court clerkship. While working for the powerful and driven Judge Stinson, Audrey discovers that high ambitions come with a high price. Toss in some headline-making cases, a little romance, and a pesky judicial gossip blog, and you have a legal novel with the inside scoop you’d expect from the founder of Above the Law, one of the nation’s most widely read and influential legal websites.


Supreme Ambitions is the first novel by David Lat, founder and managing editor of Above the Law. This is legal fiction with an ‘insider’ scoop, a page-turner that will have readers both within and outside of the legal community enthralled.  In addition, fans of Lat’s incredibly successful and influential Above the Law blog will find this a real treat from one of their favorite writers.


What others are Saying About Supreme Ambitions


"This fine novel by a leading Internet commentator and analyst of the courts provides disquieting insight into the secretive world of federal judges, and their brilliant anxious young law clerks."
--Judge Richard A. Posner


“So realistic, it makes your teeth hurt. So much fun, you can’t put it down. A sprightly, gripping novel with a serious message about the rewards and dangers of unbridled ambition.”
--Chief Judge Alex Kozinski


“Lat’s novel is a cross between a serious look into the heart of darkness and an insouciant study of Manolo Blahnik footwear.”
--Judge Richard G. Kopf, Hercules and the Umpire


“[A] legitimate page-turner. Overall, it’s a smashing success.”
--Steve Klepper, Maryland Appellate Blog