The First Amendment

About the Book

A novel about environmental lawyers, Republican strippers, a giant alligator, black helicopters and the fight to save our constitutional rights in the swamps of South Alabama, The First Amendment is a humorous and sometimes moving escapade.  Unlike most “lawyer novels” previously published, this book does not kill off any of the main characters, and the heros win the day not through luck or chance but through hard work and passion for what they fight to save.

Concerned with environmental degradation and the corresponding loss of individual liberties, the novel focuses on how people can solve the problems facing the modern world with humor and dedication.

Lawyers have never practiced law like this before.  Meet Coz Stone, the brash and heavily armed lawyer who believes in what is right and fights for it no matter what.  His law partner Mark Rant has to do all the boring legal work while Stone cavorts with strippers.  Their meager law practice is on the verge of bankruptcy until Rant’s niece, Bessaya Carter, ends up on the receiving end of a fraudulent prosecution by a corrupt District Attorney.  Prosecuted for her creation of paintings using her naked body as the paintbrush, Bess becomes the focal point of a massive corporate and political conspiracy to hide growing environmental problems in coastal Alabama from the public and the media.

Rant and Stone slowly unravel the layers of what is really going on as they defend Bess’s right to free expression.  Soon they discover that the largest chemical company in the world is manipulating virtually everyone in the power structure of Alabama to hide its crimes against nature and to shield its profits.  Faced with black helicopters, toxic waste, midnight assassins, media slander, and a team of corporate lawyers that wear suits more expensive than their homes, Rant and Stone must overcome the odds to win for nature and our constitutional rights.

Set in the humid summer of coastal Alabama, The First Amendment celebrates human rights and the unique beauty of a place too few people know about and appreciate.  From shining white sands of the beach to the majestic forests of the Delta, Bess, Rant and Stone meet a wide array of unusual and spicy people who are as colorful as the land and as strong as Old Granddad, the 15-foot-long alligator that saves them from a black helicopter.

What people are saying about The First Amendment:

"The First Amendment is a wild ride, the funniest and most outlandish lawyer novel I've ever read. This nonstop action thriller will make you believe in doing good things and in drinking more good beer.  I can't believe that I like lawyers now, at least these lawyers in Ray's book. This novel is a real change from the dreary attorney novels shoved onto us by mainstream publishers." – Lamar Marshall, publisher of Wild Alabama magazine.

"This book is insane. Send Vaughan all your money. Finally there is an attorney writer who deserves it." – Ned Mudd, renown gonzo lawyer and musician.

About the Author

Ray Vaughan is an environmental attorney and the founder of WildLaw, the nation’s most aggressive non-profit environmental law firm. Ray is the author of several nonfiction books, including The Birder’s Guide to Alabama and Mississippi, The Environmental Law Handbook, and the Endangered Species Act Handbook. This is his first novel.