Many years ago, a New York Times article described Roslyn as "doctor and lawyer country." More than a few doctors and lawyers live here, and the village produces them, too.

Cameron Stracher, a Roslyn native, who practices law for CBS, has penned his own account of life in a top Manhattan firm. Double Billing has been recently published by Morrow and is available in bookstores, now.

Last Tuesday, Mr. Stracher, who is also the author of a novel, The Laws of Return, came back to his hometown to give a reading and sign copies of the book. An audience of 35 to 40 people turned up at the Bryant Library to hear Mr. Stracher. Family and friends were there, as was Mr. Stracher's old English teacher from Roslyn High School, Arthur Liebman. "It's always great coming back," Mr. Stracher said. "It's weird coming back to your hometown, but it's comfortable, too."

The scenes in Double Billing are a composite of Mr. Stracher's early years as a Manhattan attorney. Names of fellow lawyers and clients were changed, as were names of certain cases. The author describes the cases discussed in the book as "archetypes of the litigations in which I was involved."

Mr. Stracher said the theme of the book is an "awakening from hope to disillusionment" on the part of the young attorney, a journey that charts the "inevitable progress from hopes to dreams dashed."

The author is currently an attorney for CBS's in-house litigation department. At CBS, Mr. Stracher holds a salaried position that allows one to keep normal business hours.

At the private firm described in the book, the situation is much different. There, the emphasis is on billable hours, hence the title. "At a private firm, there is pressure to build hours, to increase hours," Mr. Stracher said. The promotion aspect is different, also. At a private firm, partners and associates are confronted with ownership goals where a mere associate might become highly successful and make $1 million a year or more.

With two books published, Mr. Stracher has realized his youthful dreams of becoming a writer. Although he always liked to read and write, Mr. Stracher acknowledged he was not sure of what profession to take while still an undergraduate at Amherst University in Massachusetts. There, he studied philosophy and political science. His friends and teachers advised him to attend law school, which to Mr. Stracher seemed like a "good, practical compromise" at the time.

Meanwhile, writing fiction remained his main goal. And indeed, after attending Harvard Law School, Mr. Stracher enrolled in the famous Iowa Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he began work on his first novel.

In Double Billing, the author offers his own analysis to why so many talented young people choose law school:

"When a college senior who hasn't majored in economics or biology finds the demand of the 'real world' closing in around her, her thoughts naturally turn toward law. If she's artistically inclined, people may tell her that law encourages creativity; if she writes, law requires plenty of that; if she's verbal, so's the law! Soon, law comes to seem like a reasonable career option, especially since her true love---the theater---is dead....

"For most, however, the decision to go to law school must be viewed as a combination of fear, coercion, curiosity, self-interest, self-delusion and entropy....In my generation, salaries at big law firms doubled, then doubled again; lawyers star on-screen, in books, and in public imagination....Unlike doctors, whose jobs are sleep-depriving and undercompensated for many years, big-firm lawyers are minted and have earned their first 100K before the average doctor sees a paycheck. They are members of a club that, with luck and the right resume, might have you as a member."

There is also, as Mr. Stracher notes, America's fascination with law. "American society is based on law," he said. "We can't conduct business without a lawyer. Like doctors, lawyers seem to know secret things about the world. They have power. They are able to manipulate things in a way most of us can't."

Mr. Stracher considers the novel non-fiction written as a story. He talked about Tom Wolfe, who currently is on a highly publicized book tour for his new novel. Mr. Wolfe is now writing fiction, but his earlier efforts such as The Right Stuff helped to create a "new journalism" where real life events (such as America's space program) were presented in a colorful, dramatic narrative. During our talk, Mr. Stracher acknowledged his debt to Mr. Wolfe and other practitioners of the new journalism.