The Litigators by John Grisham

‘The Litigators’ is a good effort by John Grisham. He entertains with the drama of human desperation and hypocrisy and with the thrill of young idealism fighting for the underdog against foreboding big business.

David Zinc is a Harvard educated lawyer who burns out at a large downtown Chicago law firm and finds himself working in the poor suburbs at a crummy, ambulance chasing two lawyer ‘boutique’ firm. The partners at Finley & Figg are grouchy Oscar Finley and slick, unethical Wally Figg, both just scrapping by in their careers and in their lives. David tries to add some organization and direction to the firm but the partners are preoccupied; Oscar with an unhappy marriage and Wally with get rich quick schemes and the bottle. Wally’s latest scheme involves suing a mega pharmaceutical company for wrongful death caused by one of their cholesterol lowering wonder drugs. With no trial experience by any of the Finley & Figg lawyers, Wally signs with a large Florida based tort law firm and makes plans to ride their coat tails to fame and fortune. The large pharmaceutical company, hires David’s former employer and prepares for battle. With little or no proof the drug in question actually caused people to die, the Florida tort firm withdraws and leaves the underfunded, under experienced boutique firm to prove their claims in federal court against an army of seasoned litigators. Threatened with malpractice and sanctions for filing a frivolous law suit, Oscar has a heart attack as the trial opens and Wally goes on a bender leaving young David as the sole plaintiff’s attorney. With limited funding for expert witnesses, the plaintiff claims of wrong doing are skillfully unraveled by the crisp, professional performance of the defendant’s lead attorney. David does manage to save face and sanctions for his firm by discrediting the pharmaceutical company on some minor points.

Meanwhile and on his own time, David meets a Burmese family whose six year old son is deathly ill from lead poisoning believed ingested from Chinese made toys. David and his wife become emotionally attached and invest in tracking down the villainous toy company. He also helps a group of illegal immigrant workers get justly compensated by an unscrupulous constructional company. David discovers real satisfaction in defending the helpless whether his clients or his coworkers.

I’ve read most everything John Grisham has written and own most of his works in hard cover. Upon completion of each novel my thoughts are always the same; his very best work was his very first novel, ‘A Time to Kill.’ I obviously enjoy all his work but I wish he would again write something as classical as his first that I equate to ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’