What’s it about?

So you think your work day has gotten off to a bad start? Traffic a bit heavy? The boss wants to know whether that momentous task is completed? Well, check out this scenario - an up and coming thirtysomething lawyer, Michael Brock steps into the elevator to find himself alone with a person he later disdainfully refers to as a "street bum", observing that he definitely doesn't "belong" here (he will suggest that the elevator be disinfected) - "here" is eight floors of office space in downtown Washington, occupied by the law firm of Drake & Sweeney, the nation's fifth largest.
Our hero should have been a little more respectful, because the "bum" produces a .44 automatic, with which he holds the litigation department hostage. Not content with such mayhem, he also removes his trench coat to reveal a vest of dynamite beneath.
Ah, the lot of a lawyer is not a happy one!
Drake & Sweeney has eight hundred lawyers in offices around the world – does this sound far-fetched? In fact it is entirely possible in this age of mass mergers and corporate hegemony. Half of them work in the Washington D.C. office, where the very angry vagrant has taken control.
The outcome of this contretemps has far-reaching effects on all involved, especially our hero, who comes face to face with an ever growing web of intrigue, and the darker side of humanity. The vagrant is not all he seems – a war veteran who exposes something of the evil underbelly of Drake & Sweeney. Hence his somewhat resourceful demand to see the tax records of the law firm's partners.
But before this event, things had been going swimmingly for Michael. Typical of his breed (species "attornus cashus humungus"), he was in a hurry, scrambling his way up the legal-eagle ladder, earning his $US120,000, a partnership in the offing. And don't expect him to have ever dropped a few dollars in the charity box, he's too busy counting his tax deductions.
But in the space of the next 32 days Michael Brock will change his life to a greater extent than most of us achieve in a decade. Goodbye marriage, job, his cosy place in a narrow universe; hello theft of sensitive office documents, a near fatal car crash, a complete set of bruises and injuries, and a new girlfriend to boot! He will also meet a mentor, director of the 14th Street Legal Clinic, Mordecai Green, the best character in the book. These are the constant themes of Grisham books – young honest Southern lawyer against the corrupt system.

The pluses

Grisham is an "issues" man. Some of his favourites are racial prejudice, the death penalty, the immorality of the corporate behemoth and the rights of children to their day in court. Okay, so he's not writing impassioned treatises in legal journals, but at least he's invested a social conscience in otherwise standard fare legal thrillers.
In this novel we learn about the injustice of the legal system, where the "haves" and "have-nots" are never on an equal footing. Grisham seems to be angry about these injustices – can the John Grisham Foundation for philanthropic endeavours be far behind?
Like it or not, this goes down like a spoonful of honey – swift and sweet. If this is not your taste, move on, but it's a plus if you're looking for a quick fix on a short holiday.
The novel begins with a bang and doesn't let go – he hooks you from the start, so you don't have much time to check out the scenery that may not be as vibrant as it should be. The opening has some of Grisham's best writing.
The compelling character Mordecai Green, a lawyer who can't drive but knows all there is about running a law clinic for the poor.
It has to be conceded that Grisham believes there are solutions to the problems of homelessness, and this is a vast improvement in what we usually get a la the "hopelessness of it all".

The minuses

There isn't much here in terms of characterisation. True, Michael's change of circumstances happen in a blur that is the mainstay of fast paced fiction. But without real explanation of motive and character development, Michael's transformation from acolyte of a legal Sodom to an advocate for the poor and needy is a bit hard to swallow.
There has to be a price to pay for the annual rate of new releases Grisham has achieved in the last decade. Good plots that are not fleshed out; cliched character development to compensate for a lack of depth; writing that does not suggest a lot of revision.
There's not too much at stake here, so we're not on the edge of our seats hoping for the salvation of our hero.
Why is Michael surprised to learn that his former firm has been involved in some dirty tricks? Surely he was there long enough to know that they became one of the biggest by being one of the best at this sort of legal chicanery.

The legal point

Michael Brock goes from $US120,000 p.a. to $US30,000 as a "street lawyer". It's none too comforting to public lawyers in Australia that his wife leaves him when he makes this career change, because she believes he's lost his mind! Grisham takes us into the heart of a "poverty law" practice.
In Australia, legal aid is available for those who can't afford a lawyer to help them with their legal problems. This doesn't mean that everyone will get it – far from it, never moreso than in these days of severe budgetary restraint.
Legal aid is provided by Legal Aid Commissions (or similar), community legal services, and in an indirect manner by private lawyers who are paid by legal aid for their services. Legal Aid Commissions employ their own lawyers, usually in areas like Family Law, criminal law, discrimination and general advice in other areas. To receive these services you must pass a means test, which looks at assets, income and the anticipated cost of the legal representation.
Community legal centres, on the other hand, are situated in many metropolitan areas, and offer free advice, often at "clinics" operated in evenings. Lawyers at these centres can sometimes provide representation in courts, or may help clients get legal aid. They also undertake a wide range of educational activities. In our experience these centres are staffed by hard working, efficient and talented lawyers and support staff.
For more information about legal aid and community legal centres, have a look at our Using Lawyers topic.

About John Grisham

You know that bank that John Grisham was laughing all the way to? – he bought it!! He’s the Bill Gates of legal fiction; the Rupert Murdoch of thriller writers; the Stephen Spielberg of….. well, you get the idea! By any standards, he has achieved a remarkable success, so much so that his publishers proclaim him the world’s best selling author.
He was born in Arkansas (pronounced “Arkansaw”), the same state that Bill Clinton calls home. He got a degree in accounting (handy now that he has all that money to count!) and (tick, tick, tick…) yes, Law, from the fabled “Ole Miss” (a University in Mississippi).
Now, most lawyers go on to practice in a pretty dull routine – surrounded by wills and land titles, they spend their days buried in more paper than a recycling centre. This might be good enough for your everyday hack, or even your ego-driven corporate type, but Grisham had different ideas. Like the actor that longs to direct, there is an author deep inside many trial lawyers. In some ways it goes with the territory – after all, most legal arguments are a fiction in themselves. You strut the stage of the court, pulling the threads of a plot together to make a persuasive story. Isn’t that what they say a novel is from the reader’s point of view – a willing suspension of disbelief? In other words, if you connect the dots, and make it seem real, the reader will go along for the ride. And as any trial lawyer will tell you, that’s pretty much the same thing you want from a judge and jury.
Grisham was born in 1955, which makes all those baby-boomer lawyers with a mid life crisis all the more sick with envy! He worked as a criminal and personal injuries lawyer for 10 years, and as a sideline, got himself elected to the State House of Representatives to boot! But it was not law or politics that really challenged his overactive intellect – in 1984 he started to write his first novel, and three years later A Time To Kill was finished. By the time that first novel was published he was well into The Firm. He could not have imagined how this enterprise would forever change his life, and would set the trend for the new wave of legal fiction. And if he saw himself as the alter ego of Mitch, the hero in The Firm, who better to star in the film role than Tom Cruise?
From there it was one roller-coaster success after another. Each new novel goes straight to the top of the best-seller list, to be closely followed by a hit movie. The Pelican Brief was published in 1990, The Client in 1993, The Chamber in 1994, The Rainmaker in 1995, The Runaway Jury in 1996, The Partner in 1997. It seems like an annual event nowadays – if it’s Spring, there must be a new Grisham on the shelves! Often the paperback is released at the same time as the new hardcover – and they both occupy the number one spots on their respective best-seller lists.
If you want a critical review of Grisham's work, check out "John Grisham : A Critical Companion (Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers)" by Mary Beth Pringle.

Our verdict

We'd like to applaud Grisham's illumination of the plight of the homeless and the difficulties in the practice of public law.
Unfortunately "The Street Lawyer" is not written with the sort of legitimacy that attracts the passion of the reader. But it's hard to fault the effort.
This is another of Grisham's tales of the travails of his stock character, the young lawyer in over his head. Once again the little guy takes on the Big Boys and leaves them in his wake. This is the Journey of the Legal hero, with challenges, obstacles, mentors and revelations to incite the reader's hunger for an epiphany of their own. Grisham also makes a speciality in the guilty response of the overprivileged. This may be a little hard to take for some readers, who may be offended at being lectured by the celebrity author as social critic.
For those who complain that Grisham writes with the cinema in mind, to the detriment of the narrative, the author has made it clear that he is not seeking to sell the film rights to this book (nor to its predecessor "The Partner"). He is reported to have been concerned at the glut of adaptations that threaten to overexpose his name and the novels which are the primary source of his fame. Perhaps this explains the somewhat dour subject material, a long way from his usual capers.
Even if it never makes the big screen, this is about as demanding as watching a half-decent film on television, and if that's what you're looking for, then this is the book for you. There are no doubt any number of community lawyers who will view this effort with a jaundiced eye. After all, they will take offence at the depiction of "street lawyers", particularly when it is written by a multi-millionaire author who hasn't seen the inside of a courtroom for yonks.
But that would be a little unfair – this novel is nothing more than what it attempts to be, an entertainment that focuses on a side of life that most of us never see. Nevertheless, there is something unseemly in the idea that "poverty law" is redemptive – most of us involved in public law thought we were just doing an honest day's work!
Bottom line: if you liked "The Chamber" (the book, not it's poor cinematic cousin), then you'll enjoy "The Street Lawyer", which runs to a similar theme. But like that book, it's a bit pious and heavy on the sermonising.

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Read this: The legal information contained above is intended to be general information about the law. It is not a substitute for legal and other professional advice. Lawscape Communications P/L does not accept responsibility for loss to any person, who either acts or does not act because of this information.