The Litigators

Great read. Couldn’t put it down!! Perfect script for a movie, Netflix needs to get on this one right away

Educational, eye-opening, entertaining, fast-food novel. You are 50% sure of where it's going, and the trip is deliciously scandalous and fascinating all the way.

Everyone knows at least one of these characters in their life, and it was wonderful to follow the rise ad fall of the idiot, and a happy ending as well

Every now and then you come across a novel where it's obvious, from the first few pages, that the author had an absolute blast telling the story, and when that's the case, the reader is generally in for a treat. This is certainly the case here.David Zinc appeared to have it all. A Harvard Law graduate, senior associate at Chicago mega-firm Rogan Rothberg working in international bond finance, earning US$300,000 a year, with a good shot of making partner (where the real gravy train pulls into the station); he had the house, the car, and a beautiful wife pursuing her Ph.D. in art history. And then one grim Chicago morning, heading to the office for another exhausting day doing work he detested with colleagues he loathed, enriching partners he considered odious (and knowing that, if he eventually joined their ranks, the process of getting there would have made him just the same), he snapped. Suddenly, as the elevator ascended, he realised as clearly as anything he'd ever known in his life, “I cannot do this any more”.And so, he just walked away, found a nearby bar that was open before eight in the morning, and decided to have breakfast. A Bloody Mary would do just fine, thanks, and then another and another. After an all day bender, blowing off a client meeting and infuriating his boss, texting his worried wife that all was well despite the frantic calls to her from the office asking where he was, he hails a taxi not sure where he wants to go, then, spotting an advertisement on the side of a bus, tells the driver to take him to the law offices of Finley & Figg, Attorneys.This firm was somewhat different than the one he'd walked out of earlier that day. Oscar Finley and Wally Figg described their partnership as a “boutique firm”, but their stock in trade was quicky no-fault divorces, wills, drunk driving, and that mainstay of ground floor lawyering, personal accident cases. The firm's modest office was located near a busy intersection which provided an ongoing source of business, and the office was home to a dog named AC (for Ambulance Chaser), whose keen ears could pick up the sound of a siren even before a lawyer could hear it.Staggering into the office, David offers his services as a new associate and, by soused bravado more than Harvard Law credentials, persuades the partners that the kid has potential, whereupon they sign him up. David quickly discovers an entire world of lawyering they don't teach at Harvard: where lawyers carry handguns in their briefcases along with legal pads, and with good reason; where making the rounds of prospective clients involves visiting emergency rooms and funeral homes, and where dissatisfied clients express their frustration in ways that go well beyond drafting a stern memorandum.Soon, the firm stumbles onto what may be a once in a lifetime bonanza: a cholesterol drug called Krayoxx (no relation to Vioxx—none at all) which seems to cause those who take it to drop dead with heart attacks and strokes. This vaults the three-lawyer firm into the high-rolling world of mass tort litigation, with players with their own private jets and golf courses. Finley & Figg ends up at the pointy end of the spear in the litigation, which doesn't precisely go as they had hoped.Here are two of the funniest paragraphs I've read in some time.“While Wally doodled on a legal pad as if he were heavily medicated, Oscar did most of the talking. ‘So, either we get rid of these cases and face financial ruin, or we march into federal court three weeks from Monday with a case that no lawyer in his right mind would try before a jury, a case with no liability, no experts, no decent facts, a client who's crazy half the time and stoned the other half, a client whose dead husband weighed 320 pounds and basically ate himself to death, a veritable platoon of highly paid and very skilled lawyers on the other side with an unlimited budget and experts from the finest hospitals in the country, a judge who strongly favors the other side, a judge who doesn't like us at all because he thinks we're inexperienced and incompetent, and, well, what else? What am I leaving out here, David?’‘We have no cash for litigation expenses,’ David said, but only to complete the checklist.”This story is not just funny, but also a tale of how a lawyer, in diving off the big law rat race into the gnarly world of retail practice rediscovers his soul and that there are actually noble and worthy aspects of the law. The characters are complex and interact in believable ways, and the story unfolds as such matters might well do in the real world. There is quite a bit in common between this novel and  The King of Torts , but while that is a tragedy of hubris and nemesis, this is a tale of redemption.

...of a lawyer make me glad I was an engineer. If I had to choose one word to describe this story, from an author whose work I have enjoyed over the years, I'm afraid it would have to be "boring". It did not have to be this way, the material was potentially interesting: Young Harvard trained lawyer, with beautiful young wife, leaves $300,000 a year boring corporate law job in such a depressed state that he ends up in a bar, gets smashed and finds himself on the door step of a law office run by a couple of shyster ambulance chasers, a sharp black secretary (who holds the place together), and a dog. These guys, a recovering divorced alcoholic, and a would-be-divorced grouch, glad to have the prestige of a Harvard man on the staff, take him into their little office in Southwest Chicago. A case then falling in their lap involves big pharmaceutical company and an anti -cholesterol drug which seems to be causing heart attacks. From here, to me, the story drags, gets bogged down, offering few exciting moments and almost no surprises. A side story about a Burmese couple whose grandson is brain damaged from a lead containing toy, rises up to save the day after the Big Pharma case fizzles. The young lawyer wins a settlement from this case, rescuing the little law firm and allowing him to open his own office, during the course of which, though another side story, he wins a judgment against a company hiring Burmese workers for less than minimum wage. It was hard for me to get my teeth into this series of short stories or get very excited about them (even though the author tried to add some excitement when the young lawyer punched out a law blogger for blogging that his wife was a bimbo) - maybe if I were a lawyer I would have found it all more fascinating - or if it had been developed differently. I was impressed with the amount of research the young lawyer was able to do and the number of supporting documents he was able to pull together by himself with no paralegal or law clerk. How he did this was not explained, however, but there definitely was no crazy "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" to help, with either his research or the story interest.

As usual, Grisham writes another winner. The book was captivating and enjoyed it cover to cover.

Another very well-constructed narrative from the assured pen of the legal thriller master! Well worth taking in the suitcase for a holiday read!

Como todos los libros de Grisham, lectura ligera y entretenida.

Sehr spannend und tatsächlich ein paar Stellen zum Lachen!

It started slow but kept you guessing what's next. At one point you even think poor David is a goner until the court scene then comes the surprise package. A good blend of characters helping one another. Loved the way it was narrated