The Street Lawyer

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The Street Lawyer
Author John Grisham
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Legal thriller
Publisher Doubleday
Media type Hardcover Paperback
Pages 448
ISBN 0-385-49099-2

The Street Lawyer is a legal/suspense novel, the ninth such work written by American author John Grisham. The hardcover first edition was published by Doubleday in 1998 (ISBN 0-385-49099-2). Dell Publishing printed the paperback edition in 1999 (ISBN 0-440-22570-1).

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The book begins on the streets of Washington D.C., when the life of Michael Brock, a high-priced antitrust lawyer is turned upside down when a homeless man walks into his office at Drake & Sweeney, a large law firm. The man, DeVon Hardy, is angry because the firm evicted him from his home, along with some other squatters.

After a near-life threatening incident inside the halls of Drake and Sweeney and with his marriage breaking up; Brock begins to re-evaluate his priorities. He decides that he can no longer work for the firm. In the process, he gets acquainted with life on the inner-city streets of D.C.

He joins a firm the Washington Legal Clinic, which helps the Homeless; including people that have been evicted by the law firm that he once worked for.

Face-to-face with the homeless, Brock comes to realize the harshness of their existence. He vows to give them a voice in the courts against their oppressors - even his old firm, and find love and happiness again.

[edit] Characters in "The Street Lawyer"

  • "Mister" - homeless "street bum" who holds hostages at Drake & Sweeney
  • Michael Brock - the protagonist; wealthy lawyer at the firm Drake & Sweeney
  • Mordecai Green - street lawyer; advocate for the homeless
  • Claire Brock - wife of Michael Brock; aspiring neurosurgeon
  • DeVon Hardy - "Mister" as stated above
  • Arthur Jacobs - senior partner at Drake & Sweeney
  • Barry Nuzzo - long-time associate lawyer with Drake & Sweeney
  • Braden Chance - partner, real estate lawyer at Drake & Sweeney
  • Hector Palma - paralegal for Braden Chance
  • Lontae Burton - homeless woman, with four children: Ontario, Alonzo, Dante, and Kale
  • Abraham Lebow - street lawyer; associate of Mordecai Green
  • Sofia Mendoza - social worker; associate of Mordecai Green and Abraham Lebow
  • Tillman Gantry - former pimp, small-time hustler, and twice convicted felon.
  • Ruby - Homeless woman addicted to crack, Michael is trying to help her.
  • Megan - Michael's later love interest, works at the women's homeless shelter

[edit] Unsold television pilot

In 2003, plans were announced, and a television pilot filmed, for a proposed small screen adaptation of the novel. Produced by Touchstone Television, the show was to star Eddie Cibrian as Michael Brock, KaDee Strickland, Mario Van Peebles and Hal Holbrook. Paris Barclay directed the pilot, which was scripted by Brian Koppelman and David Levien. However, for reasons unknown, the show was never given a full season pick-up.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Preceded by
The Partner		 John Grisham Novels
1998		 Succeeded by
The Testament
v • d • e
Works by John Grisham
Novels:

A Time to Kill (1989) • The Firm (1991) • The Pelican Brief (1992) • The Client (1993) • The Chamber (1994) • The Rainmaker (1995) • The Runaway Jury (1996) • The Partner (1997) • The Gingerbread Man (Unpublished) (1998) • The Street Lawyer (1998) • The Testament (1999) • The Brethren (2000) • A Painted House (2001) • Skipping Christmas (2001) • The Summons (2002) • The King of Torts (2003) • Bleachers (2003) • Mickey (screenplay) (2004) • The Last Juror (2004) • The Broker (2005) • Playing for Pizza (2007) • The Appeal (2008)
Non-fiction:
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