The Street Lawyer: A Novel
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Compelling . . . another timely tale from John Grisham. [The Street Lawyer] shows not only that Grisham has his finger on the public pulse but that he’s also out to prick its conscience.”—Chicago Tribune
Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. law firm with eight hundred lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was no more than three years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience.
Then a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived, but his assailant did not. Who was this man? Michael did some digging and learned that his attacker was a mentally ill veteran who’d been in and out of shelters for many years. Then Michael dug a little deeper and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney.
The fast track derailed, the ladder collapsed. Michael bolted the firm and took a top-secret file with him. He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street lawyer. And a thief.
Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. law firm with eight hundred lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was no more than three years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience.
Then a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived, but his assailant did not. Who was this man? Michael did some digging and learned that his attacker was a mentally ill veteran who’d been in and out of shelters for many years. Then Michael dug a little deeper and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney.
The fast track derailed, the ladder collapsed. Michael bolted the firm and took a top-secret file with him. He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street lawyer. And a thief.
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Community Reviews
This was my first disappointing Grisham novel and I struggled to finish it. It's all about a young corporate attorney's sudden awakening to the plight of the homeless after he is nearly killed by one of them in his swanky office. There were so many things wrong with this storyline, including how hard it was to believe that the attorney, Brock, had been so completely naive and unaware of the issue, given how widespread it was in and around Washington DC (and this was written 25 years ago)! His "conversion" from corporate, money-making law to near poverty level street lawyer was just not believable. His real fear as a white attorney serving a nearly all-Black population where crime was rife also didn't seem to puncture his belief that personal accountability played much of a role in where people ended up. It was all about corporate greed and Republican heartlessness. Sorry, it's just not that simple.
Too much of the novel is comprised of lectures about the plight of the homeless, the blame nearly always going to Republican politicians, but DC has been run by Democrats nearly forever. There is also a troubling disconnect between the fact that so many of the homeless characters we do meet have become crack addicts, prostitutes, and small time criminals. In making bad choices, they endangered their stability. This cannot all be laid at the feet of the government.
So much of these tragic cases have roots in other, core issues, such as the breakdown of the family; disconnection from church or other religious values and religious community; and, to an extent, an ever expanding welfare system that has trained too many people that government will always bail them out, no matter what they do.
I have known a few homeless people, and their circumstances are sad, but it simply isn't true that it can happen to anyone and that government needs to be the answer. There is such a thing as personal responsibility, which has lost its lustre in current society but which must make a comeback. It is a kindness to hold people accountable whenever they have the ability to do so. It is, in fact, cruel not to.
Too much of the novel is comprised of lectures about the plight of the homeless, the blame nearly always going to Republican politicians, but DC has been run by Democrats nearly forever. There is also a troubling disconnect between the fact that so many of the homeless characters we do meet have become crack addicts, prostitutes, and small time criminals. In making bad choices, they endangered their stability. This cannot all be laid at the feet of the government.
So much of these tragic cases have roots in other, core issues, such as the breakdown of the family; disconnection from church or other religious values and religious community; and, to an extent, an ever expanding welfare system that has trained too many people that government will always bail them out, no matter what they do.
I have known a few homeless people, and their circumstances are sad, but it simply isn't true that it can happen to anyone and that government needs to be the answer. There is such a thing as personal responsibility, which has lost its lustre in current society but which must make a comeback. It is a kindness to hold people accountable whenever they have the ability to do so. It is, in fact, cruel not to.
Super interesting to read about the journey of going from big law to public interest…also felt the public interest portrayal was accurate!
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