The Litigators

The partners at Finley & Figg—all two of them—often refer tothemselves as “a boutique law firm.” Boutique, as in chic, selective,and prosperous. They are, of course, none of these things. What they areis a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulancechasers who’ve been in the trenches much too long making way too little.Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs, with theoccasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in. After twenty plusyears together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old marriedcouple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living fromtheir seedy bungalow offices in southwest Chicago.

And thenchange comes their way. More accurately, it stumbles in. David Zinc, ayoung but already burned-out attorney, walks away from his fast-trackcareer at a fancy downtown firm, goes on a serious bender, and findshimself literally at the doorstep of our boutique firm. Once Davidsobers up and comes to grips with the fact that he’s suddenlyunemployed, any job—even one with Finley & Figg—looks okay to him.

Withtheir new associate on board, F&F is ready to tackle a really bigcase, a case that could make the partners rich without requiring them toactually practice much law. An extremely popular drug, Krayoxx, thenumber one cholesterol reducer for the dangerously overweight, producedby Varrick Labs, a giant pharmaceutical company with annual sales of $25billion, has recently come under fire after several patients taking ithave suffered heart attacks. Wally smells money.

A little onlineresearch confirms Wally’s suspicions—a huge plaintiffs’ firm in Floridais putting together a class action suit against Varrick. All Finley& Figg has to do is find a handful of people who have had heartattacks while taking Krayoxx, convince them to become clients, join theclass action, and ride along to fame and fortune. With any luck, theywon’t even have to enter a courtroom!

It almost seems too good to be true.

And it is.

The Litigators isa tremendously entertaining romp, filled with the kind of courtroomstrategies, theatrics, and suspense that have made John GrishamAmerica’s favorite storyteller.


From the Hardcover edition.