THE LITIGATORS

THE LITIGATORS by John Grisham

From the book jacket:

The partners at Finley & Figg - all two of them - often refer to themselves as "a boutique law firm."  Boutique, as in chic, selective, and prosperous.  They are, of course, none of these things.  What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers who've been in the trenches much too long making way too little.  Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs, with the occasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in.  After twenty-plus years together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old married couple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living from their seedy bungalow offices in southwest Chicago.

And then change comes their way.  More accurately, it stumbles in.  David Zinc, a young but already burned-out attorney, walks away from his fast-trace career at a fancy downtown firm, goes on a serious bender, and finds himself literally at the doorstep of our boutique firm.  Once David sobers up and comes to grips with the fact that he's suddenly unemployed, any job - even one with Finley & Figg - looks okay to him.

With their new associate on board, F&F is ready to tackle a really big case, a case that could make the partners rich without requiring them to actually practice much law.

I liked this book.  Written in a different vein from his earlier lawyer/trial books, this one was lighter and funnier.  Finley was an older man who didn't really want to do much work - all he wanted was a divorce from his wife, without it costing him an arm and a leg.  Figg had big plans and ideas, but he didn't have a clue how to get what he wanted.  Zinc tried to put the firm into some kind of order.  The courtroom scenes showed the complete ineptitude of these three lawyers.

I have always thought that Mr. Grisham's first book, A TIME TO KILL, was his very best.  He followed up with other good ones, then seemed to drop the ball in later books.  With this one, I feel he might be headed down the right track again.