"The litigators" Summary of the book The Litigators is about a two-partner Chicago law firm attempting to strike it rich in a class action lawsuit over a cholesterol reduction drug by a major pharmaceutical drug company. The protagonist is a Harvard Law School grad big law firm burnout who stumbles upon the boutique and joins it only to find himself litigating against his old law firm in this case. The book is regarded as more humorous than most of Grisham's prior novels. Oscar Finley and Wally Figg are the bickering partners of a small law firm in the South Side of Chicago. Oscar's character holds the firm together despite the childish and unethical behavior of Wally, his junior partner. David Zinc, a formerly successful attorney, relegates himself to working as an associate with the firm. While Wally goes to a funeral home to attend the wake of a former estate client, the client's son claims that his father was killed by Krayoxx, a cholesterol-lowering drug developed by the fictional pharmaceutical company Varrick Labs. Ecstatic at the possible monetary returns on the case, the firm finds several former clients who appear to have valid claims about Krayoxx. Oscar and Wally generate publicity in the Chicago Tribune with a picture of their filing; this induces an avalanche of communications and leads them to several additional claimants. Wally notices a blossoming class action lawsuit against Varrick Labs in Florida, and realizes that if he can find some patients to sign as clients, he can earn a big payday on another firm's coattails. However, some complications make the story interesting. Although none of the three Finley
Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn't have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988. Spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, The Firm became the bestselling novel of 1991. Grisham took time off from writing for several months in 1996 to return, after a five-year hiatus, to the courtroom. He was honoring a commitment made before he had retired from the law to become a full-time writer: representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars. Preparing his case with the same passion and dedication as his books' protagonists, Grisham successfully argued his clients' case, earning them a jury award of $683,500--the biggest verdict of his career. When he's not writing, Grisham devotes time to charitable causes, including most recently his Rebuild The Coast Fund, which raised 8.8 million dollars for Gulf Coast relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He also keeps up with his greatest passion: baseball. The man who dreamed of being a professional baseball player now serves as the local Little League commissioner. The six ballfields he built on his property have played host to over 350 kids on 26 Little League teams.
