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| Categories | Thrillers & Suspense |
| Author | John Grisham |
| Publisher | Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; Reprint edition (September 8, 1997) |
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 432 pages |
| Item Weight | 12.6 ounces |
| Dimensions |
5.25 x 0.98 x 8 inches |
I. Book introduction
The Firm is a 1991 legal thriller by American writer John Grisham. It was his second book and the first which gained wide popularity. In 1993, after selling 1.5 million copies, it was made into a namesake film starring Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman and Jeanne Tripplehorn. Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill, came into prominence afterwards due to this novel’s success.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the master of legal thrillers, a page-turning classic of “suit-and-dagger suspense” (The New York Times): At the top of his class at Harvard Law, Mitch McDeere had his choice of the best firms in America. He made a deadly mistake.
Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM, coming soon!
For a young lawyer on the make, it was an offer Mitch McDeere couldn’t refuse: a position at a law firm where the bucks, billable hours, and benefits are over the top. It’s a dream job for an up-and-comer—if he can overlook the uneasy feeling he gets at the office. Then an FBI investigation into the firm’s connections to the Mafia plunges the straight and narrow attorney into a nightmare of terror and intrigue. With no choice but to pit his wits, ethics, and legal skills against the firm’s deadly secrets—if he hopes to stay alive…
Plot
Mitch McDeere is a graduate of Western Kentucky University with a degree in accounting, who has passed his Certified Public Accountant exam on the first attempt and graduated third in his class at Harvard Law School. Mitch is married to his high-school sweetheart, Abby McDeere, an elementary school teacher who also attended Western Kentucky University. His older brother Ray is imprisoned in Tennessee for manslaughter, and his other brother, Rusty, died in Vietnam. His mother suffers from mental health issues and lives in Florida.
Mitch spurns offers from law firms in New York and Chicago in favor of signing with Bendini, Lambert and Locke, a small tax law firm based in Memphis. He finds the firm’s offer — a large salary, a lease on a new BMW, and a low-interest mortgage on a house — too generous to resist. Soon after he joins, his new colleagues help him study and pass his bar exam, the first priority for new associates. Mitch is assigned to partner Avery Tolar, the firm’s “bad boy,” but a highly accomplished attorney.
Two of Mitch’s colleagues, Marty Kozinski and Joe Hodge, die in a scuba diving accident in the Cayman Islands a few days before he starts at the firm. On his first scheduled day of work, Mitch attends their funerals. Mitch finds the deaths unsettling, but focuses on his goal of becoming the youngest partner in the firm’s history. During a memorial service at the firm for the two deceased attorneys, Mitch notices plaques commemorating three other attorneys who died while working at the firm. Suspicious, he hires a private investigator, Eddie Lomax, an ex-cellmate of his brother Ray, to investigate the deaths.
Lomax discovers that the other three deceased attorneys died under suspicious circumstances: in a car accident, a hunting accident, and a suicide. While the details of their deaths don’t add up, nothing concrete was ever proven. Lomax cautions Mitch to be careful. Soon after delivering his report to Mitch, Lomax is murdered. FBI agent Wayne Tarrance confronts Mitch, telling him the FBI is watching the firm.
While in Washington, D.C. on business, the FBI approaches Mitch again. The FBI reveals that the firm is a white collar front for the Morolto crime family of Chicago. The firm’s founder, Anthony Bendini, was the son-in-law of old man Morolto. He founded the firm in 1944, and for almost half a century, the firm has lured young lawyers from humble backgrounds with the promise of prestige and financial security. Although Mitch’s work so far has been legitimate, the partners and senior associates are deeply immersed in a massive tax fraud and money laundering operation that accounts for as much as 75 percent of the firm’s business. By the time members of the firm become aware of its true nature, they cannot leave. No lawyer has escaped the firm alive; the five who tried were killed to keep them from talking. Kozinski and Hodge were actually in contact with the FBI at the time of their murders.
Mitch learns that his house, office, and car are bugged. The FBI tells Mitch that in order to get enough evidence to bring down the firm, he must reveal information about his clients. The attorney-client privilege in most U.S. states, including Tennessee, does not apply to situations when a lawyer knows that a crime is taking place. However, if Mitch cooperates, he will have to reveal information about some of his legitimate clients as well, which will all but end his legal career. The FBI warns Mitch that he will almost certainly go to prison if he chooses to ignore them. The firm also ramps up the pressure on Mitch; the firm’s security chief, DeVasher, suspects he is getting too close to the FBI. Desperate to find a way out and stay alive in the process, Mitch has to make a decision quickly.
Ultimately, Mitch and Abby decide to cooperate with the FBI. However, they secretly decide to flee after turning over enough evidence to topple the firm, since they do not completely trust the FBI to protect them. He promises to collect enough evidence to bring down the firm in return for $2 million and Ray’s release from prison. Working with Lomax’s secretary and lover, Tammy Hemphill, Mitch obtains several confidential documents from the firm’s bank records in the Cayman Islands, eventually copying over 10,000 documents detailing over 20 years of illegal transactions.
Mitch tells Tarrance that while these documents spell out only a fraction of the firm’s criminal activities, they contain enough evidence to indict roughly half the firm’s active members and several retired partners. However, the documents will also provide strong circumstantial evidence that the firm is part and parcel of a criminal conspiracy. This will give the FBI probable cause to obtain a search warrant for the firm’s building and with it, access to all of the firm’s dirty files. Mitch is certain those files will provide enough evidence for a massive RICO indictment that will bring down the firm and cripple the Morolto family.
Meanwhile, the firm becomes suspicious of Mitch. Tarry Ross, alias “Alfred,” a top FBI official and close confidant of Voyles who is actually a mole for another crime family, confirms that Mitch is indeed working with the FBI. Once Mitch learns of the leak, he flees to Panama City Beach, Florida with his brother and wife with the Moroltos and FBI chasing them. On the way, he steals $10 million from one of the firm’s Grand Cayman bank accounts, sending some of the money to his mother and in-laws, depositing some in a Swiss bank account, and leaving the rest for Tammy.
Mitch, Abby and Ray manage to escape to the Cayman Islands with the help of Barry Abanks, a scuba diving business owner from the islands whose son died in the incident which killed Kozinski and Hodge. Armed with Mitch’s evidence, the FBI indicts 51 present and former members of the Bendini firm, as well as 31 alleged members of the Morolto family, for everything from money laundering to mail fraud. As the book ends, Mitch, Abby and Ray enjoy their newfound wealth in the Cayman Islands.
Editorial Reviews
- “Grisham is an absolute master.” —The Washington Post
- “Taut, fast and relentless…A ride worth taking.” —San Francisco Chronicle
- “Keeps the reader hooked…From the creepy first chapters…to the vise-tightening midsection and on to the take-the money-and-run finale.”—The Wall Street Journal
- “Irresistable… seizes the reader on the opening page and propels him through 400 more.” — Peter Prescott, Newsweek.
- “[An] ingenious man-in-the-middle thriller.” —Entertainment Weekly
About John Grisham
John Grisham (born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas) is an American novelist, lawyer and former member of the 7th district of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his popular legal thrillers. According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 28 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers, and his books have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Along with Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling, Grisham is one of only three authors to have sold two million copies on a first printing.
Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He practised criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990.
Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill, was published in June 1989, four years after he began writing it. Grisham’s first bestseller, The Firm, sold more than seven million copies. The book was adapted into a 1993 feature film of the same name, starring Tom Cruise, and a 2012 TV series which continues the story ten years after the events of the film and novel. Seven of his other novels have also been adapted into films:
- The Chamber,
- The Client,
- A Painted House,
- The Pelican Brief,
- The Rainmaker,
- The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas.
Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.
When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.
John Girsham lives on a farm in central Virginia.
II. Reviewer: The Firm
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1. NICO NICE reviews for The Firm
I picked this up on a whim, having only seen A Time To Kill (one of my all time favorite movies) and never diving deep into the John Grisham bibliography. I was flirting with the idea of purchasing that book, when a friend suggested to read The Firm first. I got this book late Friday evening 3/24/23 and finished it by early Sunday morning 3/26/23. I would have finished this by Saturday afternoon but had a previous engagement I couldn’t skip. I was completely floored by this book and hung every word. The book is a million times better than the film (isn’t that usually the case?) as I had finally watched that Sunday afternoon. If this ever gets remade into a film, hopefully the adaptation sticks much closer to the source material. I was half thru this book on Friday night when I decided to order The Pelican Brief and will be starting that shortly. Highly, highly recommend The Firm!
2. MATTHEW reviews for The Firm
This was the first or second John Grisham book I ever read. I read it years ago – in fact, I think when I read it the most recent Grisham book release was The Pelican Brief or maybe The Client.
I remember enjoying this book a lot and that all of his early books had a similar feel and were very easy to get into. It was also the start of my expectation that several times throughout a Grisham you will get details on what the main characters are eating or drinking. Instead of just saying he grabbed a bite to eat on the way home, you always get details about what was ordered and usually a couple of beers are involved. When he does that in his newer releases I automatically think “Classic Grisham!”
I have managed to read most of his books over the years, and while many are not up to the same standard as his early books, I still enjoy checking them out every time there is a new release.
3. BLAINE reviews for The Firm
If you weren’t around when The Firm came out almost 30 years ago, it was one of those books that broke through into super-popularity, like The Da Vinci Code or Gone Girl. I’d argue that Presumed Innocent and The Firm reinvigorated the legal fiction genre. If you’ve never read it or seen the movie, you know early that something is wrong at the law firm of Bendini, Lambert, & Locke: the firm’s weird selection criteria and rules, the focus on loyalty and family stability. You know the promises made to Mitch McDeere to lure him from Harvard Law School to a job in Memphis are too good to be true, but you probably won’t guess why until the reveal.
It is a clever plot, and original too, even though it could be reduced to a 10-second elevator pitch. Part of what makes it work is that the back half of The Firm goes in unexpected directions. Mitch McDeere is caught in an impossible position, and his hesitance to work with the government is understandable under the circumstances, but he’s not exactly a morally upstanding character: he only helps to take down the villain after getting what’s his and stealing a bit that’s not, and he never tells his wife about what happened in the Caymans.
The Firm is not perfect, and while it was his breakout book I don’t think it’s one of Mr. Grisham’s best novels. It is longer than it needs to be. There’s fat here that Mr. Grisham learned to cut from his later novels. In fact, it could have been one of those rare books where the movie is better (I mean, that cast is incredible), but the movie changes the back half of the novel in some really unsatisfying ways. Still, it’s an enjoyable book, and definitely worth reading if you never have.
4. KELLEY RIDINGS reviews for The Firm
I read this book about 25 years ago and loved it; I simply couldn’t put it down and so began my long deep-abiding interest in John Grisham’s books. I decided I wanted to revisit the book now, because I was curious to see how it stood the test of time. Remarkably well it turns out. There are a few things that detract. I do wish the book had more diverse characters. That was disappointing to see that the story-telling wasn’t as racially inclusive as Time to Kill’s was. Technology was different then also, through no fault of the book, but it got back well in spite of the lack of cell phones and the internet. I was also a little disappointed in a moral choice of the main character Mitch McDeere to hide something from his wife. But perhaps it furthered the aim of showing that he was secretive and had his own demons as well. He was no angel. The book was really exceptional in so many ways. I wonder if 25 years from now I will read of again and what I will think then. For now, it cements in my mind how great Grisham is at story telling. He can be masterful as this book shows.
5. GENA O reviews for The Firm
I’ve watched the movie several times. I like the book more than I do the movie. There are definitely a lot of differences between the two and both are appealing. The first 100 pages or so of the book was a little slow and I think some of the “fluff” could have been taken out without weakening the plot. Some of it does seem a little unrealistic though, especially working over 100 hours a week for an extended period of time. That was a minor detail Grisham kept harping on throughout the first 100 pages, and really throughout the book. Perhaps that is common for a new lawyer, but it sure seems unrealistic.
The ending to the book was a little brief and seemed rushed, much like the ending to Grisham’s first book, A Time to Kill. Grisham does provide some clarity as to what happened to the main villains, but it was somewhat thrown in there. One major difference between the book and movie was how Mitch handles the one night stand he had with the woman on the beach. I don’t want to give away too much about the book, but will just leave it at I was surprised how different it was handled.
Overall, it’s a great read and I finished the book in a week, which for me is a really good pace. I usually need a couple of weeks to read a 500 page book, but this one kept me up late a few nights because I was so interested in what was taking place. I’ve read two of Grisham’s books this month and am starting The Pelican Brief tonight. He’s a great author that paints a nice picture of what’s taking place, scenery, etc. The only thing I’ve noticed so far in the first two books is the ending seems somewhat rushed, but I will say in The Firm it’s not nearly as rushed as his first book. Definitely a must read…
6. PETER reviews for The Firm
Mitch McDeere, a young promising lawyer, hires with Bendini, Lambert & Locke, a small firm of integrity set in Memphis. But the firm is secretely controlled by the mafia (an crucial aspect he doesn’t know when signing a contract with them). Relatively soon the FBI wants him to cooperate with them. Everything is wired (house, car, office) and he really is between a rock and a hard place. What will he do to save his and his family’s life? This is an “eerie firm with people that make your skin crawl.” In this early Grisham novel you get incredible insight beside the shiny facade of a renowned lawyer firm how the real business is done. The story is tight, the plotting excellent and the characters absolutely convincing. One of his earliest bestsellers and the novel absolutely deserves it. Intriguing til the last page with a surprising development of the story. Highly recommended! If you want to understand the Grisham phenomenon you probably should start here. “It’s a cutthroat business when the weak are eaten and they starting get rich… he who endures wins the gold.” There is also a Tom Cruise film on this novel. But the book is the real deal!
7. BRIAN reviews for The Firm
I loved this book. This book belongs in the same category with the ones you can’t put down, and you curl in a corner, shaking with red eyes and a gaunt frame from malnutrition. Grisham developed the characters well and developed the plot with skill of a master storyteller. I noticed some similarities with Stephen King’s style, such as using a reference to the object with “the” instead of “a” (the “coffee table sat alone in the room,” “the man sat at the bar”), and he refers to people with nicknames, such as, for example, Collar-neck, or Red-nose (not used any books I’m aware of, just examples). King and Grisham had the same agent for a while, I believe, and used to be close, I’ve heard, so that makes sense.
I appreciated the business humor in dialogues, and the sarcasm. Grisham writes great, down-to-earth dialogue that forms characters into real people. I laughed a lot with the dialogue. For example, the main character, Mitchell McDeere tells his wife she has to do all this stuff to hide from both the Mob and the FBI, run here, change this, do that. He tells her she needs to dye her hair blonde. Instead of freaking out or moving fast in anticipation of being murdered, she says, “Blonde!” This developed her character and made me laugh, made me feel like I knew her, like when you shake your head and smile about someone and say to yourself, “Abby,” with affection.
If you don’t know the plot, or haven’t seen the movie or read the book:
Mitchell McDeere comes out of law school top of his class, and he knows what he wants. He has drive. He lands in with a Firm with promises to make him abnormally rich, faster than usual, as long as he follows certain ethical rules (which I thought Grisham a brilliant writer; as a Christian he made a way around all the sexual and immoral craziness of that kind of lifestyle, a great example for my writing; I’m also a Christian). He ends up in a conspiracy between the Mob and the FBI, and becomes directly involved with both organizations at the same time. He fights to keep himself and his family alive. A smart guy, Mitch pulls a few brilliant stunts only a good lawyer could conjure.
Grisham has earned a place on my favorite authors list. I want more! I just sold a few books of his to Half Price Books and when I realized I had got rid of them I about screamed. Off to Goodwill I go a-huntin’ again.
8. BROOKE HARGETT reviews for The Firm
This book was fantastic! Loved every second of it. A few weeks ago it came on TV and I was saying “this is a great movie!” but within minutes I realized I had NOT seen it! I was thinking of A Few Good Men! Who knew I had never seen The Firm?? My husband said he’d read it years ago and it was one of the best books he’d ever read. So, I DVRd the movie and went to get the book (I didn’t watch the movie yet, but I’ve heard it was a disappointment from the book… of course right???)
I seriously couldn’t put it down. The premise drew you in- everyone that works hard wants an offer like the one Mitch McDeere is offered by the Firm. It’s intoxicating! I wanted to get that offer! There’s no way you could say no. Grisham was a master at pulling you into Mitch’s shoes, which is impressive since its written in 3rd person omniscient. You feel his stress as the work is piled onto him, and the expectations he places on himself are enormous. He’s treading water, at the expensive of his marriage and trying his best to stay afloat. Then as he starts to question things, you feel that same unease, especially because as the reader, you know there is a huge coverup going on. He is so clever, which is awesome because you think there’s no way he can get out of it.
The storyline is gripping. Its like you take a huge breath at the beginning and then hold on… because you won’t stop til you’re at the end. I see why this book put Grisham on the map. Fantastic. Recommend it to anyone that wants to get sucked into a book!
9. MANDREK LARL reviews for The Firm
It was only a few years ago that I started reading John Grisham books, and I’ve now read a number of them. But finding a couple of his more recent books disappointing: “Camino Island”, “The Whistler”, I’ve gone back to the beginning and just finished “The Firm” and this is good, very good.
This was only Grisham’s second book but with his tight, taut style he’s writing like a seasoned pro in this fast flowing story of Mitch McDeere a graduate tax lawyer who joins a Memphis “firm” of lawyers that’s a front for mob’s money-laundering. It’s from 1991 so some of the technology may seem outdated today as the mob watch the firm’s newest recruit’s every move and listen in on every conversation, but park that. Master-story teller Grisham tightens the tension all the way from the first word to the last as McDeere plays off the mob and the FBI, and when he goes on the run it becomes a question of time, can the bad guys get McDeere before the good guys can get the bad guys?
If you’re new to Grisham then start here, if you’ve read and enjoyed any of Grisham’s other books and not yet read “The Firm” then it’s time to catch up because this is a real five star read.
—-
A few days later and I have just watched the film…
Like other reviewers have said the film closely follows the book, or at least it does for the first ninety minutes or so but the last hour is very different allowing Tom Cruise to unleash the inner running, jumping, fighting Tom Cruise. But unlike many or the other reviewers I preferred the book, it’s more detailed, more complex, more exciting and ultimately more ambiguous.
10. LESLE reviews for The Firm
Grisham’s most outstanding, best ever, page turner, and my favorite legal thriller!
He kept me guessing to what happens next and next until the very end, but it hits you just when you least expect it. Very few books bring such anticipation as this one does.
12-26-1991
“The Firm” revolves around Mitchell McDeere and his law career in the Bendini, Lambert and Locke a law firm situated in Memphis. A firm that no one has ever quit on and the ones that retire are rich. That is what the outside world sees. It really is this, occasionally members in the firm have not made partner so they do not retire. Accidental deaths? Their memories are honored with portraits in the boardroom.
Mitchell has a huge character flaw it was pure greed that brought him to Memphis. There are so many red flags in the Firm. Mitchell meets with the FBI agent and the cat and mouse game between the Firm and Mitchell begins. The rest is thrilling, intriguing and unexpected!
This is the one that I compare all of Grisham books to.
1-20-2022
III. The Firm Quotes
The best book quotes from The Firm by John Grisham
“The poverty hurt, and they assumed, correctly, it had bred the intense desire to succeed.”
“DeVasher, head of security, occupied the largest of the small, plain offices.”
“Oliver Lambert, the senior partner, leaned forward on his elbows and took control of the preliminary chitchat.”
“if you don’t think about death, you don’t appreciate life.”
“You’re beautiful,” he said. “When was the last time I told you that you are beautiful?” “About two hours ago.” “Two hours! How thoughtless of me!” “Don’t let it happen again.” He”
“Some of our clients have not been saints, but no lawyer can dictate morals to his client.”
“I thought they were honest.’ ‘They are, but they’re bankers, remember.”
“Our clients are our only assets, so we kill ourselves for them.”
“Billing was the lifeblood of the firm. Everything revolved around it.”
“The human body was not meant for such abuse. After about six months they lost steam.”
“When you were in law school you had some noble idea of what a lawyer should be. A champion of individual rights; a defender of the Constitution; a guardian of the oppressed; an advocate for your client’s principles. Then after you practice for six months you realize we’re nothing but hired guns. Mouthpieces for sale to the highest bidder, available to anybody, any crook, any sleazebag with enough money to pay our outrageous fees. Nothing shocks you. It’s supposed to be an honorable profession, but you’ll meet so many crooked lawyers you’ll want to quit and find an honest job. Yeah, Mitch, you’ll get cynical. And it’s sad, really.”
“I’m in shock now. I’m not believing this, Mitch. This is like a bad dream, only much worse.” “And this is only the beginning.”
“Sure it will. That’s part of it, Abby. It’s a cutthroat business where the weak are eaten and the strong get rich. It’s a marathon. He who endures wins the gold.”
“And dies at the finish line.”“The human body was not meant for such abuse. After about six months they lost steam. They would cut back to fifteen hours a day, six days a week.”
“The bar exam was a nuisance, an ordeal that must be endured, a rite of passage,”
Excerpted from The Firm by John Grisham
Chapter One – The Firm
THE SENIOR PARTNER studied the résumé for the hundredth time and again found nothing he disliked about Mitchell Y. McDeere, at least not on paper. He had the brains, the ambition, the good looks. And he was hungry; with his background, he had to be. He was married, and that was mandatory. The firm had never hired an unmarried lawyer, and it frowned heavily on divorce, as well as womanizing and drinking. Drug testing was in the contract. He had a degree in accounting, passed the CPA exam the first time he took it and wanted to be a tax lawyer, which of course was a requirement with a tax firm. He was white, and the firm had never hired a black. They managed this by being secretive and clubbish and never soliciting job applications. Other firms solicited, and hired blacks. This firm recruited, and remained lily white. Plus, the firm was in Memphis, of all places, and the top blacks wanted New York or Washington or Chicago. McDeere was a male, and there were no women in the firm. That mistake had b
een made in the mid-seventies when they recruited the number one grad from Harvard, who happened to be a she and a wizard at taxation. She lasted four turbulent years and was killed in a car wreck.
He looked good, on paper. He was their top choice. In fact, for this year there were no other prospects. The list was very short. It was McDeere or no one.
The managing partner, Royce McKnight, studied a dossier labeled “Mitchell Y. McDeere–Harvard.” An inch thick with small print and a few photographs, it had been prepared by some ex-CIA agents in a private intelligence outfit in Bethesda. They were clients of the firm and each year did the investigating for no fee. It was easy work, they said, checking out unsuspecting law students. They learned, for instance, that he preferred to leave the Northeast, that he was holding three job offers, two in New York and one in Chicago, and that the highest offer was $76,000 and the lowest was $68,000. He was in demand. He had been given the opportunity to cheat on a securities exam during his second year. He declined, and made the highest grade in the class. Two months ago he had been offered cocaine at a law school party. He said no and left when everyone began snorting. He drank an occasional beer, but drinking was expensive and he had no money. He owed close to $23,000 in student loans. He was hungry.
Royce McKnight flipped through the dossier and smiled. McDeere was their man.
Lamar Quin was thirty-two and not yet a partner. He had been brought along to look young and act young and project a youthful image for Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which in fact was a young firm, since most of the partners retired in their late forties or early fifties with money to burn. He would make partner in this firm. With a six-figure income guaranteed for the rest of his life, Lamar could enjoy the twelve-hundred-dollar tailored suits that hung so comfortably from his tall, athletic frame. He strolled nonchalantly across the thousand-dollar-a-day suite and poured another cup of decaf. He checked his watch. He glanced at the two partners sitting at the small conference table near the windows.
Precisely at two-thirty someone knocked on the door. Lamar looked at the partners, who slid the résumé and dossier into an open briefcase. All three reached for their jackets. Lamar buttoned his top button and opened the door.
“Mitchell McDeere?” he asked with a huge smile and a hand thrust forward.
“Yes.” They shook hands violently.
“Nice to meet you, Mitchell. I’m Lamar Quin.”
“My pleasure. Please call me Mitch.” He stepped inside and quickly surveyed the spacious room.
“Sure, Mitch.” Lamar grabbed his shoulder and led him across the suite, where the partners introduced themselves. They were exceedingly warm and cordial. They offered him coffee, then water. They sat around a shiny mahogany conference table and exchanged pleasantries. McDeere unbuttoned his coat and crossed his legs. He was now a seasoned veteran in the search of employment, and he knew they wanted him. He relaxed. With three job offers from three of the most prestigious firms in the country, he did not need this interview, this firm. He could afford to be a little overconfident now. He was there out of curiosity. And he longed for warmer weather.
Oliver Lambert, the senior partner, leaned forward on his elbows and took control of the preliminary chitchat. He was glib and engaging with a mellow, almost professional baritone. At sixty-one, he was the grandfather of the firm and spent most of his time administering and balancing the enormous egos of some of the richest lawyers in the country. He was the counselor, the one the younger associates went to with their troubles. Mr. Lambert also handled the recruiting, and it was his mission to sign Mitchell Y. McDeere.
“Are you tired of interviewing?” asked Oliver Lambert.
“Not really. It’s part of it.”
Yes, yes, they all agreed. Seemed like yesterday they were interviewing and submitting résumés and scared to death they wouldn’t find a job and three years of sweat and torture would be down the drain. They knew what he was going through, all right.
“May I ask a question?” Mitch asked.
“Certainly.”
“Sure.”
“Anything.”
“Why are we interviewing in this hotel room? The other firms interview on campus through the placement office.”
“Good question.” They all nodded and looked at each other and agreed it was a good question.
“Perhaps I can answer that, Mitch,” said Royce McKnight, the managing partner. “You must understand our firm. We are different, and we take pride in that. We have forty-one lawyers, so we are small compared with other firms. We don’t hire too many people; about one every other year. We offer the highest salary and fringes in the country, and I’m not exaggerating. So we are very selective. We selected you. The letter you received last month was sent after we screened over two thousand third-year law students at the best schools. Only one letter was sent. We don’t advertise openings and we don’t solicit applications. We keep a low profile, and we do things differently. That’s our explanation.”
“Fair enough. What kind of firm is it?”
“Tax. Some securities, real estate and banking, but eighty percent is tax work. That’s why we wanted to meet you, Mitch. You have an incredibly strong tax background.”
“Why’d you go to Western Kentucky?” asked Oliver Lambert.
“Simple. They offered me a full scholarship to play football. Had it not been for that, college would’ve been impossible.”
“Tell us about your family.”
“Why is that important?”
“It’s very important to us, Mitch,” Royce McKnight said warmly.
They all say that, thought McDeere. “Okay, my father was killed in the coal mines when I was seven years old. My mother remarried and lives in Florida. I had two brothers. Rusty was killed in Vietnam. I have a brother named Ray McDeere.”
“Where is he?”
“I’m afraid that’s none of your business.” He stared at Royce McKnight and exposed a mammoth chip on his shoulder. The dossier said little about Ray.
“I’m sorry,” the managing partner said softly.
“Mitch, our firm is in Memphis,” Lamar said. “Does that bother you?”
“Not at all. I’m not fond of cold weather.”
“Have you ever been to Memphis?”
“No.”
“We’ll have you down soon. You’ll love it.”
Mitch smiled and nodded and played along. Were these guys serious? How could he consider such a small firm in such a small town when Wall Street was waiting?
“How are you ranked in your class?” Mr. Lambert asked.
“Top five.” Not top five percent, but top five. That was enough of an answer for all of them. Top five out of three hundred. He could have said number three, a fraction away from number two, and within striking distance of number one. But he didn’t. They came from inferior schools–Chicago, Columbia and Vanderbilt, as he recalled from a cursory examination of Martindale-Hubbell’s Legal Directory. He knew they would not dwell on academics.
“Why did you select Harvard?”
“Actually, Harvard selected me. I applied at several schools and was accepted everywhere. Harvard offered more financial assistance. I thought it was the best school. Still do.”
“You’ve done quite well here, Mitch,” Mr. Lambert said, admiring the résumé. The dossier was in the briefcase, under the table.
“Thank you. I’ve worked hard.”
“You made extremely high grades in your tax and securities courses.”
“That’s where my interest lies.”
“We’ve reviewed your writing sample, and it’s quite impressive.”
“Thank you. I enjoy research.”
They nodded and acknowledged this obvious lie. It was part of the ritual. No law student or lawyer in his right mind enjoyed research, yet, without fail, every prospective associate professed a deep love for the library.
“Tell us about your wife,” Royce McKnight said, almost meekly. They braced for another reprimand. But it was a standard, nonsacred area explored by every firm.
“Her name is Abby. She has a degree in elementary education from Western Kentucky. We graduated one week and got married the next. For the past three years she’s taught at a private kindergarten near Boston College.”
“And is the marriage–”
“We’re very happy. We’ve known each other since high school.”
“What position did you play?” asked Lamar, in the direction of less sensitive matters.
“Quarterback. I was heavily recruited until I messed up a knee in my last high school game. Everyone disappeared except Western Kentucky. I played off and on for four years, even started some as a junior, but the knee would never hold up.”
“How’d you make straight A’s and play football?”
“I put the books first.”
“I don’t imagine Western Kentucky is much of an academic school,” Lamar blurted with a stupid grin, and immediately wished he could take it back. Lambert and McKnight frowned and acknowledged the mistake.
“Sort of like Kansas State,” Mitch replied. They froze, all of them froze, and for a few seconds stared incredulously at each other. This guy McDeere knew Lamar Quin went to Kansas State. He had never met Lamar Quin and had no idea who would appear on behalf of the firm and conduct the interview. Yet, he knew. He had gone to Martindale-Hubbell’s and checked them out. He had read the biographical sketches of all of the forty-one lawyers in the firm, and in a split second he had recalled that Lamar Quin, just one of the forty-one, had gone to Kansas State. Damn, they were impressed.
“I guess that came out wrong,” Lamar apologized.
“No problem.” Mitch smiled warmly. It was forgotten.
Oliver Lambert cleared his throat and decided to get personal again. “Mitch, our firm frowns on drinking and chasing women. We’re not a bunch of Holy Rollers, but we put business ahead of everything. We keep low profiles and we work very hard. And we make plenty of money.”
“I can live with all that.”
“We reserve the right to test any member of the firm for drug use.”
“I don’t use drugs.”
“Good. What’s your religious affiliation?”
“Methodist.”
“Good. You’ll find a wide variety in our firm. Catholics, Baptists, Episcopalians. It’s really none of our business, but we like to know. We want stable families. Happy lawyers are productive lawyers. That’s why we ask these questions.”
Mitch smiled and nodded. He’d heard this before.
The three looked at each other, then at Mitch. This meant they had reached the point in the interview where the interviewee was supposed to ask one or two intelligent questions. Mitch recrossed his legs. Money, that was the big question, particularly how it compared to his other offers. If it isn’t enough, thought Mitch, then it was nice to meet you fellas. If the pay is attractive, then we can discuss families and marriages and football and churches. But, he knew, like all the other firms they had to shadowbox around the issue until things got awkward and it was apparent they had discussed everything in the world but money. So, hit them with a soft question first.
“What type of work will I do initially?”
They nodded and approved of the question. Lambert and McKnight looked at Lamar. This answer was his.
“We have something similar to a two-year apprenticeship, although we don’t call it that. We’ll send you all over the country to tax seminars. Your education is far from over. You’ll spend two weeks next winter in Washington at the American Tax Institute. We take great pride in our technical expertise, and the training is continual, for all of us. If you want to pursue a master’s in taxation, we’ll pay for it. As far as practicing law, it won’t be very exciting for the first two years. You’ll do a lot of research and generally boring stuff. But you’ll be paid handsomely.”
“How much?”
Lamar looked at Royce McKnight, who eyed Mitch and said, “We’ll discuss the compensation and other benefits when you come to Memphis.”
“I want a ballpark figure or I may not come to Memphis.” He smiled, arrogant but cordial. He spoke like a man with three job offers.
The partners smiled at each other, and Mr. Lambert spoke first. “Okay. A base salary of eighty thousand the first year, plus bonuses. Eighty-five the second year, plus bonuses. A low-interest mortgage so you can buy a home. Two country club memberships. And a new BMW. You pick the color, of course.”
They focused on his lips, and waited for the wrinkles to form on his cheeks and the teeth to break through. He tried to conceal a smile, but it was impossible. He chuckled.
“That’s incredible,” he mumbled. Eighty thousand in Memphis equaled a hundred and twenty thousand in New York. Did the man say BMW! His Mazda hatchback had a million miles on it and for the moment had to be jump-started while he saved for a rebuilt starter.
“Plus a few more fringes we’ll be glad to discuss in Memphis.”
Suddenly he had a strong desire to visit Memphis. Wasn’t it by the river?
The smile vanished and he regained his composure. He looked sternly, importantly at Oliver Lambert and said, as if he’d forgotten about the money and the home and the BMW, “Tell me about your firm.”
“Forty-one lawyers. Last year we earned more per lawyer than any firm our size or larger. That includes every big firm in the country. We take only rich clients–corporations, banks and wealthy people who pay our healthy fees and never complain. We’ve developed a specialty in international taxation, and it’s both exciting and very profitable. We deal only with people who can pay.”
“How long does it take to make partner?”
“On the average, ten years, and it’s a hard ten years. It’s not unusual for our partners to earn half a million a year, and most retire before they’re fifty. You’ve got to pay your dues, put in eighty-hour weeks, but it’s worth it when you make partner.”
Lamar leaned forward. “You don’t have to be a partner to earn six figures. I’ve been with the firm seven years, and went over a hundred thousand four years ago.”
Mitch thought about this for a second and figured by the time he was thirty he could be well over a hundred thousand, maybe close to two hundred thousand. At the age of thirty!
They watched him carefully and knew exactly what he was calculating.
“What’s an international tax firm doing in Memphis?” he asked.
That brought smiles. Mr. Lambert removed his reading glasses and twirled them. “Now that’s a good question. Mr. Bendini founded the firm in 1944. He had been a tax lawyer in Philadelphia and had picked up some wealthy clients in the South. He got a wild hair and landed in Memphis. For twenty-five years he hired nothing but tax lawyers, and the firm prospered nicely down there. None of us are from Memphis, but we have grown to love it. It’s a very pleasant old Southern town. By the way, Mr. Bendini died in 1970.”
“How many partners in the firm?”
“Twenty, active. We try to keep a ratio of one partner for each associate. That’s high for the industry, but we like it. Again, we do things differently.”
“All of our partners are multimillionaires by the age of forty-five,” Royce McKnight said.
“All of them?”
“Yes, sir. We don’t guarantee it, but if you join our firm, put in ten hard years, make partner and put in ten more years, and you’re not a millionaire at the age of forty-five, you’ll be the first in twenty years.”
“That’s an impressive statistic.”
“It’s an impressive firm, Mitch,” Oliver Lambert said, “and we’re very proud of it. We’re a close-knit fraternity. We’re small and we take care of each other. We don’t have the cutthroat competition the big firms are famous for. We’re very careful whom we hire, and our goal is for each new associate to become a partner as soon as possible. Toward that end we invest an enormous amount of time and money in ourselves, especially our new people. It is a rare, extremely rare occasion when a lawyer leaves our firm. It is simply unheard of. We go the extra mile to keep careers on track. We want our people happy. We think it is the most profitable way to operate.”
“I have another impressive statistic,” Mr. McKnight added. “Last year, for firms our size or larger, the average turnover rate among associates was twenty-eight percent. At Bendini, Lambert & Locke, it was zero. Year before, zero. It’s been a long time since a lawyer left our firm.”
They watched him carefully to make sure all of this sank in. Each term and each condition of the employment was important, but the permanence, the finality of his acceptance overshadowed all other items on the checklist. They explained as best they could, for now. Further explanation would come later.
Of course, they knew much more than they could talk about. For instance, his mother lived in a cheap trailer park in Panama City Beach, remarried to a retired truck driver with a violent drinking problem. They knew she had received $41,000 from the mine explosion, squandered most of it, then went crazy after her oldest son was killed in Vietnam. They knew he had been neglected, raised in poverty by his brother Ray (whom they could not find) and some sympathetic relatives. The poverty hurt, and they assumed, correctly, it had bred the intense desire to succeed. He had worked thirty hours a week at an all-night convenience store while playing football and making perfect grades. They knew he seldom slept. They knew he was hungry. He was their man.
“Would you like to come visit us?” asked Oliver Lambert.
“When?” asked Mitch, dreaming of a black 318i with a sunroof.
The ancient Mazda hatchback with three hubcaps and a badly cracked windshield hung in the gutter with its front wheels sideways, aiming at the curb, preventing a roll down the hill. Abby grabbed the door handle on the inside, yanked twice and opened the door. She inserted the key, pressed the clutch and turned the wheel. The Mazda began a slow roll. As it gained speed, she held her breath, released the clutch and bit her lip until the unmuffled rotary engine began whining.
With three job offers on the table, a new car was four months away. She could last. For three years they had endured poverty in a two-room student apartment on a campus covered with Porsches and little Mercedes convertibles. For the most part they had ignored the snubs from the classmates and coworkers in this bastion of East Coast snobbery. They were hillbillies from Kentucky, with few friends. But they had endured and succeeded quite nicely all to themselves.
She preferred Chicago to New York, even for a lower salary, largely because it was farther from Boston and closer to Kentucky. But Mitch remained noncommittal, characteristically weighing it all carefully and keeping most of it to himself. She had not been invited to visit New York and Chicago with her husband. And she was tired of guessing. She wanted an answer.
She parked illegally on the hill nearest the apartment and walked two blocks. Their unit was one of thirty in a two-story red-brick rectangle. Abby stood outside her door and fumbled through the purse looking for keys. Suddenly, the door jerked open. He grabbed her, yanked her inside the tiny apartment, threw her on the sofa and attacked her neck with his lips. She yelled and giggled as arms and legs thrashed about. They kissed, one of those long, wet, ten-minute embraces with groping and fondling and moaning, the kind they had enjoyed as teenagers when kissing was fun and mysterious and the ultimate.
“My goodness,” she said when they finished. “What’s the occasion?”
“Do you smell anything?” Mitch asked.
She looked away and sniffed. “Well, yes. What is it?”
“Chicken chow mein and egg foo yung. From Wong Boys.”
“Okay, what’s the occasion?”
“Plus an expensive bottle of Chablis. It’s even got a cork.”
“What have you done, Mitch?”
“Follow me.” On the small, painted kitchen table, among the legal pads and casebooks, sat a large bottle of wine and a sack of Chinese food. They shoved the law school paraphernalia aside and spread the food. Mitch opened the wine and filled two plastic wineglasses.
“I had a great interview today,” he said.
“Who?”
“Remember that firm in Memphis I received a letter from last month?”
“Yes. You weren’t too impressed.”
“That’s the one. I’m very impressed. It’s all tax work and the money looks good.”
“How good?”
He ceremoniously dipped chow mein from the container onto both plates, then ripped open the tiny packages of soy sauce. She waited for an answer. He opened another container and began dividing the egg foo yung. He sipped his wine and smacked his lips.
“How much?” she repeated.
“More than Chicago. More than Wall Street.”
She took a long, deliberate drink of wine and eyed him suspiciously. Her brown eyes narrowed and glowed. The eyebrows lowered and the forehead wrinkled. She waited.
“How much?”
“Eighty thousand, first year, plus bonuses. Eighty-five, second year, plus bonuses.” He said this nonchalantly while studying the celery bits in the chow mein.
“Eighty thousand,” she repeated.
“Eighty thousand, babe. Eighty thousand bucks in Memphis, Tennessee, is about the same as a hundred and twenty thousand bucks in New York.”
“Who wants New York?” she asked.
“Plus a low-interest mortgage loan.”
That word–mortgage–had not been uttered in the apartment in a long time. In fact, she could not, at the moment, recall the last discussion about a home or anything related to one. For months now it had been accepted that they would rent some place until some distant, unimaginable point in the future when they achieved affluence and would then qualify for a large mortgage.
She sat her glass of wine on the table and said matter-of-factly, “I didn’t hear that.”
“A low-interest mortgage loan. The firm loans enough money to buy a house. It’s very important to these guys that their associates look prosperous, so they give us the money at a much lower rate.”
“You mean as in a home, with grass around it and shrubs?”
“Yep. Not some overpriced apartment in Manhattan, but a three-bedroom house in the suburbs with a driveway and a two-car garage where we can park the BMW.”
The reaction was delayed by a second or two, but she finally said, “BMW? Whose BMW?”
“Ours, babe. Our BMW. The firm leases a new one and gives us the keys. It’s sort of like a signing bonus for a first-round draft pick. It’s worth another five thousand a year. We pick the color, of course. I think black would be nice. What do you think?”
“No more clunkers. No more leftovers. No more hand-me-downs,” she said as she slowly shook her head.
He crunched on a mouthful of noodles and smiled at her. She was dreaming, he could tell, probably of furniture, and wallpaper, and perhaps a pool before too long. And babies, little dark-eyed children with light brown hair.
“And there are some other benefits to be discussed later.”
“I don’t understand, Mitch. Why are they so generous?”
“I asked that question. They’re very selective, and they take a lot of pride in paying top dollar. They go for the best and don’t mind shelling out the bucks. Their turnover rate is zero. Plus, I think it costs more to entice the top people to Memphis.”
“It would be closer to home,” she said without looking at him.
“I don’t have a home. It would be closer to your parents, and that worries me.”
She deflected this, as she did most of his comments about her family. “You’d be closer to Ray.”
He nodded, bit into an egg roll and imagined her parents’ first visit, that sweet moment when they pulled into the driveway in their well-used Cadillac and stared in shock at the new French colonial with two new cars in the garage. They would burn with envy and wonder how the poor kid with no family and no status could afford all this at twenty-five and fresh out of law school. They would force painful smiles and comment on how nice everything was, and before long Mr. Sutherland would break down and ask how much the house cost and Mitch would tell him to mind his own business, and it would drive the old man crazy. They’d leave after a short visit and return to Kentucky, where all their friends would hear how great the daughter and the son-in-law were doing down in Memphis. Abby would be sorry they couldn’t get along but wouldn’t say much. From the start they had treated him like a leper. He was so unworthy they had boycotted the small wedding.
“Have you ever been to Memphis?” he asked.
“Once when I was a little girl. Some kind of convention for the church. All I remember is the river.”
“They want us to visit.”
“Us! You mean I’m invited?”
“Yes. They insist on you coming.”
“When?”
“Couple of weeks. They’ll fly us down Thursday afternoon for the weekend.”
“I like this firm already.”
….
Note: Above are quotes and excerpts from the book “The Firm by John Grisham”. If you find it interesting and useful, don’t forget to buy paper books to support the Author and Publisher!
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