Biglaw, Books

Standard Of Review: A Notable New Novel About Biglaw

Author Ron Liebman is a former partner at Patton Boggs, so he understands the demanding life of attorneys in Biglaw.

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big-law-a-novel-by-ron-liebmanLawyers can often be long-winded. There have been numerous instances in which I have read legal briefs or novels by attorneys that repeat the same point over and over. The new novel Big Law by lawyer Ron Liebman surprisingly has the opposite problem: the book is relatively short, and plot points and character motivations are frequently given short shrift.

The book centers around Carney Blake, a junior litigation partner at behemoth law firm Dunn & Sullivan, a thinly veiled combination of Gibson Dunn and Sullivan & Cromwell. Carney is called into the office of Carl Smith, the chairman of Dunn & Sullivan, who secretly has his eye on taking the firm public via an IPO. In order to do this, Carl has taken several plaintiff-side cases on a contingency basis to make the firm’s potential profits seem higher than they actually are.

The case assigned to Carney is on behalf of workers of a gas plant in India owned by GRE, an American conglomerate. GRE did not evacuate workers with sufficient speed after the gas plant blew, and many workers died or suffered serious injuries. An Indian attorney initially brought an action against GRE in India and attained a $2.5 billion judgment. Carl enlists Carney to represent the workers in actions seeking to attach GRE’s U.S.-based assets. GRE is represented by Peter Mason, a former Dunn & Sullivan associate who was pushed out of the firm by Carl and wants revenge. Unbeknownst to Carney and Carl, Peter paid the Indian attorney under the table to hire Dunn & Sullivan; Peter accuses Dunn & Sullivan – including Carney – of taking the case despite the fact that it knew that the Indian judgment was procured by fraud (such as bribing the judge). Carney is one of Peter’s targets and soon finds himself facing potential civil and criminal liability.

Ron Liebman

Ron Liebman

Liebman is a former partner at Patton Boggs, and he also previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and as a clerk for a district court judge, so he understands the demanding life that attorneys in Biglaw face. Liebman describes how Carney has to make myriad personal sacrifices for his job, such as working on Thanksgiving or going back to work after attending a dinner with his girlfriend and brother. Carney also has a difficult family life; his father is a stubborn alcoholic, and his brother turns to drugs after struggling with PTSD. The passages regarding Carney’s father – and the disconnect between his father’s gregarious nature at his day job and his alcoholic nature at night – are particularly compelling. Further, the book is written as if it is Carney’s memoir delivered directly to the reader. As a result, the narrative is very conversational, including rhetorical questions and asides, which provides the book with a strong voice.

But, as mentioned above, Big Law is one of those rare books that probably should have been longer, rather than shorter. For example, the only explanation for Peter’s plan is pure revenge, but Liebman does not provide sufficient background on Peter so that the reader properly understands why despite being extremely successful in his own right, Peter would risk his professional life to perpetrate such an exceedingly risky plot.

There are also a few subplots that could have either been expanded or cut. One particularly unpopular Dunn & Sullivan lawyer feuds with Carney and later Carl, and his tenure at Dunn & Sullivan ends with shocking violence. And Carl is engaged in a bitter divorce with his wife. These subplots did not really add much to Carl’s character and were mostly distracting.

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The legal aspects of the plot also need to be beefed up. Given the high bar for fraud (including the protections of Rule 9(b) of the Federal Rules), Liebman should have provided more explanation for how Peter was so easily able to perpetrate his plan and accuse Dunn & Sullivan of wrongdoing. Furthermore, the trial that ends the novel is anti-climactic and extremely rushed; I have no idea why the jury came to the conclusion it reached.

Carney is a surprisingly mediocre attorney. At one point, a fourth-year associate needs to prompt Carney to speak up in court after Peter accuses Dunn & Sullivan of fraud. In another instance, Carney does not realize that he should file a motion pursuant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules until his mentor tells him to, despite it being blindingly obvious (at least to me) that this was the proper course of action.

Given that Liebman is such an accomplished attorney, I counted a surprisingly high number of mistakes. After Carney files his complaint, he refers to the document subsequently filed by Peter as a “pleading,” including allegations made upon information and belief, but then refers to the same document as a motion to dismiss (without mentioning a counterclaim). He states that Peter engaged in gamesmanship by filing the “pleading” with the federal court “literally minutes before its clerk’s office closed for the day,” but ignores how nowadays documents are typically filed electronically up until midnight. Carney and Peter appear in front of the judge for a status conference but Carney states that he “didn’t realize” that Peter had requested the conference; such an ex parte communication requesting a court conference is extremely far-fetched. And, of course, it would be impossible for Dunn & Sullivan to go public given the prohibitions on non-lawyer ownership of law firms in the U.S. These may seem like nitpicks, but they really add up.

Big Law has some merit, but readers might want to choose other, better books about big law, such as the similarly titled BIGLAW by Lindsay Cameron.

(Disclosure:  I received a review copy of this book)

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Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at harrygraff19@gmail.com. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.

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