• Circle of Greed

  • The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Lawyer Who Brought Corporate America to Its Knees
  • By: Patrick Dillon
  • Narrated by: Erik Davies
  • Length: 20 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (94 ratings)

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Circle of Greed  By  cover art

Circle of Greed

By: Patrick Dillon
Narrated by: Erik Davies
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Publisher's summary

Circle of Greed is the epic story of the rise and fall of Bill Lerach, once the leading class action lawyer in America and now a convicted felon. For more than two decades, Lerach threatened, shook down and sued top Fortune 500 companies, including Disney, Apple, Time Warner, and—most famously—Enron. Now, the man who brought corporate moguls to their knees has fallen prey to the same corrupt impulses of his enemies, and is paying the price by serving time in federal prison.

If there was ever a modern Greek tragedy about a man and his times, about corporate arrogance and illusions and the scorched-earth tactics to not only counteract corporate America but to beat it at its own game, Bill Lerach's story is it.

©2010 Patrick Dillon (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

“John Grisham would have to struggle to invent a character as brilliant and unethical as Bill Lerach. It is a credit to the reporting talents of Patrick Dillon and Carl M. Cannon that, in Circle of Greed, they capture the felon-lawyer in all his charm and ruthlessness. Along the way they show how the plaintiffs' bar has transformed the process of class actions into big business.”— Wall Street Journal

“[A] revelatory yarn . . . In Circle of Greed, the authors do justice to their subject and have produced a book that proves the adage that truth can be stranger than fiction.”— Washington Times

“Mr. Dillon and Mr. Cannon have written the type of book that, like Den of Thieves and Smartest Guys in the Room, helps to explain an era.”— NYTimes.com/DealBook

What listeners say about Circle of Greed

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Too long not worth 2 credits

It is an interesting story but unfortunately too long, an endless list of court cases, some interesting but most of them not. This book is not worth the 2 credits and you should wait for the abridged version cutting the book down to 10 hours.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

Interesting book. Well told and makes what could be a relatively dry story very compelling

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting beginning, slow ending

The story of Bill Lerach, most known for the Enron case was interesting but I found myself losing interest towards the end.

Good solid performance from the narrator.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Solid legal biography

What did you love best about Circle of Greed?

This is a legal biography, so to speak. To enjoy it, you'd have to be somewhat curious about the legal profession, or else much of it might bore you. In great detail, it follows the career case by case of a hard-core litigator who took his humble University of Pittsburgh law degree and used it to ride into international headlines. As a government lawyer, I found it interesting to learn how he accomplished his own version of success, which obviously differs from lawyers like myself but is nonetheless entertaining. The author offers anecdotes of discovery disputes, tactical maneuvers, and courtroom battles straight from the mouths of his opposing counsel, in addition to input from Lerach himself. As his career rockets upward with each settlement or victory along the way, we all know that the end result was a prison sentence and disbarment.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Insightful and informative

I really enjoyed this book. I found it to be a riveting look at recent history in the financial markets and corporate America. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good read or listen for the purpose of edu-tainment. (Don't bother to look up the word. It's made it up.)

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a verygood book.

Any additional comments?

i am reviewing this for my significant other. i did not like the book. but my significant other loved the book. he rated it between 9-10 on a scale where 10 is the tops.

he liked the fact that so many familiar names were in the book--president clinton, bush, john edwards, and many many more.

he thinks the book is a book men would like better than women.

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