In the Shadow of the Law

By: Kermit Roosevelt

Narrated by: Craig Wasson

Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Morgan Siler is one of Washington, D.C.'s most powerful K Street law firms, its roster of clients stocked with multi-billion-dollar corporations. Through the obsessive efforts of its founder's son, Peter Morgan, his father's old-fashioned business has been transformed into a veritable goliath, embracing bankruptcy and merger divisions that Archibald Morgan had deemed ungentlemanly. As Peter reaches the pinnacle of his career, his firm is embroiled in two difficult cases: a pro bono death-penalty case in Virginia, and a class-action lawsuit brought against Hubble Chemical of Texas after an on-site explosion killed dozens of workers.

Assigned to these cases is a group of young associates and seasoned partners struggling to make their way in the firm. Mark Clayton, fresh out of law school, is beginning to loathe his dull workload, and to be frightened by the downgrading of his personal life, when he is assigned to the pro bono case. Assisting him is the mercurial Walker Eliot, a brilliant third-year associate whose passion for the law is as great as his skill at unraveling its intricacies. The aggressive, profane, and wildly successful litigator Harold Fineman is leading the Hubble defense, assisted by first-year Katja Phillips, whose twin devotion to productivity and idealism intrigue him, and Ryan Grady, another first-year, whose quest to pick up girls is starting to interfere with his work.

In this complex, ambitious, and gripping first novel, Kermit Roosevelt vividly illustrates the subtle and stark effects of the law on the lives not only of a group of lawyers, but also on communities and private citizens. In the Shadow of the Law is a meditation about the life of the law, the organism that is a law firm, and its impact on those who come within its powerful orbit.

©2005 Kermit Roosevelt (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Impressive." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Outstanding debut....A fascinating insider's look into the culture of a high-stakes firm....Most of all it's the vividness and complexity of the characters, drawn with the precision and authority of a winning legal argument, that heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice." (Publishers Weekly)

Wished there were more!

Reccomended to read this book before thinking of law school. Glad I did! I loved it and I wished there were more to the story. A part 2 would be great.

IDK why there are bad reviews. I did not find the story tedious. Some characters were awful people yes, but awful people exist in real life, right? I also found some characters very likeable.

Tedious

I thought this book to be extremely slow moving and boring. I continued reading it only because I had paid for it and didn't like wasting the money. It is not interesting and just goes on and on.....ad nauseum...so much so that when I inadvertently lost my bookmark I simply went to the second part and I doubt that I missed anything of importance.