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I start with the location of Grisham’s lawyers. Six of the books involve lawyers from Mississippi. Three involve Memphis lawyers which, until I looked into Grisham’s life, I did not realize is across the river from Southaven, Mississippi where Grisham practiced law. Another pair are set in Virginia where Grisham has a residence. Three are set in Washington, D.C. which is very close to Virginia. For 14 of his 20 books he has written about lawyers in areas of America he knows well. What is striking is that none of his books are set further west than Texas and there was only one book set there.
The
majority of Grisham’s lawyers, 13 out of 20 books, conduct litigation, usually
at the trial level. It is little surprise that most of the books feature court
cases. What I admire about Grisham is that he has been able to write 7 books that
do not focus on the courtroom. Not another writer of legal mysteries has an
equal number of non-courtroom books.
Grisham’s
lawyers are split between small firms and large firms. A few are not members of
firms at all. I counted 9 ½ books featuring small firm lawyers while 5 ½ books
involve big firms. The halves relate to The
Litigators where the lawyers started out split between big and small though
they all ended up in a small firm. What is very clear from the books is that
Grisham has little regard for big firms. I am not sure whether that is from his
real life background of practicing in small firms or a dislike of big firm law.
It does make for better fiction to have the small firm lawyers battling against
the odds. It is hard to feel empathy for the big guys.
What
I found surprising in my analysis was the distribution of the books between
criminal and civil cases. Most mysteries involve criminal cases. Indeed, the
genre is commonly identified as crime fiction. Criminal trials tend to be more
exciting though there is just as much drama available in civil cases. I believe books about
criminal case are definitely easier to write. The issues and evidence in criminal trials
is usually significantly less complex than civil trials. It takes more
research to write a book based on a civil case. Grisham goes against the trend
with 8 of his books involving criminal law and 12 set in civil law. There may
be a lesson for writers considering fiction involving lawyers that the most
successful writer of legal mysteries has a majority of the books not involving
criminal law.
The
most striking statistic is that there are only 2 books in which women are the
lead characters while a third has a woman and man team. I do not know why there
are not more female lawyers in Grisham’s world.
Grisham
does not shy away from big issues. In particular, he has written two books, The Chamber and The Confession, that will challenge every reader to think about the
death penalty.
Of
the characteristics that help make Grisham’s books successful I note that his
lawyers are skilful careful planners. It is a true life characteristic of
lawyers. Grisham’s lawyers, like other fictional lawyers, are clever, even
brilliant at times. Unlike some other fictional lawyers they do not succeed or
fail by coincidence or luck or unexpected events. He has strong elements of
logic in each of his books. None of his lawyers have incredible lives. They are credible
lawyers.
I
look forward to reading about many more Grisham lawyers. I expect them to be
unique and interesting.
Bill - This is a fascinating analysis! It is indeed to Grisham's credit that his novels focus on civil cases as often as they do. Of course criminal cases matter in terms of setting legal precedent and in other important ways. But civil cases have been real paradigm-shifters. Of course, I do wonder about the 'gender gap,' but still, Grisham is an incredibly talented writer and his stories show all sorts of sides of the law.
ReplyDeleteMargot: Until I did the analysis I had not appreciated how Grisham has made civil cases as interesting as criminal cases. I do not think he gets the credit he deserves for thinking about the law and lawyers.
ReplyDeleteBill, thank you for a fine analysis of John Grisham's fictional lawyers and their various aspects. If 14 of his 20 novels have lawyers in areas of America he knows well, then it must be because he knows the legal system there much better, especially given his education and practice of law in Mississippi. I have read less than half his books of which so far I liked THE CHAMBER the most. I learned about pro bono from this novel. One reason this book impressed me was that Grisham did not let the poignany of the relationship between a grandfather and his grandson influence the justice system in spite of the strong racist and political tone of the story.
ReplyDeletePrashant: Thanks for the comment. I believe The Chamber is his best book. It challenges the readers with the issues of the death penalty and the nature of people on death row. I will never forget the book.
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