The Street Lawyer

SUMMARY: Looking for a romantic, hardboiled legal drama with a social conscience? Look no further. This audio version of John Grisham's blockbuster The Street Lawyer is narrated by Michael Beck (The Golden Seal, Xanadu), whose portrayal of the similarly named Michael Brock, with his squeaky-clean voice and crisp annunciation, is in perfect pitch with the corporate attorney's Ivy League image. Beck's believable, engaging performance is compelling, drawing the listener into Brock's charmed life and his decision to quit the firm after being held hostage by a disgruntled homeless man. Moved by a crisis of conscience, Brock seeks out the gravel-throated, streetwise legal aid counselor Mordecai Green. Green shows him the ropes, and Brock soon becomes part of the scenery he used to look down on from his plush 14th-floor office. Meanwhile, our hero is on the lam for stealing an important file that holds the secret to an illegal eviction--one that may lead to a murder charge. Faced with a failing marriage, a client on crack, and the threat of disbarment, Michael has plenty to think about as he and Mordecai negotiate a fair settlement for the victims of an inexcusable crime. (Running time: 360 minutes; 4 cassettes) SUMMARY: Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. firm with eight hundred lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was three years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience.But a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived; his assailant did not. Who was this man? Michael did some digging, and learned that he was a mentally ill veteran who'd been in and out of shelters for many years. Then Michael dug a little deeper, and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney.The fast track derailed; the ladder collapsed. Michael bolted from the firm and took a top-secret file with him. He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street lawyer.And a thief. After a violent encounter with a homeless man, talented corporate lawyer Michael finds himself out in the streets, lucky to be alive, and holding a top-secret file belonging to his former employers.Michael Brock is billing the hours, making the money, rushing relentlessly to the top of Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. law firm. One step away from partnership, Michael has it all. Then, in an instant, it all comes undone. A homeless man takes nine lawyers hostage in the firm’s plush offices. When it is all over, the man’s blood is splattered on Michael’s face — and suddenly Michael is willing to do the unthinkable. Rediscovering a conscience he lost long ago, Michael is leaving the big time for the streets where his attacker once lived — and where society’s powerless need an advocate for justice. But there’s one break Michael can’t make: from a secret that has floated up from the depths of Drake & Sweeney, from a confidential file that is now in Michael’s hands, and from a conspiracy that has already taken lives. Now Michael’s former partners are about to become his bitter enemies. Because to them, Michael Brock is the most dangerous man on the streets.