John Grisham - The Litigators

“Well, we do have an expansion under way. Have you thought about future earnings, things like that? You walked away from $300,000 a year, fine. But we can’t live on $600 a month.”

“Do you doubt me?”

“No, but a little reassurance would be nice.”

“Okay. I promise you I’ll make enough money to keep us happy and healthy. All three of us. Or four, or five, or whatever.”

“And how do you plan to do this?”

“TV. I’ll go on the air to find Krayoxx victims,” David said, laughing. “Me and Bosch. Whatta you think?”

“I think you’re crazy.”

They were both laughing, then groping.

The official name of the gathering was a discovery conference, and it was typically a brief lawyers’ get-together in front of the judge to discuss the initial stages of the lawsuit. No record was kept, just informal notes taken by a clerk. Often, and especially in the courtroom of Harry Seawright, the judge himself begged off and sent a magistrate to pinch-hit.

Today, however, Judge Seawright was presiding. As the senior judge in the Northern District of Illinois he had a large courtroom, a splendid and spacious layout on the twenty-third floor of the Dirksen Federal Building on Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago. The courtroom was lined with dark, oak-paneled walls, and there were plenty of thick leather chairs for the various players. On the right side, and to the judge’s left, was the plaintiffs’ team of Wally Figg and David Zinc. On the left side, and to the judge’s right, was the team of about a dozen or so Rogan Rothberg lawyers toiling away on behalf of Varrick Laboratories. Their leader, of course, was Nadine Karros, the only female lawyer present, and for the occasion she was modeling a classic Armani navy suit, skirt just above the knees, nude legs, and designer platform pumps with four-inch heels.

Wally couldn’t take his eyes off the shoes, the skirt, the entire package. “Maybe we should come to federal court more often,” he’d quipped to David, who was in no mood for humor. Nor was Wally, to be honest. For both of them, it was their first venture into a federal courtroom. Wally claimed he handled cases in federal court all the time, but David was doubtful. Oscar, senior partner, who was supposed to be there with them, taking on the twin Goliaths of Rogan Rothberg and Varrick, had called in sick.

Oscar wasn’t the only no-show. The great Jerry Alisandros and his team of world-class litigators were all lined up to blast into Chicago for an impressive display of strength, but a last-minute emergency hearing in Boston had become more important. Wally freaked out when he got the call from one of Alisandros’s underlings. “It’s just a discovery conference,” the young man said. Driving to court, Wally had expressed skepticism about Zell & Potter.

For David, the moment was extremely uncomfortable. He was sitting in a federal courtroom for the first time knowing that he would not say a word because he had no idea what to say, and his opposition was a team of well-dressed and highly skilled lawyers from a firm he’d once been loyal to, a firm that had recruited him, trained him, paid him a top salary, and promised him a long career, and a firm that he had jilted, rejected. In favor of … Finley & Figg? He could almost hear them snickering behind their legal pads. David, with his pedigree and Harvard diploma, belonged over there, where they billed by the hour, not on the plaintiffs’ side, where you beat the streets looking for clients. David did not want to be where he was. Nor did Wally.

Judge Seawright settled himself into his perch and wasted no time. “Where’s Mr. Alisandros?” he growled in the direction of Wally and David.

Wally jumped to his feet, offered a greasy smile, and said, “He’s in Boston, sir.”

“So he will not be here today?”

“That’s right, Your Honor. He was on his way but got sidetracked with some emergency in Boston.”

“I see. He’s an attorney of record for the plaintiffs in this case. The next time we get together, tell him to be here. I will fine him $1,000 for missing the conference.”

“Yes sir.”

“And you’re Mr. Figg?”

“That’s correct, Your Honor, and this is my associate, David Zinc.” David tried to smile. He could almost see every Rogan Rothberg lawyer craning to have a look.

“Welcome to federal court,” the judge said sarcastically. He looked at the defense and said, “I suppose you’re Ms. Karros?”

She stood, and every eye in the courtroom locked onto her. “I am, Your Honor, and this is my co-counsel, Luther Hotchkin.”

“Who are all of those other people?”

“This is our defense team, Your Honor.”

“Do you really need all these people for a simple discovery conference?”

Give ’em hell, Wally thought, still staring at the skirt.

“We do indeed, Your Honor. This is a large and complicated case.”

“So I’ve heard. You may keep your seats for the remainder of this hearing.” Judge Seawright picked up some notes and adjusted his reading glasses. “Now, I’ve spoken to two of my colleagues in Florida, and we are not sure if these cases will proceed in a multi-district litigation. It appears as if the plaintiffs’ lawyers are having some difficulty getting themselves organized. Many, it seems, want a bigger piece of the pie, which is not surprising. At any rate, we have no choice but to proceed with discovery in this case. Mr. Figg, who are your experts?”

Mr. Figg had no experts and had no idea when he might retain them. He was relying on the increasingly unreliable Jerry Alisandros to find the experts because that’s what he promised to do. Wally stood slowly, knowing that any hesitation would look bad. “We’ll have them next week, Your Honor. As you know, we are partnering with the law firm of Zell & Potter, a well-known firm specializing in mass torts, and with the flurry of activity around the country it’s been difficult to lock up the best experts. But we’re definitely making progress.”

“That’s nice. Please sit down. So you actually filed this lawsuit before you consulted with any experts?”

“Well, yes, Your Honor, and that’s not unusual.”

Judge Seawright doubted if Mr. Figg knew what was usual or unusual, but he decided not to embarrass the guy this early in the game. He picked up a pen and said, “You have ten days to designate your experts, then the defense will be allowed to depose them without delay.”

“Yes sir,” Wally said, falling back into his chair.

“Thank you. Now, we have eight death cases here, so we’re dealing with eight families. To start with, I want you to take the depositions of the personal representatives of all eight. Mr. Figg, when can you make these people available?”

“Tomorrow,” Wally said.

The judge turned to Nadine Karros and said, “That soon enough?”

She smiled and said, “We prefer reasonable notice, Your Honor.”

“I’m sure you have a busy trial calendar, Ms. Karros.”

“As always, yes.”

“And you also have unlimited resources. I count eleven lawyers taking notes right now, and I’m sure there are hundreds more back at the firm. These are just depositions, nothing complicated, so on Wednesday of next week you’re going to depose four of the plaintiffs, and on Thursday you’ll do the other four. Two hours max per plaintiff; if you need more time, we’ll do them later. If you can’t be there, Ms. Karros, just pick out five or six from your squad, and I’m sure they can handle the depositions.”

“I’ll be there, Your Honor,” she said coolly.

“Mr. Figg?”

“We’ll be there.”

“I’ll get my clerk to arrange the time, schedule, details, and we’ll e-mail it to you by tomorrow. Then, as soon as Mr. Figg designates his experts, we will schedule their depositions. Ms. Karros, when your experts are in place, please provide the necessary information, and we’ll go from there. I want these initial depositions out of the way within sixty days. Any questions?” There were none.