John Grisham - The Litigators

“I guess the pressure got to him,” David said.

“When he falls, he falls hard, David, and each one is worse than the last.”

David set the bottle on the table. “But he was so proud of being sober,” he said. “I can’t believe this.” What he really couldn’t believe was that the dream team (or the three stooges) was down to its last man standing. And though his partners were woefully lacking in trial experience, they were seasoned veterans compared with him.

“You think he’ll show up in court?” David asked.

No, she did not, but Rochelle didn’t have the heart to be blunt. “Probably so. You need to get on the road.”

It was a long drive downtown. David called Helen and broke the news. She was as bewildered as her husband and offered the opinion that the judge would have no choice but to postpone the proceedings. David liked the sound of that, and by the time he parked, he was convinced that if Wally didn’t show, he could prevail upon Judge Seawright to grant a continuance. In all fairness, losing the two lead lawyers in a case was surely grounds for either a mistrial or a postponement.

Wally was not in the courtroom. David sat alone at counsel table as the Rogan Rothberg team filed in and the spectators took their seats. At 8:50, David eased over to a bailiff and said he needed to see Judge Seawright, and it was urgent. “Follow me,” the bailiff said.

Judge Seawright had just put on his black robe when David entered his chambers. Skipping the greetings, David said, “Judge, we have a problem. Mr. Figg is AWOL. He’s not here and I don’t think he’ll show up.”

The judge exhaled in frustration and continued to slowly zip up his robe. “You don’t know where he is?”

“No sir.”

Judge Seawright looked at the bailiff and said, “Go fetch Ms. Karros.”

When Nadine arrived, alone, she and David sat with the judge at the end of his long conference table. David told them all that he knew and pulled no punches about Wally’s history with alcohol. They were sympathetic and uncertain about what this meant for the trial. David confessed that he felt thoroughly unprepared and inadequate to handle whatever was left to be done, but at the same time he could not imagine the firm attempting to try the case again.

“Let’s face it,” he said, holding nothing back, “we don’t have much of a case and we knew that when we started. We’ve pushed this thing about as far as we can, and we’ve done so only to avoid sanctions and malpractice suits.”

“You want a continuance?” the judge asked.

“Yes. I think it’s only fair under the circumstances.”

Nadine said, “My client will resist any effort to delay matters, and I’m certain it will push hard to finish this trial.”

Judge Seawright said, “I’m not sure a continuance will work. If Mr. Figg is back on the booze, and drinking so much he fails to show up for court, it might take some time to get him detoxed again and ready for action. I am not inclined to consider a continuance.”

David could not argue with this logic. “Judge, I have no idea what to do out there. I’ve never tried a case before.”

“I have not detected a great deal of experience on the part of Mr. Figg. You can certainly perform at his level.”

There was a long pause as the three contemplated their rather unique dilemma. Finally, Nadine said, “I have a deal. If you will finish the trial, I will convince my client to forget Rule 11 sanctions.”

Judge Seawright chimed in quickly, “Mr. Zinc, if you will finish the trial, I guarantee there will be no sanctions against you or your client.”

“Great, but what about the malpractice claims?”

Nadine said nothing, but the judge replied, “I doubt you’ll be in trouble there. I’m not aware of a successful malpractice action against a lawyer who simply lost a trial.”

“Nor am I,” Nadine added. “There’s a winner and a loser in every trial.”

Of course, David thought, and it must be nice to win every time.

“Let’s do this,” the judge said. “We’ll stand in recess today — I’ll send the jury home — and you do your best to find Mr. Figg. If by chance he shows up tomorrow, we’ll continue as if nothing happened, and I will not punish him for today. If you don’t find him, or if he’s unable to continue, then we’ll resume the proceedings at nine in the morning. You do your best, and I’ll help you as much as I possibly can. We’ll finish the trial, and that will be the end of it.”

“What about an appeal?” Nadine asked. “Losing the two lead lawyers might make a convincing argument for a new trial.”

David managed a smile and said, “I promise you there will be no appeal, not that I’m involved in. This case could very well bankrupt our little firm. We borrowed money to litigate this far. I can’t imagine my partners wasting another moment fooling with an appeal. If they were to somehow win one, then they would be forced to come back here and try the case again. That’s the last thing they want.”

“All right, so we have a deal?” the judge asked.

“As far as I’m concerned we do,” replied Nadine.

“Mr. Zinc?”

David had no choice. Continue, alone, and he would save the firm from the threat of sanctions, and probably malpractice as well. His only other option would be to demand a continuance and, when that was denied, refuse to participate in the trial.

“Sure, it’s a deal.”

He took his time driving back to the office. He continually reminded himself that he was only thirty-two, that this would not ruin his career as a lawyer. Somehow, he would survive the next three days. A year from now, it would almost be forgotten.

Still no sign of Wally. David locked himself in his office and spent the rest of the day reading transcripts of other trials, poring over the depositions from other cases, studying the rules of procedure and evidence, and fighting the urge to throw up.

Over dinner, he poked at his food as he replayed everything for Helen.

“How many attorneys are on the other side?” she asked.

“I don’t know, too many to count. At least six, with another row of paralegals packed behind them.”

“And you’ll be alone at your table?”

“That’s the scenario.”

She chewed on a bite of pasta, then said, “Does anyone check the credentials of the paralegals?”

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“Just thinking. Maybe I should be a paralegal for the next few days. I’ve always wanted to watch a trial.”

David laughed for the first time in hours. “Come on, Helen. I’m not sure I want you, or anyone else, to witness the slaughter.”

“What would the judge say if I showed up with a briefcase and a legal pad and started taking notes?”

“At this point, I think Judge Seawright would cut me a lot of slack.”

“I can get my sister to keep Emma.”

David laughed again, but the idea was gaining momentum. What was there to lose? It could well be the first and last trial of his career as a litigator, why not have a little fun? “I like it,” he said.

“Did you say there are seven men on the jury?”

“Yes.”

“Short skirt, or long?”

“Not too short.”

The Hung Juror blogged on: “A brief day in the Klopeck-Krayoxx trial as the dream team had trouble getting itself together. Word on the street is that the lead lawyer, the Honorable Wallis T. Figg, failed to answer the bell, and his rookie sidekick was sent to look for him. Figg wasn’t seen in the courtroom just before 9:00 a.m. Judge Seawright sent the jury home with instructions to return this morning. Repeated calls to the Finley & Figg office went straight to voice mail; none returned by the staff, if the firm does indeed have a staff. Wonder if Figg is on a bender? Fair question in light of the fact that he’s had at least two DUIs in the past twelve years, the last one a year ago. My records show that Figg has been married and divorced four times. I tracked down wife number 2, and she recalled that Wally’s always battled the bottle. When contacted at her home yesterday, the plaintiff, Iris Klopeck, who is still allegedly too sick to come to court, replied, ‘I’m not surprised,’ when told that her lawyer had failed to show. Then she hung up. Noted legal malpractice lawyer Bart Shaw has been seen sneaking around the courtroom — rumor is that Shaw might pick up the pieces of the Krayoxx mess and go after Finley & Figg for botching the cases. So far, the Klopeck case has not been botched, in theory. The jury has not decided. Stay tuned.”