The Firm by John Ray Crisham, Jr

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The Firm By John Ray Crisham, Jr.

THE PLOT

Mitch McDeere is an ambitious Harvard Law graduate who has just landed a great job with a great salary and benefits in a Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert, and Locke. The firm leases him a BMW, gets him a great mortgage rate, and even pays off his student loans. However, he soon finds out that money doesn’t grow on trees – two partners die in a suspicious-looking dive accident, and he realizes that no lawyer has ever left the firm alive. He has to either find a way out or become the next victim of a zero turnover rate.

John Ray Grisham, Jr. (born February 8, 1955) is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers. Grisham's first bestseller was The Firm. Released in 1991, it sold more than seven million copies. The book was later adapted into a feature film in 1993, and a TV series in 2012 which continues the story of attorney Mitchell McDeere and his family 10 years after the events of the novel.

…The senior partner studied the resume for the hundredth time, and again he found nothing he disliked about Mitchell Y. McDeer, at least on paper. He had the brains, the ambition, the good looks. And he was hungry; with his background, he had to be. He had a degree in accounting, a Master’s in law and wanted to be a tax lawyer, which of course was a requirement with a tax firm. The firm was secretive and clubbish and never advertised job openings. Other firms did, but they recruited. He looked good, on paper. He was their top choice. The managing partner, Royce McNight, studied a dossier labeled “Mitchell Y. McDeer – Harvard” for a hundredth time. It had been prepared by some ex- CIA agents in a private intelligence agency in Bethesda. They learned, for instance, that he was holding three job offers, two in New York and one in Chicago, and that the highest offer was $76,000 and the lowest was $68,000. He was in demand. He had been given an opportunity to cheat on a securities exam* during his second year. He declined, and made the highest grade in the class. He owed close to $23, 000 in student loans. He was hungry. Precisely at two-thirty Mitchell knocked on the door. They sat around a shiny mahogany table and McDeer crossed his legs. With three job offers from three of the most prestigious law firms in the country, he didn’t need this interview, this firm. He was there out of curiosity: he wanted to see if the pay was attractive.

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… “How are you ranked in your class?” “Top five.” Not top five percent, but top five, out of three hundred. “You seem to have an incredibly strong tax and securities background**.” “That’s where my interest lies.” “What type of work will I do initially?” “We have something similar to a two-year internship, although we don’t call it that. We’ll send you all over the country to tax seminars. Your education is far from over. We take great pride in our technical expertise, and the training is continual, for all of us. As far as practicing law, it won’t be very exciting for the first two years. You’ll do a lot of research and generally boring stuff. But the money is good.” “How much?” “We’ll discuss the compensation and other benefits when you come to Memphis.” “I want a ballpark figure*** or I may not come to Memphis.” He smiled, arrogant but cordial. “Ok. A base salary of eighty thousand the first year, plus bonuses. Eighty five the second year, plus bonuses. Plus a signing bonus**** of five thousand to be spent on a new wardrobe. A low-interest mortgage so you can buy a home. Two country club memberships. And a new BMW - we lease it and give you the key. You pick the colour, of course. Plus a few more fringes we’ll be glad to discuss in Memphis.” Suddenly he had a strong desire to visit Memphis. “How long does it take to become a partner?” “On the average, ten years, and it’s hard ten years. It’s not unusual for our partners to earn half a million a year, and most retire before they are fifty with money to burn. You’ve got to put in eighty-hour weeks, but it’s worth it when you make partner. If you join the firm, and you are not a millionaire at the age of forty five, you’ll be the first in twenty years. And we have another impressive statistic*****. Last year, for firms our size, the average turnover rate was twenty-eight percent. Here, it was zero. Year before, zero. It’s been a long time since a lawyer left our firm.” Of course, they knew much more than they could talk about. They knew he had been neglected, raised in poverty by his brother and some sympathetic relatives. The poverty hurt and it had bred the intense desire to succeed. He had worked thirty hours a week at an all-night convenience store while playing football and making perfect grades. They knew he seldom slept. They knew he was hungry. He was their man (abridged from The Firm by John Grisham).

*a securities exam - экзамен по ценным бумагам **You seem to have an incredibly strong tax and securities background. - Похоже, вы отлично разбираетесь в налогооблажении и ценных бумагах. ***a ballpark figure – приблизительная цифра ****a signing bonus – подъемные, деньги на обустройство *****a statistic - цифра, показатель (statistics (pl.) – статистические данные)