Pg.198 “We got into this business because we thought the law was a higher calling.  We could fight injustice and social ills, and do all sorts of greats things because we were lawyers.

This sentence is a very good example of the theme in The Street Lawyer.  This explains how Micheal comes to the decision of becoming a street lawyer.

Pg. 199 “Why couldn’t Mister have aimed a little lower?”

This quote explains Micheal’s regret of getting into this mess of the file even though it is a key player in his plan.  He wishes Mister would have killed him.

Pg. 250 “I took my time; there was no place to go after this adventure. District cops could be lurking anywhere with a warrant and handcuffs.”

As Micheal has the file the firm has become increasingly tense about getting it back.  Micheal could at anytime be taken up and arrested.

Pg.25 “Mister lurched back without uttering a sound, and my face was instantly covered in blood.”

This is at the end of Micheal and his other lawyers being hostages to Mister.  After this Micheal had his turning point to were he would go into helping the homeless out and eventually suing Drake & Sweeney.

Pg. 284 “Privileged people don;t march and protest; their world is safe and clean and governed by laws designed to keep them happy.”

This explains Micheal’s life before the Mister incident.  He was care free and nothing of the world really bothered him; he never went on protest or tried to do anything radical.  He stayed within his firm and reaped the benefits of it.

Pg.313 “Grand larceny was nothing to laugh at, especially since I was guilty.”

Micheal’s grand larceny is causing him much grief form the firm and caused him to go to jail.  This caused unwanted complications in the lawsuit against Drake & Sweeney, but it did not decide the winner.

Pg.198 “We got into this business because we thought the law was a higher calling.  We could fight injustice and social ills, and do all sorts of greats things because we were lawyers.

This sentence taken form the text is great way to explain the true theme behind the entire book.  It explains how lawyers have the power to fix things and make the world better.  This is exactly what Micheal did.  He went away from the company that sought to get money and went to the legal firm that gave him nothing.  By doing this he is fulling this quote, and answering to his higher calling that he spoke of here.  The books theme is to help people and this quote explains the reasoning behind
Micheal’s decision behind going into this little legal firm to fight for the homeless, and the ones with no voice.

I like how Micheal does give up his high position to help the homeless.  His sacrifice makes people realize the need to help the homeless not only with food and life necessities.   He is what gives the homeless people a voice in the world.  Micheal is an example of what many lawyers need to put forth the effort to help the homeless.   The criticism though is that Micheal does go through with his plan to find out why Mister attacks them.  He is able to steal the file which gives the firm the power to keep him away if they would have gone about it better.  Overall though Micheal is a good example of a true lawyer who is willing to give his job for these people.

If I were to recommend a John Grisham book it would be this one.  Though this is a long book, the story is flowing to were you don’t lose interest and always want to continue. The arrangement of characters in this book is very well played out.  The characters interact with each other in a very real kind of way.  This interaction makes the story even more believable as a non-fictional book.  To me the plot is flawless and the conflicts and environment that the characters are put into is making this a very satisfying book to read.  The point of view could have been changed to the point of view of the other people and how they truly think about Micheal.  This may have opened a few more back story plots that may have added to the story as a whole increasing the tension between The Drake & Sweeney company and Micheal and Mr. Green.  If you look at my summary of the whole story lower down the page you can see the plot and how it works into the story.  Overall I would recommend this book for anyone who is wanting a casual read.

One truth of human nature is selfishness for ones job/life.

The Street Lawyer displays this using Chance’s office and how he hides or destroys files that may hurt his reputation or his job.  This is brought up when Micheal is trying to find the motives on Mister’s attack.  When asked about the file Chance displays a fear of people actually finding out what he is truly doing.  If Chance had kept the file on record he could have presented it and not have gotten the firm into this mess.

Another truth about human nature under certain circumstances is a need to help others in some way.

Micheal is the key player in the truth.  He forfeits his big time job in order to help the homeless and for almost little to none pay.  This type of self sacrifice is uncommon among the Lawyers of the world, but Micheal was not completely sucked into the mindset of a lawyer yet.  He is able to realize that he needs to fight for the homeless and not suck every dollar out anyone who is willing to pay.

The third and final truth is about human survival.

The homeless people feel the need to survive and help each other to survive.  Ruby is a good example pf this, how she gives her son to these people so that he can have a good life away form the street life.  This sacrifice made by Ruby is the ultimate way to ensure survival of her child.

The street Lawyer takes place in the city of Washington D.C.  Primarily within the downtown and anyplace where the homeless are found.  From the time you start the book to the time you finish is about one month of events that has taken place inside this book.  The book is put into the present tense and takes place around this time frame that we are in right now.  The two Law firms that are mentioned in this book are fictional along with it’s characters.  Although the events that take place are possible in today’s world dis spite being fictional. All of events though they seem real are completely fictional and did not happen.  If something like this did happen like in the book the press would always be all over it.  The characters of The Street Lawyer are practical yet not true and the exact happenings would probably not be the same in reality.  Is I was asked if the book could happen in today’s life I would answer, yes.  The events, people, and places are not outside anything that is not able to be achieved today.

Micheal Brock starts out as a fairly new lawyer on the fast track to being a partner in Drake & Sweeney.  In the middle of a normal day an unexpected turn of events happen which shock Micheal into not thinking straight.  Later on he tries to find out the motives of Mister (the homeless man who was shot) and why he would come into this firm.  Through his investigation he later finds out a secret of Drake & Sweeney that caused the eviction of 14 homeless people. Later on four of the members of this eviction died from freezing in the cold.  This would not have happened if the eviction had not taken place.  Micheal gets into a volunteer group that changes his motives and opens him up to the “light”. He sees where he should be in the world.  As he goes along in this new area of his life he is changed.  The change that happens is considered foolish and physic by his fellow lawyers of Drake & Sweeney.  He decides to drop out of the big firm lawyer business and go to the tiny 14th street legal clinic in defense of the homeless people.  He ends up being the most wanted enemy of Drake & Sweeney without even being more then a month for when he quit.  This unfortunate, but very exciting turn of events for Micheal gave him the life that he always wanted.

The Street Lawyer has a power/submission plot to it.  The main elements that fit these opposite words are demonstrated with Micheal’s actions and words as he moves through the story.
First Micheal has power in his office while in Drake & Sweeney.  He is able to have a voice with the judges and the power to force more money out of his clients pockets without any question.  He was an invincible lawyer who could not be touched.

Later he becomes the street lawyer.  A very small and insignificant legal firm which has little power in the big firm type courts.  He works for the homeless and poor who have little to none money giving him near nothing to hold them on.  His power is gone and no one listing to the small legal firm that works for the homeless.

Before he left the big firm though he took a file, a file that happened to be a very important file to the Drake & Sweeney legal offices.  This file gives Micheal power over the once powerful firm.  He is able to make almost any deal with them giving him the power that he once had, but more this time.

The big firm has still power though as they are able to use the police to intimidate Micheal and even jail him for a small period of time.  They always rely on that one file that Micheal has to get them 0ut of the mess by giving criminal charges and grand larceny.

The firm once had the power, but has submission to Micheal when he has the file.  Micheal also has power, but he is still a street lawyer making him not to influential in the large court battles.

The title “The Street Lawyer” is true to what happens in the book.  Micheal literary becomes a street lawyer, working for almost minimum wage and enduring the streets of New York.  The title is considered an oxymoron in the sense that you would not think of a lawyer to be on the streets.  A lawyer would be usually in a nice house spending the big bucks as we view it now of days.  Why a lawyer would lower himself to the standards of little pay and dealing with people who have almost no voice in the world is almost unheard of.  That is what gives significance to the title.  How Micheal comes from his big time job and works for the homeless and the people with no money.  He gives voice to the homeless and ends up giving more then a voice, but a chance to become clean and sober again.  Through this street legal clinic he is able to create a way to get the homeless off the streets by using the Drake & Sweeney lawyers.  The title also symbolizes the sacrifice that Micheal makes to serve the homeless.  He sacrifices his big time job, his car, and most of his life for these people, not something you would normally see in a big time lawyer.

The Street Lawyer starts out with the beginning of a typical day in a Lawyer’s life at Drake & Sweeney.  On the ride up the elevator a homeless man rides up with our main character, Michael Brock.  The homeless man ends up holding captive Michael and his fellow lawyers with a gun and a row of dynamite strapped to his waist.  After a long 4 hours of being captive the homeless man known as Mister is shot in the head allowing the Lawyers to get free.  After this encounter Micheal is shaken and many people think he has gone crazy.  This unfortunate turn of events caused Micheal to realize how the homeless need to be helped.  He stumbles upon a small street Lawyer Clinic which he spends a lot of time with considering that he is in a big time firm.  He ends up leaving his big time firm and his only way to the big bucks and goes to work for the homeless and the people like Mister.  Before he goes though he takes a file that is very important to the company,  it is the file that is responsible for the death of 4 people including 3 children.  In an effort to find out the truth behind this file Micheal runs into many challenges and learns more about  how the company of Drake & Sweeney.  The death of the four people spawns so much media of Drake & Sweeney that they have considered Micheal as one of the most dangerous man to their firm.  In an effort to repay the deaths of those four people he launches with the help of his new friend and boss Mordecai Green a huge sue towards the firm.  Drake & Sweeney are scared of the press and what they will post about them to the point that they are willing to bribe Micheal into forgetting the whole matter.  In the end Drake and Sweeney end up paying 5 million dollars of a period of 5 years to the small 14th street legal clinic.