Law is truly our national pastime. The fascination Americans have with all things legal knows no limits. Regularly the country fixates on a courtroom where the current “trial of the century” is underway. Between “Law and Order,” numerous lawyers masquerading as judges on television, and the gavel-to-gavel coverage of crime and trials, we are clearly a nation obsessed with the law. But surprisingly, the lawyers --- the building blocks of that legal system --- are generally held in low regard. Politicians rail against villains in tasseled loafers, and lawyer jokes still remain a popular item in many email inboxes.

Our love of the legal system is embodied in the works of John Grisham. His name seems permanently inscribed on the bestseller list, and his fans eagerly anticipate each of his new novels. While Grisham loves the law, he is not reluctant to criticize what he believes are the shortcomings of American lawyers. His recent works of fiction have begun focusing on contemporary legal issues that he believes need attention. It may be the death penalty, the abuses of the tort system, or financial abuses in judicial campaigns, but if Grisham has strong feelings about a subject, he will use it as the basis for a novel.

"...an entertaining and informative novel that exposes readers to two worlds of the law.... At the end of GRAY MOUNTAIN, there are many unanswered questions that suggest a sequel. I hope Samantha Kofer comes back for an encore. She is a lawyer to admire and respect."

GRAY MOUNTAIN is an entertaining and informative novel that exposes readers to two worlds of the law. The first is where wealthy individuals or businesses can have all the legal services that money can buy, so long as they are willing to spend several hundred dollars an hour. On the other side of the legal service equation are the poor who have equally important legal difficulties but cannot afford adequate legal representation.

Presenting the dilemma of inadequate legal services in the country with more lawyers than the rest of the world, Grisham has chosen a heroine as the vehicle for discussing this contemporary problem of American law. Samantha Kofer has an outstanding legal pedigree. Her mother is a career Justice Department attorney, while her father once was a preeminent plaintiff’s attorney. That was until some legal shenanigans cost him his license and sent him to federal prison for a short stretch.

As GRAY MOUNTAIN opens, it is the financial crisis of 2008. Samantha’s promising career in her Wall Street commercial real estate firm has been torn asunder as the company hemorrhages clients, money and lawyers. Although Samantha loses her job, she is offered the opportunity to retain her health insurance if she serves as an unpaid intern in a legal clinic. She moves to Brady, Virginia, in rural Appalachia with a population of 2,200. It is this perfect juxtaposition between wealth and poverty in America’s legal system that sets the parameters for Samantha’s work.

Samantha finds herself in coal country, where the coal workers of the nation are fighting an uphill battle against an industry that is focused only on profits. Miners are simply the means to make money, and black lung disease, injuries on the job and the environment all take a back seat to the almighty dollar. The coal industry has their own well-paid lawyers who have no hesitation to spend more on litigation than it would cost to simply settle a case. Samantha, along with some courageous allies, battles the coal industry, but it is a war in which time and resources are all against the coal workers.

In addition to the coal workers, there are many other examples of clients who simply lack the resources to wage legal battles. It may be domestic violence, divorce or creditors who are illegally garnishing wages. But in almost every instance, Samantha’s clients, even with the law on their side, face an uphill struggle for justice. The author’s portrayal of America’s legal system is not pretty, and many readers may wonder how our nation can even call what is happening justice.

Grisham’s contribution to our understanding of the law may be slightly overwrought, but the shortcomings of our legal system that he touches upon here cannot be dismissed. At the end of GRAY MOUNTAIN, there are many unanswered questions that suggest a sequel. I hope Samantha Kofer comes back for an encore. She is a lawyer to admire and respect.