Short Story: Partners — Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham

Partners: Rogue Lawyer (2016) is a 60-page prequel to John Grisham’s full novel Rogue Lawyer published a year before. It is also Grisham's first digital short story, written in his familiar style: concise prose and a brisk pace, which keeps the reader turning pages until the end.

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Since I hadn’t read Rogue Lawyer, it seemed sensible to begin with Partners: Rogue Lawyer and find out how Sebastian Rudd first meets Thomas Cardell, better known as Tee Ray. By the end of the story, Tee Ray has offered to become Rudd’s partner, bodyguard, law clerk and driver all rolled into one.

In effect, John Grisham introduced readers to Rudd and Cardell in Rogue Lawyer and then returned to tell the story of how the two first crossed paths.

Rudd, in his early thirties, is a street lawyer who works out of a converted bar in a crime-ridden neighbourhood. He represents clients other lawyers avoid—people he often suspects are guilty long before they enter a courtroom. Yet, his courtroom skills have earned him a formidable reputation. Despite having handled more jury trials than most lawyers his age, he remains one of the most unpopular attorneys in town.

Rudd’s unpopularity reaches new heights when he reluctantly agrees to defend Tee Ray, a Black drug courier charged with killing a White police officer in what he claims was self-defence. The slain officer—a decorated Marine and former honour student—quickly becomes a local hero, with the town, the media and the police force rallying behind him. Rudd, meanwhile, finds himself caught between his client’s powerful employers in the drug trade and threats to his own life.

Rudd knows that without hard evidence or credible witnesses, Tee Ray is likely to be sentenced to death for killing the police officer. Determined to uncover the truth, he begins digging and, with help from contacts in the drug organisation, discovers that Tee Ray’s account is accurate. He had been forced to shoot only after the officer opened fire on him repeatedly. Looking to boost his arrest record, the cop had targeted Tee Ray, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A swift trial follows.

Partners is a fast-paced and well-crafted story that examines not only a violent crime but also the racial tensions that continue to shape American society. Grisham handles these themes with his customary restraint and sensitivity. One of the book’s strengths is that its characters are neither saints nor villains. Regardless of which side of the law they occupy, they are portrayed as flawed individuals.

Another enduring quality of Grisham’s fiction is his sympathy for the underdog. Through characters such as Tee Ray, whose chief ambition is to provide a better life for his teenage son, he gives a voice to people who are often overlooked. It is this empathy, as much as the legal drama, that gives the story its emotional weight.