Sit Down with "The Associate"

The Associate is John Grisham's latest legal thriller. The book is set in New York City and stars newly-graduated Yale Law Journal editor and Yale Law School Graduate Kyle McAvoy. All his life, Kyle has dreamed of becoming a lawyer "for the people" and loathing his friends and acquaintances who joined high-powered law firms after graduation, to work like a dog, make a huge pile of money and hopefully become a partner in a couple of years. Kyle dreams of becoming a small-town lawyer like his dad, John McAvoy, who's payment was often given in vegetables and free lawn mowings. Encouraged by Yale to pursue his dream, Kyle is looking forward to a salary of $32,000 per year helping immigrant's receive justice, when he is approached by a sinister man who drags up an incident from Kyle's past involving him and his fraternity brothers at a late-night party in his apartment. Fearing blackmail from his past actions, Kyle abandons his dream to become an Associate at Scully & Pershing, the biggest law firm in New York City, and break many laws in order to pass information on to the sinister men who haunt his every step. The story exposes the brutal world of the "law firm associate" and exactly what it takes to make it to the top. The book is a great expose' of the deals and corruption that occur in law firms and the unscrupulous practices of some lawyers.