#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Compelling . . . another timely tale from John Grisham. [ The Street Lawyer ] shows not only that Grisham has his finger on the public pulse but that he’s also out to prick its conscience.” —Chicago Tribune Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. law firm with eight hundred lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was no more than three years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience. Then a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived, but his assailant did not. Who was this man? Michael did some digging and learned that his attacker was a mentally ill veteran who’d been in and out of shelters for many years. Then Michael dug a little deeper and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney. The fast track derailed, the ladder collapsed. Michael bolted the firm and took a top-secret file with him. He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street lawyer. And a thief.