The Street Lawyer

On Sunday morning, Michael learns from a news article that Ontario and his family have died. Ontario, his mother, Lontae Burton, twin brothers, Alonzo and Dante, and baby sister, Temeko, were found asphyxiated in their car near a park the night before. Michael is devastated and sits “on the sofa, where [he] remain[s] for an hour without moving” (91). Mordecai calls and they exchange condolences and they agree to meet at Michael’s office later.

At the office, Mordecai informs Michael that no one has been able to contact Lontae’s next of kin. They then go to the morgue to identify the bodies, then to a funeral parlor, where Mordecai negotiates with the minister for the family’s funeral.

Claire returns home from Providence with news Michael does not expect: Her brother has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. He realizes her trip to Providence was not about him or their marriage. They have wine and share stories with each other: hers about her brother, and his about Ontario. Michael tells the reader that Claire is moved by his story but also confused by his changed personality. The scene shows a rare sentimental moment between them, which Michael describes as “almost romantic” (97).

The next morning, Michael awakes with a renewed determination to disassociate himself from “the street people” and recommit to work with “a string of 18-hour days to readjust [his] priorities” (98-99). On his desk he finds a mysterious manila folder containing a copy of the Washington Post article on the Burton family and a list of evictees from the River Oaks warehouse; number four is DeVon Hardy and number 15 is Lontae Burton and family. He finds a scribbled message inside the file that reads, “The eviction was legally and ethically wrong” (100).

Michael slogs through his day at the office, donning his “game face” (102) through meetings conferences. He fields phone calls from his dad and brother, Warner, who both try to convince him to take a break from his job instead of leaving it completely. Later in the day, Michael returns his attention to the file and pinpoints Hector Palma, Braden Chance’s paralegal, as a likely person to have left it for him.

Michael meets Mordecai for dinner that night. Mordecai informs him that the Burton case is gaining more traction, but Michael does not tell him about the file. Mordecai then reveals that he and the others at the legal clinic have decided they need help, and he offers Michael a job as a fundraiser and street lawyer. Although he is not surprised by the offer, he admits that he is scared. He stays awake contemplating the offer, knowing it will mean “saying good-bye to millions” and everything he has known (107).

Michael calls in sick to work so he can attend the Burton family funeral, which is crowded and passionate but not extravagant. It lasts 90 minutes and includes a scripture, music, and a full sermon that “[blasts] everyone who [isn’t] of color and [has] money” (110). Michael is most taken with the tiny caskets for the children, and he wonders why the people there did not show up for Lontae and her family during their lives.

Later, Michael tells Rudolph Mayes (his supervisor) he is leaving Drake & Sweeney for street law. Like Michael’s father and brother and countless others, Rudolph tells Michael he is crazy and tries to convince him to simply take a month off and “get it out of [his] system” (112-13). Michael makes a joke and brushes him off, confirming that he will leave that Friday.

That night, Michael gives Claire the same news, and she is furious. She feels ambushed, believing she should have a say in the decision, but her biggest problem is that he will be making decidedly less money and change their lifestyle considerably. She maintains her cool despite her anger, finishes her wine, and goes to bed, leaving Michael alone in front of the fire.

Two days before Michael’s presumed departure, Rudolph invites him for breakfast in the partners’ private dining room. During breakfast, he tries to woo Michael into staying by proposing a plan for a subsidized 12-month sabbatical that has been approved by Arthur Jacobs. During this time, Michael would do pro bono work while the firm supplemented his salary, and then he would return to Drake & Sweeney with his “batteries recharged” and his “other interests quelled” (117). Michael is moved by the offer and promises to think about it, recognizing it as a sign that Rudolph is desperate for him to stay because of the heavy workload in the antitrust division. Toward the end of their breakfast, Braden Chance enters the dining room, which stirs Michael into ruminating over how disconnected Braden usually is to his cases, meaning that his paralegal, Hector Palma, probably did the “dirty work” of the River Oaks eviction.

Later that day, Michael and Hector have a clandestine meeting in the firm’s library. Michael tries to ask Hector about the file he allegedly left on Michael’s desk, but Hector is nervous and denies any knowledge of it. He does reveal that the River Oaks eviction file is locked in a cabinet in Braden’s office, and that “bad stuff” is in it (120-21). When Michael tries to push for more information, Hector tells him he will have to steal the file, and then he quickly leaves the library.

Michael calls Mordecai and formally accepts the legal clinic job, then spends the rest of the afternoon saying goodbye to his colleagues. When he arrives home, Claire is waiting with news that she has hired a divorce lawyer and they have already begun to draft the terms. Although Michael has been expecting this, he feels that Claire is “cold-blooded” about it (122). They bicker over terms and conditions, Claire implying that she should get more because he is the one who decided to take a drastic pay cut. Even though Michael does not agree, he is too tired and resigned to argue, so they finish, and he goes for a walk in Georgetown, “wondering how life [has] changed so dramatically” (125).

Michael spends the morning looking for a new apartment with no luck. When he returns to the office after lunch, he finds another mysterious manila file on his desk. This one has two keys accompanied by a typed note with directions for their use. Before he can investigate any further, Barry Nuzzo pays him a visit. Barry is a friend and another of Mister’s lawyer hostages. Michael tells him about the divorce, and then Barry launches into a confession of self-blame for Michael’s leaving. He believes that if he had done more to help during the hostage crisis or supported Michael as a friend afterward, maybe Michael would not have “lost [his] mind” (128) and decided to leave. Michael assures Barry that no one could have changed his mind.

After Barry leaves, Michael spends a few minutes devising a plan to steal the River Oaks file from Chance’s office. He leaves Drake & Sweeney at 5:00 p.m. and drives to the 14th Street Clinic to settle into his new office, which is a stark contrast to his old one. After dinner and a quick chat with Mordecai, Michael heads back to Drake & Sweeney, waits until 8:00 p.m., and then goes directly to the real estate floor, which is now deserted. He easily absconds with the file from Braden’s office, but on his way out someone recognizes and chases him, and he escapes through a side exit. On the way back to the legal clinic, where he intends to copy the file so he can return it, Michael gets hit by a Jaguar fleeing a drug bust, and he wakes up in the hospital with Claire asleep in a chair beside him.

In the morning, Michael learns that Claire has left for work. He refuses drugs for his pain because he wants a clear head. He attempts to locate his wrecked car, with no success, and calls in sick to Drake & Sweeney. Claire returns and drives Michael back to the apartment, where she gives him instructions to rest.

Immediately after Claire leaves, Michael calls Mordecai and learns that he has not been able to locate the wrecked car either. Michael then calls for a driver from a car service, and Leon (his driver) escorts him around DC to continue his search for a new apartment. After he admits to Leon that he just got out of the hospital, Leon takes on the role of realtor, and he negotiates a loft in the Adams-Morgan district for Michael. Like his old and new offices, his old and new apartments are drastically different, the new one being “three tiny rooms in an attic with sloping ceilings” (142).

Mordecai finally locates the car, and Leon drives Michael to the lot. The attendant tells them the police are holding his car in a different lot, so they drive there. At the second lot, Michael can see his Lexus behind the gates, but it is dark and he feels unsafe, so Leon drives him to rent a car instead. When Michael returns to the old apartment, Claire notifies him that Hector Palma called and would like to meet later that night at a bar.

As soon as Michael sits down with Hector, he realizes Hector is wired. Hector gives Michael signals that let him know that the meeting and the wiring are not his choice. Their conversation is clipped and full of coded language, but Michael discerns that the firm knows the River Oaks file is missing, that they suspect both Hector and Michael of being involved, and that Hector’s job is on the line.

Mordecai, Michael, and Sergeant Peeler, a friend of Mordecai’s, go to the lot where Michael’s Lexus is being held. Peeler talks the officer guarding the lot into letting Michael get into his car. Michael has not told Mordecai what he needs to retrieve from the car, so he and Peeler are surprised when he returns with the manila file.

Michael examines the content of the file on the floor of his new apartment. He learns that Tillman Gantry, a former pimp and felon, owns River Oaks and that the warehouse had been earmarked by the US Postal Service for expansion. When the postal service demanded their facility be built virtually overnight, River Oaks immediately purchased more buildings near the warehouse and enforced the eviction of the squatters/tenants. As part of the process, Hector Palma had done two site visits and prepared memos for the file on both visits. During the first visit, he was brutally assaulted. Michael notices that his memo from the second visit has been removed from the file. He also finds 17 eviction notices in the back of the file, meaning they were never used and the warehouse inhabitants were never informed of the eviction beforehand because “[s]quatters have no rights, including the right to be notified” (155). Michael drives to the clinic to copy the file.

Later, he returns to his old apartment to pack and clean out the last of his belongings while Claire is out shopping. He leaves a note for her telling her he is gone and drives away with “no feeling of liberation” (157).

As Michael sits in his new office on a Sunday morning, lamenting its bedraggled appearance and dreading his brother’s and parents’ reactions to it, Barry Nuzzo shows up unexpectedly. They banter back and forth for a few minutes, and then Barry finally gets to the point: A file is missing, and the firm suspects Michael. Barry swears he is there of his own accord and not wired, and Michael believes him. He tells Michael that they have his fingerprints all over Grace’s office and that everyone at the firm has been forbidden to have any contact with him. Barry begs Michael to return the file before things get out of hand. If he returns it, Barry believes the whole thing will blow over; if not, Drake & Sweeney could bring criminal charges against Michael. Michael at first attempts to explain the complications of the eviction to Barry, but he does not want to divulge too much, so he cuts himself off. Barry finally leaves with a promise to keep in touch.