* Michael Connelly, The Fifth Witness
Lisa Trammel has been a client of Mickey’s for eight months—hers was his very first foreclosure case, in fact—and although so far he’s managed to stop the bank from taking her house, the strain and sense of injustice have taken a toll. The bank recently got a restraining order to prevent her from protesting against its practices. Now, a high-level bank employee, Mitchell Bondurant, has been found dead in the bank’s parking lot, and Lisa is about to be indicted for murder. For Mickey, it’s back to what he does best on the biggest stage of all, but if he thought defending Lisa Trammel was going to be a walk in the park, he’d be wrong. Not only is he about to learn some startling truths about his client, but also about himself, and by the time the verdict is in, Mickey’s whole world will have been turned upside down.
* Robert Dugoni, Murder One
When Barclay's crusade stalls and the Russian drug dealer turns up dead, she stands accused of murder, and Sloane is her chosen defender. Amidst the swirling media frenzy, in his first criminal case, Sloane finds himself once again in harm's way, while mounting evidence suggests Barclay is a woman with many secrets. And she may not be quite as innocent—or as in love with Sloane as she purports to be.
* David Ellis, Breach of Trust
This is the 2nd Annual Harper Lee Prize. The prize is given each year to a fiction book published in the preceding year that best exemplifies the role of lawyers in society. The winner of this year’s Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction will be announced in August 2012.
Vote for your pick for this year’s best legal novel at The ABA Journal. And weigh in below about your favorites!
In 2011, John Grisham received the very first Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction for his book, The Confession.