Conflicts of Interest by John Martel
Pocket Books,
Inc., 440 pages, $23
Reviewed
by Stephen M. Murphy in 1995
Famed trial lawyer John Martel joined the
ranks of lawyer novelists in 1988 with Partners,
a story of greed and corruption in a large San Francisco
law firm. Although the novel focused on the unethical
activities of four senior partners in the firm,
Martel is quick to point out that he did not intend
to condemn large law firms. "I've never known a
bad law firm," he says during a recent interview
in his San Francisco office. "But in all probability
there are unethical partners within law firms who
stretch the limits of the law."
In
Martel's second novel, Conflicts
of Interest, the limits of the law are stretched
not only by attorneys but also politicians, military
officers, and corporate executives. In the context
of an explosive product liability case against a
federal government contractor, Martel explores the
different ethical choices faced by these diverse
characters with the insight of a trial veteran,
a dizzying series of plot twists, and enough steamy
sex scenes to make even Danielle Steel blush.
The
book begins with Seth Cameron, a country lawyer
from Bakersfield with big city ambitions, speeding
down Interstate 5 in a stolen car to make the trial
call in a case that could make or break his career.
Seth is defending a product liability case against
one of California's best trial lawyers. The plaintiff
claims severe distress after eating a can of garbanzo
beans which included an unadvertised bonus: two
and one-half exceptionally ugly potato bugs. It
was the half bug that made the plaintiff sick to
his stomach. In an innovative and highly amusing
(though definitely distasteful) closing argument,
Seth destroys the plaintiff's case by swallowing
one the offending critters right in front of the
gasping jurors.
On
the heels of his great victory, Seth's ambition
is realized when he is hired by MIller & McGrath,
one of San Francisco's largest firms. Soon Seth
finds himself working sixteen-hour days, impressing
all the partners except one:Ê famous senior partner
Anthony Treadwell, who views Seth's hiring as another
attempt by the junior partners - "the Young Turkeys,"
he calls them - to usurp his authority. Treadwell
piles work on Seth, hoping to force him to quit.
More determined than ever, Seth handles everything
Treadwell throws at him, including avoiding summary
judgment in a case that was all but lost by the
bumbling of an alcoholic, over-the-hill partner.
But when Elena Barton, the beautiful daughter
of a U.S. Senator (and the former senior partner
of Miller & McGrath),Ê consults Treadwell about
her husband's death, a devious scheme forms in Treadwell's
mind. Air Force pilot Sam Barton was killed when
his X-215A stealth bomber crashed during a routine
mission. Since Sam was the third pilot to crash
in the same plane, Elena is convinced that a design
defect caused the crashes and wants to sue the contractor.
Concerned
with the political implications of Miller & McGrath
suing a major defense contractor, Treadwell sabotages
the firm's calendaring system, allowing the statute
of limitations to run. Seth does not discover the
problem until one day after the statute apparently
ran, when he files the complaint in Barton v. InterContinental
Aerospace (ConSpace) in his own name. But as Treadwell
had planned, Seth gets blamed for blowing the case
and is forced to leave the firm. Unemployed and
in disgrace, Seth lands a job with Allyn Friedlander,
a Mission Street sole practitioner more concerned
with principle than capital.
Down
but not out, Seth uncovers new evidence that revives
Elena Barton's case. Statements from Sam Barton's
colleagues who saw him shortly before the fatal
flight suggest that the crash actually occurred
the next day. The statute of limitations may not
have run after all. The case gives Seth a chance
to avenge his failure at Miller & McGrath when ConSpace
hires as its defense attorney Anthony Treadwell.
As
Conflicts
of Interest proceeds toward the ultimate
showdown between Seth Cameron and Anthony Treadwell,
the scene shifts frequently, from a New Mexico Air
Force base to the Caicos Islands in the Caribbean,
to Washington D.C. and back to San Francisco. Martel
inhabits these varied locales with corrupt politicians,
greedy corporate executives, and misguided Air Force
officers, all plotting to destroy Seth's case. In
one hilarious scene, Seth avoids a band of federal
goons by sneaking through Finnochio's nightclub
while his pursuers gawk at the female impersonators
on stage.
A
former Air Force pilot himself, Martel drew on that
experience to portray the military attitude that
the mission was all important. "I tried not to make
it as detailed as a Tom Clancy novel," he explains.
"But I did want the reader to get some sense of
the problems, of that attitude. Just recently we
saw that Congress approved 553 million dollars for
more B-2 bombers. Where is the peace dividend?"
Conflicts
of Interest poses many conflicts for Seth
Cameron, who in the midst of the litigation falls
in love with his client. Perhaps the attraction
resulted from each other's unusual eyes: Elena has
"eyes like pale jadestone set in eggshell" and Seth
has "guilty .35 millimeter eyes."
Soon
they are making love instead of preparing for trial.
When Seth visits Elena's apartment to help choose
her wardrobe for trial, the inevitable happens:
"He entered the room and then he entered her, right
there against the wall near the closet while she
ripped his shirt open and bit his chest and told
him how much she loved him."
Weaved
throughout Conflicts
of Interest is Seth's ongoing ambition to
succeed in a big firm. Despite the long hours, loss
of his personal life, deterioration of his health,
and rude treatment he endured at Miller & McGrath,
Seth still longs to return to that intellectual
sweat shop.
Only
when his friend and former colleague at Miller &
McGrath commits suicide after being fired, does
Seth realize that perhaps his departure from the
firm might have been a good thing. When his friend's
mother asks him why her handsome, popular boy would
kill himself over a partnership in a law firm, Seth
answers, "I can't give a reason, ma'am. Not one.
I'm sorry."
Winner
of over one hundred jury trials, Martel sprinkles
his many insights about trying cases throughout
Conflicts
of Interest. He admits writing these sections
specifically for lawyers, from whom he received
many letters after Partners. "I hope there are some
things in there that will show lawyers how to behave,"
he says, then adds, "and certainly how not to behave."
As
Seth sets out to prove he can compete with the best
trial lawyers, his father warns him: "A trial lawyer
lives his life dancing on the edge of contingency.
The only two things he knows for sure when he sets
foot in a courtroom is that he doesn't know enough
and that something will go wrong. He just won't
know what or when."
Martel
succinctly describes the many roles a plaintiff's
trial attorney must play: This angst is compounded
for the lead-off plaintiff's lawyer, who also must
function as his own stage manager (getting the exhibits
and witnesses to the courtroom at the right time);
director (ensuring that the witnesses know what
to say when they get there); psychiatrist (coping
with his client's inevitable nervousness while artfully
concealing his own); mind reader (the better to
pick a favorable jury); and spellbinder, for research
shows that eight out of ten jurors never change
their mind after the opening statement....
Another
bonus in Conflicts
of Interest is the many references to the
country music lyrics of Joe Silverhound, who is
described in the copyright page as a "mysterious
and reclusive singer-songwriter." What the book
does not reveal is that Joe Silverhound is actually
John Martel, in yet another role to add to those
of trial lawyer and novelist. A native of Modesto,
Martel confesses to a life-long love of country
music songs, which he describes as telling "a whole
story of life, death, love, incest, disappointed
love, all the things that are important emotional
triggers in our lives and they have to do it in
three minutes."
Martel
himself has composed dozens of country music songs
and still hopes to get some published. He included
the Joe Silverhound references because he likes
"the idea of combining art forms." In fact, at readings
for Conflicts
of Interest Martel has entertained audiences
by singing the Joe Silverhound verses.
In
the midst of one of Seth Cameron's many crises,
Joe Silverhound sings, "When he's the one, havin'
all the fun, The devil takes his time." Lawyers
who take the time to read Conflicts
of Interest will find that the devil is
not the only one having fun.
Billy Strobe See Sheldon
Siegel
