Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Overview… aspiring lawyer Rudy Baylor has his principles, but that’s pretty much all he has at the moment. He’s about to graduate from Memphis State Law School without a well-paying job lined up or a loving family to turn to for help. His desperation leads him to become an associate for J. Lyman Stone, a successful but corrupt personal injury lawyer who turns Rudy into an ambulance-chaser. He isn’t happy about it, but hey, a young man has to earn a living somehow. And who knows? Maybe Rudy will be able to turn his sketchy profession into something worthwhile. Maybe.
Personality… idealistic and compassionate. Rudy is a rare specimen within the lower-level litigation industry. Unlike many of his money-grabbing colleagues, he wants to use the law to protect the helpless and the wronged. Unfortunately, ethics often seem to be more of a burden than an asset in the courtroom or the arena of bare-knuckles street law, but Rudy is determined to stay true to his beliefs.
Get to Know him in...
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When Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon), a young attorney with no clients, goes to work for a seedy ambulance chaser, he wants to help the parents of a terminally ill boy in their suit against an insurance company (represented by a ruthless Jon Voight). But to take on corporate America, Rudy and a scrappy paralegal (Danny DeVito) must open their own law firm.
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It's summer in Memphis. The sweat is sticking to Rudy Baylor's shirt and creditors are nipping at his heels. Once he had aspirations of breezing through law school and punching his ticket to the good life. Now he doesn't have a job or a prayer...except for one: an insurance dispute that leaves a family devastated and opens the door for a lawsuit, if Rudy can find a way to file it. By the time Rudy gets to court, a heavyweight corporate defense team is there to meet him. And suddenly he's in over his head, plunged into a nightmare of lies and legal maneuverings. A case that started small is exploding into a thunderous million-dollar war of nerves, skill and outright violence--a fight that could cost one young lawyer his life, or turn him into the biggest rainmaker in the land.... BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from John Grisham's The Litigators.
