Given that a legal malpractice suit cannot be filed against a fake lawyer, Mossberg drops the case but reveals the trio's scheme to the D.C. With such a case imminent, Mark sees no other course of action than to reveal to Ramon's new lawyer, Edwin Mossberg, that he is not a real attorney. As a result, Mark can be sued by Ramon for legal malpractice and for giving him demonstrably unsound legal advice.

Although experts tell Mark the case is sound, he later learns that the statute of limitations has already passed. With little experience or knowledge of personal injury cases, Mark seeks out Ramon Taper, who files a lawsuit against the hospital where his infant son died. At Zola's suggestion, the fake firm expands its clientele to include personal injury victims. Reluctant but desperate, Zola joins the pair in the scheme.Īt first, the trio wins numerous victories in the D.C. Under false identifies and with forged credentials, Mark and Todd believe this is a way to make money while also avoiding the many creditors affiliated with FBLS. They decide to lease space in the building from Maynard to set up a fake law firm, Upshaw, Parker, and Lane. Mark and Todd drop out and begin working at the Rooster Bar owned by a man named Maynard. Blamed for Gordon's death, Mark and Todd find their job prospects even grimmer than before, as a D.C.

Later it is discovered that he jumped off a bridge to his death. But before long, Gordon runs off again when Mark and Todd aren't looking. With the help of street lawyer Darrell Crowley, Zola and her friends Mark and Todd secure Gordon's release on bail. Having stopped taking his medication, an increasingly manic Gordon is arrested for a DUI. Gordon hopes to expose Rackley in advance of a potential class-action lawsuit brought against him by Zola and other students. Zola's boyfriend, Gordon Tanner, who suffers from bipolar disorder, unearths evidence that Hinds Rackley, the owner and lead investor in FBLS and other diploma mills, uses a complicated but technically legal scheme to bilk students out of what collectively amounts to millions of dollars while his victims are stalled in a cycle of debt with no job prospects. The school has few standards for admissions and is widely considered to be a diploma mill that doesn't offer students a very rigorous education in the law. law school known as Foggy Bottom Law School or FBLS. The book is inspired by real-life events chronicled in the Atlantic magazine article, 'The Law-School Scam.' Mark Frazier, Todd Lucero, and Zola Maal are third-year law students at a disreputable Washington D.C. American author John Grisham’s 25th legal thriller, The Rooster Bar (2017), concerns the efforts of three would-be lawyers who pose as attorneys.

The rooster john grisham