A Monk Jumped over a Wall

A young associate at a white shoe New York law firm, J.J. Spencer finds himself with a morally repulsive client who has purchased a bundle of defaulting mortgages at 43 cents on the dollar, and is gleefully foreclosing and evicting people from their homes. When J.J. breaches attorney-client confidentiality to help the Eagans, a sadly duped Queens couple, his firm fires him, and a spiteful partner leads the charge to have him disbarred. Battling to salvage his career and the Eagans' house, J.J. recalls his childhood at the mercy of a violent, alcoholic father, as well as his dynamic law school days, where a legendary professor helped J.J. develop his ethics and sharp debating skills. Nussbaum (Blue Road to Atlantic ) gives plenty of nuance to J.J., who knowingly allows his seduction by corporate law at the expense of his ideals. The Eagans' doltishness and a plot that hangs on the legal ins-and-outs of foreclosures will frustrate some readers, but J.J. is sympathetic, and with the mounting mortgage crisis, the story could not be more timely. (Nov.)