History Main / TheRainmaker

* WifeBasherBasher: Rudy gets a very cathartic scene where he (Kelly in the movie) [[spoiler:beats Kelly's abusive husband to death with his own softball bat.]]

* WifeBasherBasher: Rudy gets a very cathartic scene where he [[spoiler:beats Kelly's abusive husband to death with his own softball bat.]]
** [[spoiler:he doesnt actually kill him, the wife does, and his beating of the husband is a VERY obvious self defense scenario]]

The story follows Rudy as he deals with the transition from law school to practicing law, his battle with the insurance company, and various subplots with his landlady and a battered wife he meets while ambulance-chasing in the hospital

* AmoralAttorney: On both sides. Rudy discovers [[spoiler:that Tinley Britt (the opposing law firm) has tapped his phones]]. He realizes that he'll never prove it was them, so he takes a different strategy. [[spoiler:He leaves the taps in place, and feeds them false information, making them look like fools in the courtroom]].

** [[spoiler:Not only do they look like fools, but the key point was that Rudy got him to fight with a witness he thought would be sympathetic to the defense, and get him thrown out, thus rigging the jury in rudy's favor]]

* Rudy's partner Deck Shifflet qualifies except for one thing: he hasn't managed to pass the bar exam. Rudy dislikes the practice, but is forced to do it just to make ends meet when he hits rock bottom.

The story follows Rudy as he deals with the transition from law school to practicing law, his battle with the insurance company, and various subplots with his landlady and a battered wife he meets while ambulance-chasing in the hospital.

* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:the corrupt judge in cahoots with Drummond dying and getting replaced by one sympathetic to Rudy]] comes across as this.

* XanatosGambit: Rudy pulls off an impressive one [[spoiler:that only works because he knows Tinley Britt has tapped his phones. It gets him exactly the jury he wanted, and kills any sympathy they might have had with his opponent]].

* ChewToy: Leo Drummond, lead counsel for the defense. His client withholds documents and information from him repeatedly, making him look like an idiot, and Judge Kipler is constantly humiliating him.

* SmugSnake: Drummond at first.

* ChewToy: Drummond, lead counsel for the defense. His client withholds documents and information from him repeatedly, making him look like an idiot, and Judge Kipler is constantly humiliating him.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Drummond is smug and unethical, and he represents a ''very'' shady company, but Judge Kipler can be downright ''mean'' to him.

* XanatosGambit: Rudy pulls off an impressive one [[spoiler:that only works because he knows Tinley Britt has tapped his phones. It gets him exactly the jury he wanted, and makes his opponent look like a paranoid sleaze]].

* DomesticAbuser: The husband of Rudy's LoveInterest, Kelly.

* XanatosGambit: Rudy pulls off an impressive one [[spoiler:that only works because he knows Tinley Britt has tapped his phones. It gets him exactly the jury he wanted, and makes his opponent look like a paranoid sleaze]].

* ShownTheirWork: A lot of detail is given about the down-and-dirty of litigation. Grisham knows his stuff.

* AmoralAttorney: Of course. Interestingly, they're mostly on Rudy's side. His courtroom opponents are mostly portrayed as an unstoppable litigation machine, but they're just doing their job; said job being to represent a corrupt insurance company to the best of their ability.
* BlackBestFriend: Booker, Rudy's best friend in Law School.

* JerkJock: Kelly's husband

A novel by JohnGrisham, later made into a movie starring MattDamon, DannyDeVito, and JohnVoight.

RudyBaylor is an idealistic, up-and-coming law student in Memphis set to graduate and take the bar exam in a few months. He has a few creditors growing more impatient, but he will graduate in the top third of his class, has a job lined up at a respectable firm as soon as he graduates, and he's ready to change the world.