Customer Reviews

Unbillable Hours: A True Story

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Ian Graham's "Unbillable Hours" weaves the true narrative of a young lawyer stumbling into counsel for the murder conviction appeal of Mario Rocha. Mario -- a young man who by all accounts appeared innocent -- was the on the wrong end of systemic oversight and miscarried justice that led to nearly a decade of imprisonment (see the documentary of his case, Mario's Story). Graham, whose privileged upbringing couldn't be any farther apart from Mario's, is drawn through a series of biographical twists and turns after moving to California to join an esteemed firm. Graham's navigation of the big law firm is the classic storyline of an overworked but well-paid greenhorn slowly getting trapped in a legal job by status and compensation. His life at the firm caves in from the booze-driven recruiting process that has him hopping LA hotspots to the realistic and joyless grind of combing legal minutiae. Once the gloss wears off, fate sets Graham on a crash course with Rocha's case through a chance assignment from a senior partner and a relentless nun whose faith in her instincts about Mario is unshakeable. Of course, the case is a Hail Mary, and the events that take place only stack up the odds even further, leaving life and death matters in the hands of a kid under 30 who isn't even sure he should be a lawyer. This thing reads like a novel.

At first the writing seemed quite ordinary, but the superb structure draws you into the web of legal hurdles and personal frustrations. The first chapter has a hook to it that pulled me into reading the book in one sitting. Graham eventually tightens up his prose into an extended, detailed Vanity Fair-type exposition of the case and how dedication to Mario's cause kept him going. One important thing to me as the reader was that the author never tried to redeem his own frailties through Mario or make any demonstration of guilt for the opportunistic upbringing he had. When visiting Mario in prison or finding himself arm-in-arm in an impromptu prayer circle in a barrio home, Graham simply went with the situation, leaving behind the typical upper class tendency to revel in a sort of authentic ghetto adventure that they can later tell their gringo friends about over cocktails.

For the prospective law student, this is the perfect complement to Scott Turow's seminal law school experience "One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School." Careful, though, it strips the polish from big firm life and might result in some self-examination. Or worse, it might not. While Graham doesn't have Turow's mastery of detail, his breezy style is still vivid and probably more accessible to the contemporary reader. This is a four-star plus book, but I'm going to give it five as it is a hell of a first book effort.

In his first published work, Ian Graham manages to weave together two equally eye-opening storylines that had me turning the pages as fast as possible. Exposing the stark differences between the "legal" world faced by most top law school graduates with the devastating personal fight waged by Mario Rocha and those that loved him brilliantly engages the reader from page 1. I knew little about Mario's story coming into the book, but was left with a portrait of a man with some genuine heroic attributes in the face of towering injustice.

As a practicing attorney, many books in this genre either try and make the author out to be the hero of the story, pin the blame on a person, or part of the legal system in general or employ other elements to quickly turn a complex story into a black and white us vs. them mentality. To me, that's the easy way out. In Unbillable Hours, Graham goes out of his way to paint everyone involved with both his law firm and with Mario's case as human, albeit with genuine human flaws as well as strengths. In addition, at no point in the story does the reader get the impression that this story is about him (even though obviously it IS his story) but rather he's the common denominator between two riveting viewpoints into the legal world that few non-attorneys ever get to see.

What I was really impressed with was how accurate Graham's description of law school, the law school recruiting process and what big-firm life is actually like was. As someone was has gone through all of this myself, his account is dead on and he manages to show the negatives of each without omitting the humor and general silliness that comes along with each step. As amazing as his involvement in Mario's case was, all of the law firm intrigue captivated me equally - just a great job.

Overall, I finished the book in two nights - mainly because once I started I couldn't put it down. It's a perfect summer read too - not too long and trust me when I say that at no time does the story lag. Highly, highly recommended!!

This is an amazing book; it is an incredible story! I really loved this book because it weaves a few stories together and is a super easy read (I read it in 2 sittings on vacation on the beach.) I also passed it along to my 2 friends on vacation who both read it an loved it too. It combines the stories of 2 peoples lives who are very different but connect as a lawyer and client. It is also really interesting for me as a non-lawyer because I never understood the process that law students go through to get jobs at big law firms. This book is fabulous - it is a great gift for a law student or really anyone at all. It's a very inspirational story! I only wish it was longer!

So, I have a Kindle and this book was offered free a while back. The title caught my attention because I am very familiar with the concept of billing hours, so wanted to know what it was about. Attorneys comes to mind first, but there are other professions using a similar system of charging clients. I was naturally curious.

The introduction made me realize this was not a novel, but a memoir. That made me a little less interested until I saw that a documentary (Mario's Story) had been made regarding this subject. Luckily Netflix had it on instant watch and I saw it before reading the book.

Mario's plight in a nutshell: imprisoned for life for being the third shooter at a party that killed another teen - but he was actually innocent and severely misrepresented by his attorney. I don't usually read books like this, but the story was intriguing and I wanted to know what this memoir contained since it was written by the young associate that was helping overturn the decision - but this was a pro bono case. I started reading it and could not put it down. It's a simple story, but it does read like a novel as others have mentioned.

Ian did not really care to be an attorney and does a great job outlining what it was like to be in law school and land a job at a larger firm in the 1990's. Everything he says is spot on with the experiences my husband and I had while he was in law school and getting his first job around 1996. That's the way things were at some of the bigger firms.

I think the author was being pretty honest about how he felt about practicing law and the long hours he had to work for all of the various people in his office. He also does a very good job outlining how he got to be involved with Mario.

It reads well and I don't see anything wrong with him writing a memoir about a pro bono case he helped with. Yes, he didn't charge the client - but why not write about it and see if you can become a writer? Ian expressed a few times in the book that he didn't think becoming a partner was for him...so why not use the writing skills he has to become an author and maybe even a famous one?

To be a successful law student and attorney - writing skills are huge with all the opinions and briefs that are written. You see a lot of attorneys turn to writing books because it makes sense.

This book was a nice break from my normal fiction classics and/or scifi I normally read.

I don't understand why some reviewers knock this book as a first effort. First or last it's 5 star from beginning to end. An engaging story (though we're pretty sure about a happy ending) and mostly accurate portrayal of those first grunt years in a big law firm. The twists and turns, the highs and lows keep the reader engaged throughout. Neither do I understand the criticism of the author's writing. It is superb.

When a friend sent me Unbillable Hours (because I'm passionately interested in any books focused on justice issues), I picked it up and began to read--uncertain as to whether a young lawyer's story of his own struggles in the land of corporate law would interest me. That was the end of that day's work. I couldn't put it down. Graham's seduction into the world of LA's legal jungle--inside the prison of high-priced law firms--is a cautionary tale, one every young law student ought to read. And anyone interested in understanding the multifaceted aspects of our justice system will be wiser after reading this book.

At first tale and the language felt stodgy, but as Graham discovers in the course of the narrative what truly matters to him, what he longs for and what he wishes to leave behind, his voice becomes stronger, elegant and even beautiful. This is a young writer whose career, like Mario Rocha's, his client and ultimately a kind of role model, is certain to soar.

I'm a big fan of legal thrillers, and this one caught my attention for being a true story.

It may not have all the adrenaline you find in a Grisham's book, which I consider a good thing, since sometimes fiction books go far too unreal.
I liked the fact that he talked about how he got into the firm, the firm issues, the story behind Mario and so on.

I'm glad I didn't read the 1-2 star reviews before I read the book. I never found him to be self-centered... it's his story, how could he not write "I ..."?. He wanted to quit his job at the firm, badfly, and he didn't quit because of Mario's case.

I stumbled on this book on Amazon, and I'm very glad I did. Mr. Graham gives a spot-on portrayal of the life of an associate at a large law firm in the early 2000's. I worked at a very similar international firm at roughly the same time, and he did a great job of capturing the soul-sucking nature of the 'beast'. He perfectly described the life of the average associate - handed a job that is prestigious in the eyes of society and also lucrative, but ultimately tedious and concerned mostly with fights over money between rich corporations. He also observes the slippery slope that brings "successful" lawyers down a certain path - how attendance of the "right" school and strong performance leads to cushy summer jobs that further lead to well-paying but empty positions and the "golden handcuffs" that keep so many where they are. I hope Mr. Graham finds the fulfillment in his life that he chronicles so well as missing during his law firm tenure.

I picked it up, and read it in a day and a half. Interesting, multi-layered and touching in many ways. One thing, though: I read it on my Kindle, and now it no longer seems to be available for the Kindle. Not sure why?

Not the first well written legal thriller I have ever read but the first to practically stop my heart. Great story. Great new writer. Makes Grisham look like Steele.