Unbillable Hours: A True Story »

Ian Graham is an experienced author of illustrated nonfiction books on a wide range of topics, including aviation and spaceflight. In 25 years, he has written more than 200 books and numerous magazine articles.

The story—part memoir, part hard-hitting expose—of a first-year law associate negotiating the arduous path through a system designed to break those who enter it before it makes them.

Landing a job at a prestigious L.A. law firm, complete with a six figure income, signaled the beginning of the good life for Ian Graham. But the harsh reality of life as an associate quickly became evident. The work was grueling and boring, the days were impossibly long, and Graham’s main goal was to rack up billable hours. But when he took an unpaid pro bono case to escape the drudgery, Graham found the meaning in his work that he’d been looking for. As he worked to free Mario Rocha, a gifted young Latino who had been wrongly convicted at 16 and sentenced to life without parole, the shocking contrast between the quest for money and power and Mario’s desperate struggle for freedom led Graham to look long and hard at his future as a corporate lawyer.

Clear-eyed and moving, written with the drama and speed of a John Grisham novel and the personal appeal of Scott Turow’s account of his law school years, Unbillable Hours is an arresting personal story with implications for all of us.

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

1 I'm Going to Prison 1

2 Make Me an Offer 11

3 Welcome Back 31

4 Baby Sharks 41

5 Monkey Scribe 53

6 Murder in the Barrio 67

7 Dreams of Freedom 79

8 God Boxed Me In 91

9 Right to Counsel 105

10 Denied 113

11 You're Going to Save His Life 127

12 You'll Do Fine 137

13 Nice to Meet You 143

14 These Deficiencies Have Cost Me 153

15 Strike Two 169

16 As Good as It Gets 183

17 A Lengthy Process 197

18 What's This? 205

19 A Strongly Worded Decision 213

20 A Good Question 231

Postscript 239