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WORK TITLE: Law and Disorder
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Papantonio, James Michael
BIRTHDATE: 10/24/1953
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://trofire.com/host-mike-papantonio/ * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Papantonio
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born October 24, 1953; married; children: one daughter.
EDUCATION:University of Florida, graduated; Samford University, Cumberland School of Law, J.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Attorney, media host, and writer. Levin Papantonio, Pensacola, FL, lawyer and senior partner; Ring of Fire (radio program), cohost, 2004–; America’s Lawyer (TV program), host, 2016–; Mass Torts Made Perfect, founder.
AVOCATIONS:Scuba diving.
MEMBER:International Academy of Trial Lawyers, International Society of Barristers, American Board of Trial Advocates, American Justice Association, National Trial Lawyers Association, Southern Trial Lawyers Association, Florida Justice Association.
AWARDS:Perry Nichols Award, Florida Justice Association, 2011; Award for Social Justice, Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center for Social Justice, Temple University Beasley School of Law, 2014; Defender of Justice Award, American Association for Justice, 2015; National Trial Lawyers’ Hall of Fame inductee, 2015.
RELIGION: MethodistWRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Mike Papantonio was born on October 24, 1953, and grew up in Arcadia, Florida. He graduated from the University of Florida and then entered Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law, earning a J.D. He practices law as senior partner of the Levin Papantonio firm in Pensacola, Florida, a firm specializing in class-action lawsuits and also cases of personal injury and wrongful death. Papantonio was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1982 and is certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers and served for five years on the board of directors of the Florida Justice Association.
Since 2004, Papantonio has been a cohost of the nationally syndicated Ring of Fire radio program; in 2016 he began hosting the TV program America’s Lawyer, which appears on RT America. In 2006, Papantonio’s role in Ring of Fire was featured in Jesus Camp, a documentary about a Charismatic Christian summer camp in North Dakota that earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary feature. He contributes to RT Network, MSNBC, and Free Speech TV.
Papantonio has earned several awards, among them the Perry Nichols Award in 2011, given by the Florida Justice Association; the 2014 Award for Social Justice from the Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center for Social Justice, of Temple University’s Beasley School of Law; and the 2015 Defender of Justice Award, from the American Association for Justice. In 2015, he was inducted into the Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. His advocacy work has not been limited to the law. In 1998, Papantonio joined Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Hudson Riverkeepers, and the Water Keeper Alliance to form the Emerald Coastkeepers, an organization dedicated to keeping the waters of northwest Florida clean. He also founded an organization that produces legal education seminars, Mass Torts Made Perfect.
Papantonio has written several books, including Clarence Darrow, the Journeyman: Lessons for the Modern Lawyer and Resurrecting Aesop: Fables Lawyers Should Remember. With Fredric Levin and Martin Levin, he coauthored Closing Arguments: The Last Battle, a collection of instructional essays for trial lawyers.
In Search of Atticus Finch: A Motivational Book for Lawyers, published in 1996, was Papantonio’s first book. David M. Kopstein, writing in Trial, commented that Papantonio “ask[s] readers to consider how the protagonist would react to situations that confront lawyers in the modern practice of law”–that is, how to follow Finch’s lead in being “deliberate … confident but not aggressive … broad-minded, tolerant, patient, and nonconfrontational.” Kopstein suggested that the “value of the book lies not so much in the novelty of the solutions it proposes … as in the persuasiveness of the arguments it makes for implementing those solutions.”
In 2016 Papantonio released Law and Disorder: A Legal Thriller, which features Nicholas “Deke” Deketomis as a successful lawyer working in the Florida Panhandle. In the midst of a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company, Deke finds himself the target of several power brokers intent on discrediting him, and worse. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly called the novel “impassioned” and a “satisfying tale of greed, corruption, lust, and murder.” Writing in Kirkus Reviews, a critic praised the book’s “moral complexity” and “guileless appeal.” Harry Graff, writing for Above the Law, found the book to be not “very strong at plot and characterization” but nonetheless praised the author’s ability to impart the “nuances about civil litigation.” Graff found the story “well-paced” and an “entertaining read,” with a narrative that “moves quickly and never drags.” Ava Rogers, in a review at her Web site Ava Did What?, termed the book a “polished, fast paced thriller” that is “well and thickly plotted” and “pulsing with action.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, July 11, 2016, review of Law and Disorder: A Legal Thriller, p. 46.
Trial, October, 1997, David M. Kopstein, review of In Search of Atticus Finch: A Motivational Book for Lawyers, p. 81.
ONLINE
Above the Law, http://abovethelaw.com/ (December 15, 2016), review of Law and Disorder.
Ava Did What?, http://thereviewbroads.com/ (November 28, 2016), Ava Rogers, review of Law and Disorder.
Kirkus Reviews Online, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (August 15, 2016), review of Law and Disorder.
Levin Papantonio Web site, http://www.levinlaw.com/ (March 23, 2017), author profile.
Ring of Fire Network, https://trofire.com/ (March 23, 2017), author profile.
Mike Papantonio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mike Papantonio
Mike Papantonio.jpg
Born October 24, 1953 (age 63)
Arcadia, Florida
Education University of Florida
Cumberland School of Law
Occupation Attorney
TV & Radio Host
Website https://www.levinlaw.com/attorney-profiles/mike-papantonio
James Michael Papantonio (born October 24, 1953), popularly known as Mike Papantonio, is an American attorney, television and radio talk show host.[1]
A prominent trial lawyer, Papantonio co-hosts Ring of Fire, a nationally syndicated weekly radio program, with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Sam Seder, where he is referenced as America's Lawyer.[2][3] In December 2016, Papantonio began hosting a program on RT America called "America's Lawyer.[4]"
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Awards
3 Personal life
4 References
5 External links
Biography[edit]
Papantonio graduated from the University of Florida and received his J.D. from Cumberland School of Law. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1982 and the bar of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in 1983. He graduated from DeSoto County High School, Arcadia, Florida.[1]
He is a senior partner in the Pensacola, Florida-based Levin Papantonio Law Firm, a leading mass torts firm.[5][6] Papantonio is noted for his success in mass torts, product liability, personal injury, and wrongful death cases, and has returned numerous verdicts of multimillion-dollar damages for plaintiffs.[3][7]
He is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer by the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates; the American Association for Justice (formerly the ATLA); the Southern Trial Lawyers Association; and the Florida Justice Association (formerly the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers), where he served on the Board of Directors for five years.[3]
He has been listed in the publication Best Lawyers in America since 1999,[7] and has written several books, including the legal thriller Law and Disorder; Resurrecting Aesop: Fables Lawyers Should Remember; Clarence Darrow, the Journeyman; and In Search of Atticus Finch, A Motivational Book for Lawyers, as well as Defenses You Can Count on in an Asbestosis Case and How to Prove a Sick Building Case. He also co-authored Closing Arguments–The Last Battle with Fred Levin.[8]
Papantonio says he wrote In Search of Atticus Finch as a "wake-up call to the legal profession that has largely lost its moral compass"[9] and has said that "seventy percent of kids coming out of law school want to represent corporations and get paid exorbitant amounts of money," he says. "They're willing to sell their souls to the highest bidder. We need to bring more quality to what we do as lawyers, we need to be better servants to the community and we need to have more political involvement for positive change in the country."
Ring of Fire airs weekly on Saturdays from 3-6 p.m. EST. On the radio show Papantonio, (a Methodist), often criticizes the Christian right. He has said that "I come from a pretty strong spiritual center, but it doesn't change the way I judge people. Simply put, the Sermon on the Mount makes much more sense to me than the frenzied rantings of America's new 'religious right.' They have become an element of American politics that threatens our sense of decency as well as our democracy." Papantonio's role on Ring of Fire was featured in the 2006 documentary Jesus Camp, in which he offers commentary on many of the scenes depicted.[3][10] According to DVD commentary by the film's directors, Papantonio was added to the film later on because they felt there wasn't any "tension" in it, and they wanted another viewpoint.[11]
Ring of Fire began in 2004 and was syndicated by the now defunct Air America Radio until January 2010. Papantonio was also involved at Air America as a member of the Board of Directors, and as one of the main contributors to the New York Times bestseller, Air America, the Playbook, a collection of essays, transcripts, and interviews by network personalities released in the run-up to the 2006 congressional elections.[12]
Papantonio is a regular contributor on RT Network, MSNBC, and Free Speech TV.[3]
Awards[edit]
In 2011, Papantonio was awarded the Perry Nichols Award, the highest honor given by the Florida Justice Association. The award recognizes individuals who fight valiantly with distinction for justice throughout their lives.[13]
In 2014, the Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center for Social Justice of Temple University Beasley School of Law honored Papantonio for his outstanding contributions to social justice.[14]
In 2015, Papantonio was inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame.[15]
Personal life[edit]
Papantonio is married and has one daughter. He is an avid scuba diver and often dives on the Emerald Coast.
Home » Mike Papantonio
Mike Papantonio
Attorney Profile
Attorney Mike Papantonio
Mike Papantonio
Shareholder
Levin Papantonio
(850) 435-7000
(888) 435-7001
mpapantonio@levinlaw.com (link sends e-mail)
Mike Papantonio is a senior partner of Levin Papantonio, one of the largest plaintiffs’ law firms in America, having handled thousands of cases throughout the nation including Pharmaceutical Drug Litigation, Asbestos, Breast Implants, Factory Farming, Securities Fraud, the Florida Tobacco Litigation, and other mass tort cases. "Pap" has received numerous multi-million dollar verdicts on behalf of victims of corporate malfeasance.
Mr. Papantonio is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer by the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers.
Mr. Papantonio is a member of the National Trial Lawyers Association (past president), American Board of Trial Advocates, the American Association for Justice (formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association), the Southern Trial Lawyers Association, and the Florida Justice Association (formerly the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers), where he served on the board of directors for five years.
Mr. Papantonio is one of the very few living attorneys inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. He is listed in the publications Best Lawyers in America and Leading American Attorney.
In 1998, Mr. Papantonio teamed with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Hudson Riverkeepers, and Water Keeper Alliance to establish a Riverkeepers program in Northwest Florida known as the Emerald Coastkeepers, Inc., a full-time organization that serves the community as a public advocate for the waterways of Northwest Florida. Coastkeepers and Riverkeepers are reputable for their willingness to take polluters to court.
In 2001, Mr. Papantonio filed two lawsuits against polluters, which lead to a $70 million settlement. In 2007, as lead trial counsel in the environmental class action case of Perrine v. Dupont, Mr. Papantonio received a jury verdict award for a West Virginia community with an estimated value in excess of $380 million.
In 2008, Mr. Papantonio was selected by the Public Justice Foundation as a finalist for its Trial Lawyer of the Year Award.
In 2011, Mr. Papantonio was awarded the Perry Nichols Award, the highest honor given by the Florida Justice Association. The award recognizes individuals who fight valiantly and with distinction for justice throughout their lives.
In 2012, Mr. Papantonio became President of the National Trial Lawyers Association.
In 2014, the Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center of Temple University Beasley School of Law presented Mr. Papantonio with the Inaugural Award for Social Justice, honoring him for his outstanding contributions to social justice.
In 2015, Mr. Papantonio was inducted into the National Trial Lawyers' Hall of Fame. He also was awarded the Defender of Justice Award by the American Association for Justice.
Mr. Papantonio has authored and co-authored instructional articles on handling complex litigation for trial lawyers. He is the founder of the cutting-edge continuing legal education seminar organization, Mass Torts Made Perfect, which trains thousands of lawyers on how to better their legal practice. The organization has hosted speakers such as former President Bill Clinton, James Carville, Johnnie Cochran, Bob Woodward, Elliot Spitzer, Jack Kemp, Al Sharpton, Arianna Huffington, Dick Morris, Paul Begala, and Dan Rather.
Mr. Papantonio is an author of four motivational books for lawyers, and one legal thriller. He is also co-author of Air America: The Playbook; listed by The New York Times as a Political Best Seller.
Mr. Papantonio is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show Ring of Fire, along with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Sam Seder. In addition to the radio program, Mr. Papantonio also hosts the international television show America's Lawyer, where he provides indepth investigations into major corporate corruption.
Mr. Papantonio has conducted hundreds of recorded interviews with guests including Dan Rather, Helen Thomas, Howard Zinn, Arianna Huffington, Mary Chapin Carpenter, David Crosby, Merle Haggard, Morgan Spurlock, John Edwards, Bill Moyers, Rickie Lee Jones, Alanis Morissette, Pete Seeger, Jackson Browne, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Henry Rollins, Ted Sorensen, and Elizabeth Kucinich.
Mr. Papantonio’s role on Ring of Fire is featured in the movie, Jesus Camp, which was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.
Mr. Papantonio is a political commentator frequently appearing on MSNBC, Free Speech TV, RT America Network, and Fox News.
Certification/Specialties
Board Certified Trial Lawyer, Florida Bar
Board Certified Trial Lawyer, National Board of Trial Advocacy
Court Admissions
Florida
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida
U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit
Education
Cumberland School of Law, Samford University; Birmingham, Alabama
Honors: Head of the Trial Advocacy Department
University of Florida
Professional Associations and Memberships
• International Academy of Trial Lawyers
• International Society of Barristers
• National Trial Lawyers Association
• American Board of Trial Advocates
• American Justice Association
• Southern Trial Lawyers Association
• Florida Justice Association
Honors and Awards
Defender of Justice Award by the American Association for Justice (2015)
Inducted into the National Trial Lawyers’ Hall of Fame (2015)
Temple University Beasley School of Law Inaugural Award for Social Justice (2014)
President of the National Trial Lawyers Association (2012)
Perry Nichols Award by the Florida Justice Association (2011)
Public Justice Foundation, Trial Lawyer of the Year finalist (2008)
Best Lawyers in America
Leading American Attorney
Published Works
Law and Disorder
In Search of Atticus Finch - A Motivational Book for Lawyers
Clarence Darrow, The Journeyman - Lessons for the Modern Lawyer
Resurrecting AESOP - Fables Lawyers Should Remember
Closing Arguments - The Last Battle (co-author)
Defenses You Can Count on in an Asbestosis Case
How to Prove a Sick Building Case
Mike Papantonio
Mike Pap 4James Michael Papantonio, popularly known as Mike Papantonio, is an American attorney and television and radio talk show host. He is past president of The National Trial Lawyers, the most prestigious trial lawyer association in America; and is one of few living attorneys inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame.
Papantonio co-hosts Ring of Fire Radio, a nationally syndicated weekly radio program, with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Sam Seder. He also hosts a weekly television program called “America’s Lawyer”, which appears on RT America.
Papantonio graduated from the University of Florida and received his J.D. from Cumberland School of Law. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1982. He is a senior partner in the Pensacola, Florida-based Levin Papantonio Law Firm, a leading national mass torts firm.
Papantonio is noted for his success in mass torts, product liability, personal injury, and wrongful death cases, and has returned numerous jury verdicts of multi-million dollar damages for injured persons. He is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer by the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates; the American Association for Justice; the Southern Trial Lawyers Association; and the Florida Justice Association, where he served on the Board of Directors for five years.
Papantonio has been listed in the publication Best Lawyers in America since 1999, and has written several books, including Resurrecting Aesop: Fables Lawyers Should Remember; Clarence Darrow, the Journeyman; and In Search of Atticus Finch, A Motivational Book for Lawyers, as well as Defenses You Can Count on in an Asbestosis Case and How to Prove a Sick Building Case. He also co-authored Closing Arguments–The Last Battle with Fred Levin.
Papantonio says he wrote In Search of Atticus Finch as a “wake-up call to the legal profession that has largely lost its moral compass” and has said that “seventy percent of kids coming out of law school want to represent corporations and get paid exorbitant amounts of money.” “They’re willing to sell their souls to the highest bidder. We need to bring more quality to what we do as lawyers, we need to be better servants to the community and we need to have more political involvement for positive change in the country.”
Ring of Fire airs weekly on Saturdays from 3-6 p.m. EST. On the radio show Papantonio, (a Methodist), often criticizes the Christian right. He has said that “I come from a pretty strong spiritual center, but it doesn’t change the way I judge people. Simply put, the Sermon on the Mount makes much more sense to me than the frenzied ranting of America’s new ‘religious right.’ They have become an element of American politics that threatens our sense of decency as well as our democracy.” Papantonio’s role on Ring of Fire was featured in the 2006 documentary Jesus Camp, in which he offers commentary on many of the scenes depicted. According to DVD commentary by the film’s directors, Papantonio was added to the film later on because they felt there wasn’t any “tension” in it, and they wanted another viewpoint. To full bio, click Mike Papantonio.
In 2011, Papantonio was awarded the Perry Nichols Award, the highest honor given by the Florida Justice Association. The award recognizes individuals who fight valiantly with distinction for justice throughout their lives. In 2014, the Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center for Social Justice of Temple University Beasley School of Law honored Papantonio for his outstanding contributions to social justice.
Law and Disorder: A Legal Thriller
Publishers Weekly. 263.28 (July 11, 2016): p46.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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Law and Disorder: A Legal Thriller
Mike Papantonio. Select Books, $26.95 (352p) ISBN 978-1-59079-367-1
Mass torts attorney Nick "Deke" Deketomis, the hero of trial lawyer and radio host Papantonio's impassioned first novel, is unafraid to take on the country's biggest companies for corporate wrongdoing. At a pretrial hearing in a Florida courtroom, Deke wishes to enter as evidence a toxicology report in the case of his 19-year-old client, Annica Phillips, who suffered a stroke and partial paralysis after taking a birth control pill manufactured by Bekmeyer, a pharmaceutical giant. Shortly after the judge announces that he can't accept the report's conclusion, Annica collapses and dies, the victim of a large blood clot. In the course of seeking justice for Annica, Deke suddenly finds himself on the wrong side of the law and discovers that he has far more enemies than he imagined, some of whom will go to any lengths to protect their secrets. Papantonio's characters can be overly preachy, especially when discussing politics, but the legal maneuvering, courtroom drama, and brisk pace make this a satisfying tale of greed, corruption, lust, and murder. Agent: Bill Gladstone, Waterside Productions. (Sept.)
In Search of Atticus Finch: A Motivational Book for Lawyers
David M. Kopstein
Trial. 33.10 (Oct. 1997): p81.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1997 American Association for Justice
http://www.justice.org/cps/rde/xchg/justice/hs.xsl/4938.htm
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Full Text:
Readers of TRIAL may have seen advertisements for In Search of Atticus Finch and wondered whether it fulfills the promise of its enticing title. It does.
Many motivational books have appeared over the years, each offering a road map to the Holy Grail of a life that is balanced and morally satisfying. The fact that this book is written from the perspective of a lawyer gives it special credibility and persuasiveness with its intended readers.
Author Mike Papantonio's premise is that Atticus Finch, the lawyer hero of Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, epitomizes certain personal qualities that many people--particularly lawyers--no longer possess: tolerance, patience, reasonableness. This lack, he asserts, accounts for much of the widespread dissatisfaction among members of the legal profession. The author, a trial lawyer specializing in mass tort litigation, suggests ways to reacquire these qualities.
The book assumes that the reader has at least a passing familiarity with Harper Lee's novel. And, indeed, who among us does not recall the character of Atticus Finch, who was portrayed so wonderfully by Gregory Peck in the film version of the novel?
In a small Alabama town during the Great Depression, Finch undertook the hopeless task of defending a black man accused of raping a white woman. While the outcome of the trial was a foregone conclusion, Lee used Finch to demonstrate the integrity, balance, reasonableness, and nonjudgmental moral assurance that she regarded as the keys to the ultimate triumph of the better side of human nature.
Papantonio draws on and extrapolates from Finch to ask readers to consider how the protagonist would react to situations that confront lawyers in the modern practice of law. Finch, the author reminds the reader, was deliberate, avoiding the "hurry sickness" that is now so pervasive. He was confident but not aggressive. He was broad-minded, tolerant, patient, and nonconfrontational. Most important, Finch was aware of his roles as a lawyer, single father, and member of the community, and he took each of those roles into account in developing his personal code of conduct.
When, at last, Papantonio suggests how readers can modify their own lives to lead more Finch-like existences, there are no startling revelations. The author suggests that it is all a matter of prioritizing, developing a renewed perspective, and accepting the unavoidable. The value of the book lies not so much in the novelty of the solutions it proposes (although they are nicely presented) as in the persuasiveness of the arguments it makes for implementing those solutions.
The book is easy to read. The pages are short, the type is large, and the language is concise. Reading the book is both calming and thought provoking.
In Search of Atticus Finch will no doubt be criticized for taking its approach too far. Readers' confidence in their ability to emulate the life of a fictional character who lived in a fictional world will be limited. One might well wonder whether Finch himself, if allowed a glimpse into the future that is the present, would consider himself lucky to have lived when he did. Papantonio's response to this criticism might be that Finch's fundamental qualities are timeless, and, whether or not lawyers can attain them in today's world, their lives will be made more satisfying by the attempt.
Mike Papantonio Seville Publishing 316 South Baylen Pensacola, FL 32501 254 pp., $24.95
LAW AND DISORDER
by Mike Papantonio
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KIRKUS REVIEW
Attorney/radio interviewer/nonfiction author Papantonio (Air America: The Playbook, 2006, etc.) debuts a Florida lawyer hero who’d look a lot like him if his fictional avatar's busy professional docket weren’t complicated by his own trial for manslaughter.
Nick "Deke" Deketomis is the man you call when some faceless corporation has made you suffer terribly. But his advocacy doesn’t come cheap. Just ask 19-year-old Annica Phillips, left partially paralyzed by Ranidol, Bekmeyer Pharmaceuticals’ birth control drug, who dies in open court after an ill-qualified judge refuses to admit the eminent toxicologist Deke’s chosen as an expert witness. His lead client’s death doesn’t end Deke’s crusade against Bekmeyer, of course; he just chooses another lead plaintiff and heads back to the courtroom. With his other hand, he’s preparing a lawsuit against monumental polluter S.I. Oil, the cash cow of politically connected billionaires Kurt and Anton Swanson. In the meantime, however, an infernal cabal, including county prosecutor Darl Dixon and Pentecostal Pastor Rodney Morgan, that’s decided to impeach Deke in a big way succeeds beyond its wildest dreams: the poor fool who’s been unwillingly sent to provoke Deke into a fistfight so the secret recording can be leaked to the public ends up dead instead, and Deke’s unintentionally fatal blow is faithfully captured on said video. How can you continue to labor for 25-hour days as a high-profile scourge of corporate interests when you’re a criminal defendant yourself? It would be totally impossible—unless Deke gets help from an unexpected quarter in exposing a dread secret about his tormentors that readers have known about ever since the starting gun.
As one of his stricken enemies muses about the hero, “The man had more lives than a cat” —an assessment that economically conveys both the moral complexity of the legal universe on display here and the guileless appeal of Papantonio’s bumper-sticker prose.
Pub Date: Sept. 20th, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59079-367-1
Page count: 352pp
Publisher: SelectBooks
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15th, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15th, 2016
Standard Of Review: ‘Law And Disorder’ Is Strong On Legal Process, But Struggles With Story And Characters
By HARRY GRAFF
Dec 15, 2016 at 3:47 PM
21
SHARES
law-and-disorder-mike-papantonioI have read many legal novels during my tenure as legal entertainment columnist at Above the Law, and I have noticed that while attorney authors are usually very skilled at writing about the legal process, they occasionally struggle with crafting a cohesive plot and creating compelling characters. That is the issue with Law and Disorder, the new novel from attorney and radio host Mike Papantonio.
The novel’s protagonist is Nick “Deke” Deketomis, a prominent plaintiffs’ attorney in Florida. As the novel opens, Deke is litigating a product liability lawsuit against behemoth corporation Bekmeyer Pharmaceuticals, alleging that Bekmeyer’s birth control pill Ranidol causes partial paralysis. Deke is also considering a major environmental lawsuit against a company owned by the evil Swanson brothers, who are thinly veiled allusions to the Koch Brothers. But despite seeking massive judgments for his clients (and his law firm), Deke’s life quickly spirals out of control. One of his clients passes away after Deke loses a major motion in court. Deke’s daughter, who herself took Ranidol, almost dies from the drug. Then, Deke is antagonized and accidentally kills someone, leading to his arrest for manslaughter.
As a civil litigator myself, I appreciate that the novel heavily (albeit not exclusively) focuses on civil litigation, a rarity in the world of legal thrillers. Papantonio is a very experienced and successful plaintiffs-side litigator, and he is clearly very knowledgeable about the legal process. The novel thus includes nuances about civil litigation such as a scene in which Deke works with his colleagues to choose a new lead plaintiff in his lawsuit against Ranidol, a scene in which Deke recruits another plaintiffs’ attorney from Texas to find him a lead plaintiff, and a scene in which a judge makes a ruling on the admissibility of an expert report. Litigators will surely enjoy these touches.
Law and Disorder is also well-paced; the narrative moves quickly and never drags. No one is going to be bored while reading this novel.
However, the novel is not as strong at plot and characterization. The story pinballs around between the lawsuit against Bekmeyer, the lawsuit against the company run by the Swanson brothers, and Deke’s own criminal trial, and due to this lack of focus all three storylines are a bit half-baked, particularly the environmental trial. Obviously, a lawyer has to balance many cases at once, but Papantonio would have better off telling one story.
Mike Papantonio (by YouTube via Wikimedia)
Mike Papantonio (by YouTube via Wikimedia)
The characters are relatively thin. Papantonio describes how Deke grew up impoverished and on the street, but he does not fully expand on this characteristic and does not properly lay the groundwork for why Deke would lose his cool and kill someone. With the exception of Deke’s son Andy, the minor characters are mostly unmemorable. And the villains – including the Swanson brothers, the prominent pastor Rodney Morgan, and prosecutor Darl Dixon (clearly Papantonio has never seen The Walking Dead) – are one-dimensional, bordering on mustache-twirling.
The novel has an obvious ideological bent. Papantonio clearly portrays Deke’s firm as good guys helping to fight for the public interest, whereas the opposing attorneys – all mega-defense firms – are extremely unscrupulous, engaging in sanctionable offenses such as destroying evidence.
Furthermore, the narrative occasionally goes on paragraphs-long polemics on issues such as pollution and how churches benefit from their tax-exempt status. As a progressive myself, I mostly agree with Papantonio’s worldview. But as a critic, these paragraphs bog down the narrative and seem more appropriate for an essay than a novel.
Also, somewhat distractingly, Papantonio repeatedly mentions that Deke is a good friend of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who even shows up at one point to offer support for Deke. I was not surprised to learn that Papantonio himself co-hosts the nationally syndicated radio show “Ring of Fire” with Kennedy.
Law and Disorder is an entertaining read but is undermined by its lack of character development and its clumsy integration of Papantonio’s views. On the bright side, there is only one character in the novel whose name is one letter away from a character on The Walking Dead; thankfully, there is no one named Egan.
(Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book)
Book review: Law and Disorder
NOVEMBER 28, 2016 BY AVA LEAVE A COMMENT
law-and-disorderLaw and Disorder
Author: Mike Papantonio
I believe this is a debut novel for Mike Papantonio – although it reads like a polished, fast paced thriller; a well and thickly plotted thriller.
Attorney Nick Deketomis – Deke to all who know him – is a famous and successful mass tort lawyer; he fights big corporations for the people who suffer from corporate greed and abuse as well as for the environment. Deke’s present client, Annica Moore, has just died in the courtroom as he holds her in his arms. The huge pharmaceutical company that has killed her is called Bekmeyer. Bekmeyer has a product on the market that kills. Bekmeyer’s Ranidol has been produced as a birth control pill, but the corporation has allowed it to be advertised and pushed for weight loss and as a cure for acne. But women are dying from the drug’s lethal side effects. When Deke’s own daughter, Cara, is hospitalized with a serious heart impairment caused by Ranidol, Deke’s team knows that they will fight hard to pull Ranidol off the market and off the shelves. While he fights Ranidol and Bekmeyer in court, Deke simultaneously takes on a case against the huge oil company, S.I. Oil, whose runoff has polluted an area in Texas with all kinds of carcinogens and has produced a cluster of cancer victims who are fighting for their lives. Deke has proof that the company has known about the pollution for a long time and simply doesn’t care whom it kills in order to maintain its profits. Deke is going to court to shut the plant down.
And in the midst of these two giant cases, Deke’s life itself is threatened when he is setup for murder by politicians and a clergyman in his own town that are in S.I. Oil’s pockets.
As Deke reveals his passions, his love of his family, and a courageous heart, his courtroom brilliance and his team of lawyers show what really occurs in the fight against Big Pharm and Big Corporate Business in the courtroom. Fast and factual, Law and Disorder hits the chord as Mike Papantonio ramps up the action and tears through the courtroom with passion and thrust.
This novel is one of those not put downables that crime readers adore, pulsing with action and presenting a protagonist that we love. As Nick Deketomis wraps us around his little finger and leaves us panting for more, we sit at the edge and cannot wait for the next novel in what we hope is a series. Love the action, the characters and the plot – this is the real deal!
Ratings are based on a 5-star scale
Overall: 5
Review by Broad “A”
We received a product to facilitate our review. All opinions are our own
DETAILS
You can pick up this book on Amazon.com here: Law and Disorder or at a bookseller near you.
BOOK REVIEW: RESURRECTING AESOP
By JOHN ACUFF
Special to the HERALD-CITIZEN
Aesop, the ancient Greek fabulist who probably is legendary and never really lived, has never really died either.
Mike Papantonio, a very skilled and successful trial lawyer and speaker, has taken several of the fables which have come down to us and aimed them squarely at those who practice law. As you read them, you’ll wonder how a sage of yore, dead perhaps thousands of years, could see you in Big, Rich & Ruthless, P.C. on the 33rd floor of the city’s newest building. Trust me; this country lawyer pondered the same thing as he read Resurrecting Aesop: Fables Lawyers Should Remember.
Papantonio, because he lives as a lawyer and with lawyers, is able to pierce our crafted personas, our gilded barricades, and see right through the defenses we set up in secretaries, paralegals, legal assistance and of course our barrage of BS. He causes us, if we read the book, to examine the foundations on which we base our lives and to examine the resulting view of the world and the values we place on people and things.
We are urged to consider how we live, how we relate to our nearest and dearest, our peers, clients and ultimately how we value ourselves. He wants to know if we are truly at peace with it; and if not, are we willing to consider the wisdom of the ages from a variety of cultures, religions and people?
The author uses to great effect a survey he recently mailed to a significant number of lawyers as well as surveys done by others. He quotes from The New Jersey Lawyer an article that headlined the following apparent facts in order to get our attention:
One out of every four lawyers suffers from elevated feelings of psychological distress, their primary complaints being, in order – interpersonal feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, anxiety, social alienation/isolation/depression. Out of 105 occupations, that of lawyer rated first in depression; 45 percent feel that they don’t have enough family time and 54 percent do not have enough time for themselves.
If you are a lawyer or live around them, you know deep inside that these numbers are, if anything, on the low side. Take five minutes and consider each of the statements. You are not trying to impress a client, a jury or all your peers at a bar meeting where everyone is wearing five colored ribbons to prove they belong.
Mike Papantonio calls us to at least be honest with ourselves. Five minutes will convince you that you should take off a day or more by yourself with no agenda except to consider: who you are, and how that is different from the truly fine per- son you could be.
He uses examples I would have never expected, like Lee Atwater, the caustic speech writer and take-no-prisoners activist for the Republican Party. Lee, in his last days, met a “carpenter” he could neither bluff nor escape and began to change his ways and ask forgiveness from the ones he had attacked.
He also quotes solo practitioners and those the rest of us think have arrived. You should understand that most of those income tax returns will not exceed or equal that of the author.
Various of the fables are used to illuminate truth, such as that lawyer who is sometimes envious of comer offices, restored airplanes or cars, expensive hobbies and the power emanating from some of his big city peers. In the fable, the city mouse visits his country cousin and tells him of all the good life in the city in such glowing terms that the country cousin has to go and see.
Reading the fable made us less envious. The city comes with traffic jams, few if any relationships of any depth among lawyers even in the same firm and a horrid stress level which are all incorporated in the very large cat that eats mice and, if not their bodies, then so often their souls.
The author calls us to examine the dog that has discovered a truly large and wonderful bone and is very happy with it until, while crossing a footbridge, he sees in the water below what appears to be a dog with an even bigger and better bone and drops his bone to dive into the water to take the new bone.
As he hits the water, he realizes that he has given up the wonderful bone he had for an illusion. What is the bigger bone that tempts us? A new expensive car, a new office, a new level of fame and, money or a new late model spouse that will understand and adore, at least until they discover what little we are willing to contribute to the relationship.
Be wary of giving up the really good for that which may be only the lure of vanity or pride. It’s like a dog chasing a car – stop sometime and see if the dog has a clue what to do with a car.
How long has it been since you took a class that was not CLE approved? Recently read any books not guaranteed to improve your trial skills or your income or how to meet and impress people? Has it been longer still since you went to see the really significant people in your life’s journey, not just to get your ticket punched to avoid guilt but with no agenda except to be with them.
You might consider your parents if you are blessed to still have them; your mentor in life or college (read Tuesdays with Morrie), maybe even your siblings or a favorite relative. We should read here and ask ourselves how long it’s been since we took someone to lunch without having something we wanted from them.
The book examines the danger of comparing ourselves to others. We do this in two ways, by picking someone that we consider inferior to us and using the comparison to boost our view of ourselves; or we look at some one with a bigger and better bone and say, “If I can just get there, I’ll be content. I’ll have time for (insert the names of spouse, children…).
This book, like Papantonio’s earlier In Search of Atticus Finch and Clarence Darrow: Journeyman, should be required reading in every law school. It is sad that instead of places where the profession is taught as a vocation, the schools are too often prouder of the starting pay of its graduates and the places of price and power they now occupy.
Bobby Kennedy Jr. wrote the foreword to this book, and consequently I picked it up with a certain cynicism about what he would add other than an endorsement of Papantonio’s writing. But,I discovered that they were in most places on the same page and that Kennedy very succinctly says not in parables but in clear English what he thinks is important.
Young Kennedy explains that healthy ambition is the desire to do God’s will and to enjoy his blessings and that Papantonio’s conclusions confirm his own beliefs that good behavior results in good results and even if it does not in terms of victory or riches, it still gives you the satisfaction of a life well lived, a good reputation, the respect of peers – all of which exceed in value the illusory victories of money and fame.
This is a short book but you should be warned that if you read it and reflect on it, it could forever change the way you live and practice and cause you to buy a copy for some other tired, hurting, lonely lawyer who acts like it is all cream and cherries.
John Acuff is a Cookeville attorney.