When you consider courtrooms and the professionals who run them, photographs of breathtaking intrigue are often not on the forefront of your thoughts. But underneath these uninteresting-wanting energy fits and the din of dense legalese you would possibly hear in a typical courtroom, there simply could also be a seamy underbelly of greed, corruption and violence.
That’s the picture created by Larry Axelrood’s newest legal thriller, “Stealing Justice.” Since the story takes place in Chicago – the place some really daring episodes of public corruption have unraveled through the years – the fictional occasions that unfold should not that farfetched.
The plot considerations the fallout after a younger prosecutor sidesteps her superiors in thwarting the exoneration of man who’s chargeable for the dying of a kid. The prosecutor, Marisol Cuellar, not solely sees that there’s overwhelming proof pointing to his guilt, but in addition {that a} legislation agency cashing in on bringing such circumstances will financially profit from this unjust exoneration. Pretty quickly the hounds of hell are launched on our heroine, however she might get a reprieve from a newly appointed particular prosecutor and his legal group.
The reader can be forgiven for noticing that the particular prosecutor, Henry “Barney” Barnes, who’s the second-most pivotal character within the guide, bears a passing resemblance to Axelrood, as they’re each retired judges. But Axelrood factors out that he and Barney should not indistinguishable. He mentioned that Barney “is much better than I am.” He additionally feels that the character’s primary decency is grounded in an unfailing perception in justice.
Axelrood, who has lived in Evanston for many of his 63 years, credit the city with shaping his outlook on life. He mentioned that Evanston through the 1960s and ‘70s was a “wonderful, unique place to grow up.” He recollects that at the moment “there were a lot of things going on in the world.” He mentioned that whereas Evanston didn’t at all times absolutely embrace change throughout that period, “they were open to having a conversation. For a child to see all these things was enlightening.”
Those who bear in mind him from his days at Evanston Township High School as a well-liked teenager are impressed with the person he ultimately turned. Ron Whitmore, co-host of the podcast “Evanston Rules,” mentioned that Axelrood is “authentic, he’s real …Larry’s relationships … are real Evanston, they’re diverse, they’re equitable, they’re people of all different hues, sizes, colors and backgrounds.”
Whitmore and “Evanston Rules” co-host Laurice Bell featured Axelrood on an episode known as “I Got a Guy.” Bell sees Axelrood as somebody who’s comfy embracing all sorts of individuals, and at all times keen to help up.
“Larry was a person who when people talk about equity … he’s lived that as a white male his entire life,” Bell mentioned.
His father, the late Jack Axelrood, was a company lawyer. His mom, Helen, was as soon as a part of the Playwrights Theatre Club, which might turn into Second City. Later in life, she went in a very totally different course, acquired a PhD and have become a psychotherapist.
Unlike many attorneys turned novelists, Axelrood didn’t see himself as a author early on. In highschool, he would accompany a faculty liaison officer he was acquainted with to court docket. He was fascinated with the courtroom atmosphere, which was most likely a vivid distinction with the company legal atmosphere his father inhabited.
“I wanted to be a trial lawyer. I thought it was exciting,” he mentioned, and he graduated from the Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1985.
Like many younger trial attorneys, he began out as a prosecutor, the place he stayed for 4 years, then determined to flip the tables to do protection work for 16 years, working each civil and legal circumstances. He was appointed an affiliate judge for the Circuit Court of Cook County in 2005. He was later elected to the Cook County Ninth Subcircuit in 2012, the place he remained till he retired in 2019.
“For over 30 years I spent every day of my life in court,” mentioned Axelrood, who at present retains his hand within the legal world as an arbitrator for ADR Systems.
He discovered his stint as a prosecutor was a superb coaching floor.
“When you’re a prosecutor … you get to try a lot of significant cases early in your life. I had 30 jury trials before age 30,” Axelrood mentioned, including that working within the state’s lawyer workplace gave him “the experience I needed to represent individuals and it also gave me the experience I needed as a trial judge. … That was the foundation for my entire career.”
As a judge, Axelrood strove to domesticate an environment of respect and equity to these showing earlier than him.
“He is a great individual who did the job as a judge based on respect for the people and who they are as people, not for the power that the role gives you,” Whitmore mentioned. “… I think he was unmoved by the system; he wanted to create equity within the system.”
Consistent with Whitmore’s characterization, Axelrood mentioned that his private judicial philosophy was to hear to individuals in his courtroom and what they’ve to say: “Listen and let them know they’re important to the process.”
He admitted that although there are some flaws within the real-world Cook County legal system, there have been vital enhancements in some respects.
“There’s been an incredible influx of diversity, and … a serious decrease in tolerance for injustice,” he mentioned.
He mentioned, nonetheless, that generally the pendulum swings too far within the different course to the purpose the place there are not any penalties for legislation-breaking as a result of choices to pursue actions are based mostly on components having little to do with legal justice.
“I think that if you’re arresting and prosecuting people based on evidence … that would be a great improvement,” he mentioned, including that “it’s a question of trying to find that middle ground where we are trying to keep people safe without violating anyone’s constitutional rights.”
Axelrood famous that his guide “reflects what Cook County looks like now” and contains a various crew of characters who’re heroic: “This book is about people trying to do the right thing in a corrupt system.”
Though he couldn’t foresee a writing profession early in life, Axelrood was at all times a voracious reader. One creator made a definite impression on him as a younger grownup, spurring a secondary profession for him as a author. Robert L. Parker, the prolific thriller/detective author who created what would later turn into the central character of the 1980s tv sequence, “Spenser: for Hire,” turned one thing of a literary position mannequin for Axelrood.
Axelrood discovered Parker’s literary type very approachable. Reading Parker’s works made the younger lawyer assume, “I can do this.” Though Axelrood shouldn’t be one to crow about his literary prowess, he mentioned he does consider he is an effective storyteller.
His first printed works within the early 2000s have been a trilogy of novels that includes a personality named Darcy Cole. Darcy’s adventures have been chronicled in “The Advocate,” “Death Eligible” and “Plea Bargain.” He mentioned he hopes to resume the Darcy Cole sequence along with his subsequent guide.
These books got here after a few years of working towards writing and enhancing manuscripts that weren’t fairly prepared for primetime. Eventually, he made some connections that allowed him to get his work in entrance of people that labored in publishing, and his first Darcy Cole guide, “The Advocate,” was born in 2002.
“Stealing Justice” exhibits Axelrood’s expertise for storytelling. The guide has a pervasive authenticity that legal thrillers by non-attorneys steadily lack. His insider’s immersion into the legal world would possibly remind the style’s followers considerably of John Grisham.
The construction of the guide makes it a effectively-paced, compelling learn. Much of the motion is moved alongside by the characters’ dialogue, specified by brief chapters. The discuss lets you recognize these are city people, dwelling within the at all times gritty, considerably treacherous however by no means uninteresting Windy City.
There are some passages of dialogue that, when you have ever labored within the justice system or in authorities, you possibly can swear you could have heard firsthand. One such passage is a dialog amongst Marisol’s superiors as they plan her profession doom as punishment for turning into a whistleblower relating to the exoneration racket they’re supporting. They plow by all of the doubtful, effectively-paid, pencil-pushing positions they intention to foist upon her when issues calm down and the controversy – and she or he – is forgotten. Of course, the tip recreation is to conceal all of the pencils and declare the job redundant, thus paving the best way out of the door for the younger prosecutor.
You can’t make up discuss like this. If you could have labored in any place of authority within the public sector, you have been there.