The Associate

The Associate (1997), a legal thriller by Phillip Margolin, follows a law firm associate who loses his job and ends up at the center of a murder investigation for a crime that he didn’t commit.

Although Daniel Ames grew up poor, he is now an associate at Portland’s most distinguished law firm, Reed, Briggs. As an associate, he works on some of the firm’s most high profile and lucrative cases; he is building an impressive track record of success for his clients. Daniel feels his life could not get any better: He is living his dream, his peers respect him, and he has more money than he knows what to do with.

One night, a senior associate asks Daniel to work late. Together they review documents for one of the firm’s biggest clients, a pharmaceutical company. Daniel throws himself into the research because he wants to impress his senior colleague.



Daniel gathers the main facts about the case. He is helping to represent Geller Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures a Thalidomide-like drug for women to take during pregnancy. Now, the plaintiffs are claiming that the drug causes severe birth defects. Although Daniel feels sorry for these women and their families, he is convinced that there is no case to answer. He doesn’t see a link between the drug and the birth defects.

After examining the facts of the case, Daniel turns to the plaintiffs’ chief legal counsel, Aaron Flynn. Daniel has no respect for Aaron who has a reputation for terrifying big companies into settling product liability lawsuits out of court with very little evidence. He preys on big companies because he knows they don’t want to draw unwanted attention to themselves.

Daniel can’t wait to get started on this case because he is convinced that he will win. Meeting with Aaron’s clients, he sees the affected infants. After speaking with Aaron and the families, Daniel has reservations about the case. He wonders if the drug is responsible for causing birth defects after all. He approaches his senior colleague about it, but he brushes Daniel’s concerns under the carpet.



The next day, Daniel decides to quit the firm, unable to work on an unethical case like this. He knows that he is good enough to work anywhere else in Portland. However, before he can hand over his resignation letter, the senior partner calls him in. The firm is firing him for negligent conduct, and he must leave the office immediately.

Leaving the firm humiliated and angry, Daniel can’t believe what is happening. He doesn’t yet know that losing his job is the least of his problems. He goes to meet with a former colleague to talk about his dismissal, but the man is dead. It looks like arson. Before Daniel knows what is happening, the police show up and arrest him for murder.

The first thing for Daniel to do is appoint an attorney, but he cannot afford one. He must take the court-appointed defense counsel. Daniel doesn’t want to work with him because he’s not sure the defense counsel is trustworthy. Someone wants to set Daniel up, and the perpetrator could very well be this attorney or one of his connections.



Despite his concerns, Daniel has no choice but to work with the attorney. He tells him what happened at the firm. Accidentally, he leaked documents to the other side that prove his client’s drug may be defective. When the senior partner found out, he had no choice but to fire him for negligence. As the defense attorney works on Daniel’s case, Daniel begins his own investigations.

Daniel is convinced that Aaron Flynn is somehow behind this set-up. He looks through old cases that Aaron worked on to see if he can identify a pattern. What he finds is a link between Geller Pharmaceuticals and a murder in the Arizona desert 10 years ago. If Daniel can solve the murder, he will be free.

Together with an old firm colleague, Daniel works on his own case. Everyone is convinced that he is going crazy because he starts acting irrationally. He eventually secures a brief release from prison that gives him the space he needs to investigate the murders. He is convinced that he can prove the evidence against him is fabricated. Eventually, he proves his innocence, and the charges against him are dropped. He is unsure where life will take him next, but he knows he wants to continue practicing law.



The Associate received a positive reception from both genre readers and literary critics. Margolin, an international bestselling writer, is widely regarded as a master of courtroom dramas and legal thrillers. Before writing novels, he graduated from the New York University School of Law and spent more than 25 years working as a criminal defense attorney. The Perry Mason books inspired his interest in law and legal writing.