“The Good Lawyer” by Thomas Benigno – Justice for All… Except those with a Good Lawyer

Even those who spend their lives working hand-in-hand with the law must wonder from time to time whether the law actually enforces justice, or if there are way too many holes in it for it to stay that way. 

This is kind of what we are treated to in The Good Lawyer by Thomas Benigno, which is actually somewhat based on a real story, that of a young and ambitious lawyer who sought to make a name for himself outside of the confines of his family’s long history of ties with the mob.

The year is 1982, with the Spiderman rapist making waves on the media. The lawyer witnesses the suicide of a rape victim. Outraged by all that is happening around him, he decides to take on the case of a teacher’s aide being accused of raping three children. Truly believing that his client is innocent, the “good lawyer” maintains his perfect record of no convictions ever, and sets his client free. 

However, soon one of the three children involved in the case turns up dead. After digging a little deeper, the good lawyer makes some very shocking discoveries: the client from his last case may very well have a certain connection to the Spiderman rapist.

Deciding to go deeper down the rabbit hole, the good lawyer makes some truly macabre discoveries about his family’s past and how it’s connected to the current crimes of the Spiderman rapist. Most importantly though, the good lawyer finds himself face-to-face with a soul-crushing dilemma: should he maintain his composure and act in accordance with the law, or throw out the window everything he built for himself up until this day, and embrace the way of his family.

Even though I can’t exactly relate to what it’s like being a lawyer deciding on which side of the law he belongs, I still found the good lawyer to be a very relatable character: someone who is forced to swim upstream, with there being people who want to put spokes in his wheels at every turn. 

The Good Lawyer by Thomas Benigno (Book cover)
However, despite the fact that he has a profession which often pits him against other people, the good lawyer’s main weakness lies in himself, in his will to blindly follow the letters of the law and advancing his career at the cost of real justice. 

I’m not sure exactly how much of this story is based on real-life events, but if you’re looking for historical accuracy, I’m sorry to say you’ll be a bit disappointed as many, if not most of the events described here didn't really happen the way they did, if they happened at all. 

Nevertheless, it still manages to tell a very captivating and compelling story about a man torn between two fates at time when people had to rely on their wits as much as technology. Definitely worth a read. 


Thomas Benigno (Author)

Thomas Benigno


Personal site

Though Thomas Benigno may have entered the literature game a bit too late for some people’s liking, he hasn’t disappointed one single bit with his first novel, The Good Lawyer, being based on his own life when he had to navigate the dangerous and slippery world of lawyers.



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