The Life O'Reilly

By Brian Cohen

From the back of the book:

“On the outside, Nick O’Reilly has it all: a high-flying legal career, as a partner of an elite Wall Street law firm, and financial security, with an apartment overlooking Central Park. Having grown up in a working-class family, as far back as Nick can remember this was his dream. But at the age of thirty-six, after several years of sacrificing his personal life for professional gain, Nick has started to ponder his future and consider the mark he wants to leave on society both professionally and personally – his legacy.”

Nick O’Reilly works for a law firm that expects its people to put their job first and foremost. Families, friends and a personal life are not important to the senior partners. If you’re going to be successful, sacrifices are expected to be made.

However, that attitude has also given the firm a bad reputation as being cold and impersonal (duh!). To change their image, they decide to designate a certain number of hours to pro bono cases. In other words, each lawyer is expected to do a case for free and work with the local legal aid to do that.

Certain of the senior partners seem to have it in for Nick. One in particular doesn’t like him and is always trying to make him look bad. So, guess which lawyer is the first to be assigned one of these cases?

Nick actually finds himself enjoying working to help others. It gives him an entirely new perspective and he begins looking at his life anew. Is the high-powered position worth it? Or are there more important things in life?

Along with this new attitude, Nick finds himself attracted to the client he’s been assigned to represent – a young woman who has been severely abused by her husband.

The book takes several turns and twists, including an interesting surprise ending. I found the story delightful and I thank Brian Cohen for asking me to review his book. He’s a wonderful writer and I hope to read more of his work in the future.