Whereas Love is the story of what goes on behind the scenes in a big city law firm. The protagonist is Jane Costello, a young female associate new to the “white shoe” law firm of Trask & Bertholme, or “T&B,” as it is fondly called by its lucky members. T&B’s main office, the “Palace,” occupies twelve floors in Union Tower in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Jane, however, works at 100 Grant Street, T&B’s 30-lawyer outpost in the posh suburb of Sutter Heights.
It is at 100 Grant Street that Jane meets and gets to know a variety of legal fauna: Bill Whitman, T&B’s expensive, expansive contribution to the Ohio criminal defense bar; Mike Flanagan, the firm’s resident legal-genius arrogant sonuvabitch; Charlie Athanson, the outsider who heads Jane’s department; Jim Malone, the frustrated lawyer-novelist; Theresa Foulkes, the “dragon lady” with a secret; Tammy Sills, beautiful and relentlessly on the make; and Sam Maxwell, the partner in the office next to Jane’s who becomes her mentor, her best friend and her lover.
The heat is on when charges of sexual harassment are made against the employee of a major client. The client is not a large corporation but a small university. On the university’s behalf, the firm’s lawyers, including Jane, must conduct termination proceedings against the employee, Trevor Carpistan, a powerful tenured professor, in order to protect two female undergraduate students who have complained about him.
Whereas Love tells of Jane’s coming of age as both lawyer and woman while she struggles through the relationships and power structure of T&B, first as a freshman associate, then as part of T&B’s team during the Carpistan termination hearing, and, finally, as a lone champion of the secretaries and legal assistants being victimized by a ruthless, anonymous sexual harasser in her own firm.
It is at 100 Grant Street that Jane meets and gets to know a variety of legal fauna: Bill Whitman, T&B’s expensive, expansive contribution to the Ohio criminal defense bar; Mike Flanagan, the firm’s resident legal-genius arrogant sonuvabitch; Charlie Athanson, the outsider who heads Jane’s department; Jim Malone, the frustrated lawyer-novelist; Theresa Foulkes, the “dragon lady” with a secret; Tammy Sills, beautiful and relentlessly on the make; and Sam Maxwell, the partner in the office next to Jane’s who becomes her mentor, her best friend and her lover.
The heat is on when charges of sexual harassment are made against the employee of a major client. The client is not a large corporation but a small university. On the university’s behalf, the firm’s lawyers, including Jane, must conduct termination proceedings against the employee, Trevor Carpistan, a powerful tenured professor, in order to protect two female undergraduate students who have complained about him.
Whereas Love tells of Jane’s coming of age as both lawyer and woman while she struggles through the relationships and power structure of T&B, first as a freshman associate, then as part of T&B’s team during the Carpistan termination hearing, and, finally, as a lone champion of the secretaries and legal assistants being victimized by a ruthless, anonymous sexual harasser in her own firm.
