"Justice has its price."
Jan Schlickmann is a cynical lawyer who goes out to 'get rid of' a case, only to find out it is potentially worth millions. The case becomes his obsession, to the extent that he is willing to give up everything—including his career and his clients' goals—in order to continue the case against all odds.
John Travolta
Jan Schlichtmann
Robert Duvall
Jerome Facher
Tony Shalhoub
Kevin Conway
William H. Macy
James Gordon
Željko Ivanek
Bill Crowley
Bruce Norris
William Cheeseman
John Lithgow
Judge Walter J. Skinner
Kathleen Quinlan
Anne Anderson
Peter Jacobson
Neil Jacobs
Jan Schlickmann is a cynical lawyer who goes out to 'get rid of' a case, only to find out it is potentially worth millions. The case becomes his obsession, to the extent that he is willing to give up everything—including his career and his clients' goals—in order to continue the case against all odds.
Based on a true story, John Travolta portrays an ambulance chasing lawyer whose company takes 40% of any settlement they get for their clients following accidents in the workplace, or during surgery, or on the road etc. It's when he becomes aware of a clutch of leukaemia sufferers that he begins to suspect that a local tannery might be polluting the water supply with toxic chemicals. Now he is used to quick in and out judicial procedures, high profit low costs. This case is the reverse. He knows that to bring a civil suit against a large-scale entity is rife with risk and costs, but he convinces his colleagues to take it on. The opponents have hired the services of the experienced "Facher" (Robert Duvall) who knows exactly how to play the system. He is an expert at dragging things out and protracting the entire legal process until his antagonists run out of money, or maybe even the will to live. With the costs mounting and the court case showing no sign of concluding, he and his team face bankruptcy. Can they get a settlement in time? It's all a rather plodding drama with little by way of excitement to stimulate the attention. Sure, the atrocity is ghastly but the dramatisation of the scenario surrounding it is rather exemplified by a rather weak contribution from Stephen Fry as the geology guru and an over-cooked contribution from William H. Macy as his increasingly frustrated partner. Duvall does the cynical and exploitative lawyer pretty well, but he doesn't really feature enough to enliven this and at almost two hours long, it's really just a showcase for Travolta and not much of one at that. Essentially it's a watchable enough television movie that shines quite a powerful light on the injustice of the American justice system, but that's about it.
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, battles through one of his career-defining cases.
Two law school friends find themselves at odds when one becomes a Justice Department lawyer and the other goes into politics.
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies brain-dead, husband Claus guilty of attempted murder; but he says he's innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
Tom Rath is a suburban father and husband haunted by his memories of World War II, including a wartime romance with Italian village girl Maria, which resulted in an illegitimate son he's never seen. Pressed by his unhappy wife to get a higher-paying job, Rath goes to work as a public relations man for television network president Ralph Hopkins. Drawn into poisonous office politics, Tom finds he must choose his career or his family.
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
A pro ball player with a substance abuse problem is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team
A young single mother of four living in a small Texas town. Arrested during a drug raid and accused of a crime she didn't commit, Dee goes against the wishes of her mother, Alma, and rejects the plea-bargain that would free her from jail, but brand her as a felon for life. As word begins to spread that similar incidents are occurring in poor communities all across the country, Dee realizes that there are more mothers out there like her, and decides to take a stand against powerful district attorney Calvin Beckett. Now, despite being well aware of District Attorney Beckett's fierce reputation, Dee enlists the aid of ACLU attorney David Cohen and former narcotics officer Sam Conroy in overcoming the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that, if not navigated with the greatest of caution, now threaten to destroy her life. With the custody of her children on the line, one brave mother wages a valiant battle to strike at the very heart of the corrupt Texas justice system.