Jonathan Harr’s, A Civil Action, published in 1995, is one of the best nonfiction legal thrillers ever written. It tells the riveting story of a complicated civil suit over environmental pollution that occurred in Woburn, Massachusetts. Not surprisingly, Harr’s book was adapted into a film of the same name that was released in 1998. John Travolta played the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Jan Schlichtmann, a character worthy of Shakespeare. Robert Duvall nearly steals the film as Jerry Facher, the lawyer for one of the corporate defendants.

Nearly 25 years later, the film is still a gold mine for Civil Procedure professors. In his review, Roger Ebert described A Civil Action as “John Grisham for grownups.” Schlichtmann is relentless in pursuing the case against the defendants, becoming so invested that nothing else seems to matter – an approach that has significant consequences for everyone around him as the case turns into an interminable trial. Facher, meanwhile, is a master litigator who wrings every advantage from the rules and courtroom procedures.

In this podcast, Associate Dean Rodger Citron moderates a discussion of A Civil Action with his colleagues Laura Dooley and Deseriee Kennedy.

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review. 

Our guests today are Professor Laura Dooley and Professor Deseriee Kennedy.

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