A Civil Action

Chapter: Orphans and Dogs

This chapter begins with Schlichtmann letting the Woburn case

to languish within his files. He kept himself busy with other cases as his
career was on the rise at the time. He and Conway stayed with the firm
for a while.

During this time their firm landed on a big case which is about a
businessman who died due to a hotel fire incident, Schlichtmann was
the one who took and won the case.

After that case Schlichtmann left Reed & Mulligan to start his
own firm, Conway also left the firm thereafter joining Schlichtmann in
his new firm that they have started together.

As they began their new journey as a new firm, there were two
types of cases that would be offered at their doorstep which Conway
would weigh if whether or not the case was worth taking.

The first type of cases he called ‘Dogs’ because these were small
cases like the one where a man wanted to sue for damages as a result of
drinking beer for a period of twenty-five years.

The second type of cases he called ‘Orphans’, for Conway these

cases may actually have merit however these were the cases that have
been passed on from several law firms. In the end most cases that were
rejected by Conway were ‘orphans’.