Circle of Greed

The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Lawyer Who Brought Corporate America to ItsKnees

By: Patrick Dillon

Narrated by: Erik Davies

Circle of Greed is the epic story of the rise and fall of Bill Lerach, once the leading class action lawyer in America and now a convicted felon. For more than two decades, Lerach threatened, shook down and sued top Fortune 500 companies, including Disney, Apple, Time Warner, and—most famously—Enron. Now, the man who brought corporate moguls to their knees has fallen prey to the same corrupt impulses of his enemies, and is paying the price by serving time in federal prison.
If there was ever a modern Greek tragedy about a man and his times, about corporate arrogance and illusions and the scorched-earth tactics to not only counteract corporate America but to beat it at its own game, Bill Lerach's story is it.

Critic reviews

“John Grisham would have to struggle to invent a character as brilliant and unethical as Bill Lerach. It is a credit to the reporting talents of Patrick Dillon and Carl M. Cannon that, in “Circle of Greed,” they capture the felon-lawyer in all his charm and ruthlessness. Along the way they show how the plaintiffs' bar has transformed the process of class actions into big business.” — Wall Street Journal

“[A] revelatory yarn . . . In “Circle of Greed,” the authors do justice to their subject and have produced a book that proves the adage that truth can be stranger than fiction.” — Washington Times

“Mr. Dillon and Mr. Cannon have written the type of book that, like “Den of Thieves” and “Smartest Guys in the Room,” helps to explain an era.” — NYTimes.com/DealBook

“In Circle of Greed , this compelling narrative becomes an irresistible metaphor for the hubris at the heart of capitalism . . . Lerach is lucky to have Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Patrick Dillon and Carl Cannon as his chroniclers. They tell his tale with an authority and depth that comes from having followed his career since the late 1970s. . . Amid the entertaining knockabout and big personalities, the authors raise important questions about how the rule of law should work in a capitalist democracy.” — Financial Times

“[R]iveting . . . Telling this complex story is a tricky business, but Circle of Greed is up to the task: it is impressively researched and well paced, and offers reporting, not editorializing, leaving the reader to form his or her own judgments.” — Washington Monthly


"A well-reported, densely written saga" — Kirkus Reviews

"In modern corporate America, the swashbuckling captains of industry have long been the primary characters exposed in the public storytelling. But now, Patrick Dillon and Carl Cannon have stripped away the veneer of a lawyer who made his name as the business world’s chief adversary, Bill Lerach. In Circle of Greed, Dillon and Cannon present a painstakingly researched and entertaining tale of a legal dynamo who seemed able to root out any corporate crime, but then became enmeshed in frauds of his own. Lerach had it all, then lost it all because of his own greed and arrogance. In this thrilling book, Dillon and Cannon have unwound the character of this perplexing man, presenting a cautionary tale that is must-reading for anyone interested in business or the law." —Kurt Eichenwald, author of The Informant and Conspiracy of Fools

a verygood book.

Any additional comments?

i am reviewing this for my significant other. i did not like the book. but my significant other loved the book. he rated it between 9-10 on a scale where 10 is the tops.

he liked the fact that so many familiar names were in the book--president clinton, bush, john edwards, and many many more.

he thinks the book is a book men would like better than women.

Interesting beginning, slow ending

The story of Bill Lerach, most known for the Enron case was interesting but I found myself losing interest towards the end.

Good solid performance from the narrator.

very interesting

very well researched, well read, fascinating story, puts events in time frame easy to understand and follow

Solid legal biography

What did you love best about Circle of Greed?

This is a legal biography, so to speak. To enjoy it, you'd have to be somewhat curious about the legal profession, or else much of it might bore you. In great detail, it follows the career case by case of a hard-core litigator who took his humble University of Pittsburgh law degree and used it to ride into international headlines. As a government lawyer, I found it interesting to learn how he accomplished his own version of success, which obviously differs from lawyers like myself but is nonetheless entertaining. The author offers anecdotes of discovery disputes, tactical maneuvers, and courtroom battles straight from the mouths of his opposing counsel, in addition to input from Lerach himself. As his career rockets upward with each settlement or victory along the way, we all know that the end result was a prison sentence and disbarment.

Great book

Interesting book. Well told and makes what could be a relatively dry story very compelling