The Street Lawyer (John Grisham)

Michael was in a hurry.  He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. firm with eight hundred lawyers.  The money was good and getting better; a partnership was three years away.  He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers.  No time for a conscience.

But a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold.  Michael survived; his assailant did not.  Who was this man?  Michael did some digging, and learned that he was a mentally ill veteran who'd been in and out of shelters for many years.  Then Michael dug a little deeper, and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney.

The fast track derailed; the ladder collapsed.  Michael bolted from the firm and took a top-secret file with him.  He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street lawyer.

And a thief.