Once We Were Brothers

Protagonist Catherine Lockhart is a 39-year-old litigator who lives in Chicago, Illinois, and works for the corporate law firm Jenkins & Fairchild. Her best friend Liam describes Catherine as “the prettiest thing you ever saw” (105). In characterizing the legal work she does, Catherine says, “They’re all commercial cases. All on behalf of mega-institutions. This bank versus that” (31).

While Catherine takes little pride in her work, she considers Jenkins & Fairchild to be her only employment option in Chicago. That’s because three years earlier, Catherine suffered an emotional and professional breakdown. Liam says, “When the shit hit the fan, she was devastated and went into a tailspin” (107).

Catherine’s character arc involves her decision to put her already precarious career in jeopardy by committing herself fully to Ben’s case. At first, she insists on representing Ben in merely an advisory capacity while working 16-hour days to keep up with the demands of her existing caseload. As the tragedy of Ben’s story unfolds, however, Catherine becomes haunted by the supreme injustice he suffered at the hands of Elliot. When her boss Jenkins attempts to coerce her into dropping Ben’s case, she quits her job, abandoning career-centered concerns in favor of pursuing justice.