The Professor

A retired Professor of Law who hasn’t tried a real case in forty years teams up with a former student who’s yet to trial a case at all, in order to clear both of their names…

The Professor introduces Thomas Jackson McMurtrie, a longtime law professor at the University of Alabama, who, 40 years after giving up a promising career as a trial lawyer to teach law students at the request of his mentor, Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, retires to his farm an angry and bitter man, betrayed by both a Board member he mistook for a friend and his own failing health. Meanwhile, the young family of one of Tom’s oldest friends is killed in a tragic collision with an 18-wheeler. 

Believing his career is over, Tom refers his friend to a brilliant, yet beleaguered, former student, Rick Drake, who begins to uncover that the truth behind the tragedy is buried in a tangled web of arson, bribery and greed. When a key witness is murdered on the eve of trial, the young attorney, in over his head and at the end of his rope, knows he needs help…and there’s only one man who can help him.

The Professor is the first in a series of tense legal thriller featuring the unusual and compelling legal team of McMurtie & Drake, combining the thrills and authenticity of a John Grisham novel for the audience that flocked to Friday Night Lights.

Mr. Bailey is a civil defense trial attorney. He represents health care providers and nursing homes in medical liability cases. He defends trucking companies, insurance carriers, the insured, and businesses in injury-related lawsuits. He defends employers in workers' compensation lawsuits and has defended employers in actions filed by employees under Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans With Disabilities Act. He has litigated matters in Alabama state trial courts, federal trial courts, and arbitration.