The Rainmaker

Tinley Britt is the symbol of the high-priced, high-powered, influential law firm that flaunts its history, wealth, and self-assurance in the face of others. The firm represents those law firms in the real world that are only concerned with profit and influence. They will swallow up any other firm, putting hard-working people out on the street, just to get some extra customers and to pad their profit margins, as illustrated in the novel with Tinley Britt’s merger with Brodnax and Speer. Sometimes such firms rely heavily on their prestige and might to intimidate their opponents. The novel illustrates this by highlighting how many lawyers Tinley Britt is able to assign to a case. As is demonstrated through the narrator’s own observations and feelings, the idea behind having so many lawyers constantly present is to make the opponent feel outnumbered and overwhelmed. Furthermore, firms like Tinley Britt will represent even the most heinous of clients, so long as they are paid, and they will do whatever it takes to win, spending vast sums that most other firms are unable to expend on outside help such as jury consultants.

Much like Tinley Britt, Great Benefit, and therefore also PinnConn, represent far more than a simple antagonistic entity in the novel. Great Benefit is used as a hyperbolic symbol of the ultimate worst-case-scenario and stereotypical evil business that cares nothing for its customers or employees, where the heads of the company, the CEO and presidents, are concerned solely with the profit margin. It should be pointed out that the name Great Benefit is meant to be highly ironic. If people must be laid-off, then so be it. The company will even allow people to die if it means they make more money, which is highlighted through Donny Black’s ordeal. However, Great Benefit is only the tip of the iceberg, because what lies beyond the conspicuous evil insurance company of Great Benefit is the nebulous parent company of PinnConn. This company represents the paragon of bad companies. The owners are so wealthy that they are untouchable and unknown. They can move millions around the globe with seemingly little effort. They remain hidden and in the background, unnamed and invisible. On page 586, Rudy even refers to them as American pirates operating out of Singapore. 

While Jonathan Lake is a character, he never personally appears in the novel, and therefore his importance in the novel lies in what he represents. He is not only Rudy’s ideal, the lawyer he most hopes to emulate, but Lake is also the poster child, if you will, for every law school graduate who did not immediately land a position with a high-powered law firm like Tinley Britt. Lake embodies the idea that one can work hard and make it on one’s own. Lake also represents the dream situation of landing a big case with a handsome reward at the end, the lawyer’s get-rich-quick scheme. Furthermore, by including a Johnathan Lake character, it supports the idea that perhaps Miss Birdie or the Blacks will be Rudy’s big payout and will save the hero from bankruptcy, failure, and anonymity.