John McNellis – O'Brien's Law: A Romantic Thriller

In-person author event
* Sunday, March 12, 2:00pm

In O’Brien’s Law, brand-new lawyer Michael O’Brien has no clue the case his law firm handed him is a total loser.

That’s because he would rather chase women, play basketball, or do almost anything other than practice law. O’Brien is struggling with the drudgery first-year associates face, especially since it’s the swinging ’70s in San Francisco.

He’s just too good-looking, easily bored, and cocky to care. But when Malcolm Knox, one of the city’s wealthiest men, drops dead, the young man from Boston is suddenly charged with finding $50 million in bearer bonds missing from the estate.

Given his myriad distractions-he’s wooing a former fashion model who owns a small bakery chain-O’Brien seems destined to fail. As missteps accumulate, and practicing law becomes dangerous O’Brien risks losing his job, his girlfriend, and even his life.

John McNellis, armed with a degree in journalism from UC Berkeley and a law degree from Hastings College, began practicing law in San Francisco in the late 70’s, giving it up not so many years later to become a real estate developer. With his skills lying elsewhere, his departure from the legal practice was not widely lamented.

Alongside his business career, John returned to writing in 2009 and became a regular contributor to the Registry Magazine and then the San Francisco Business Times. His first book, Making it in Real Estate: Starting out as a Developer, is a widely acclaimed primer on the fundamentals of running a development company. Now an industry standard, Making it is in its second edition and is taught in universities nationwide.

John lives with Michele, his wife of forty-two years, in Atherton, California.