A former corporate lawyer with a gambling addiction loses his job and marriage. He starts a law practice, gaining a secretary and investigator, using his card skills to resolve cases without court.

Once a successful corporate lawyer at a prestigious Philadelphia law firm, Jack Shannon lost his marriage and his job, due in part to a compulsive gambling habit. While Shannon maintains a good relationship with his daughter, his professional career has hit rock bottom. He becomes a general practioner of law, gaining a loyal secretary in Lucy Acosta when he manages to free her boyfriend from jail. Shannon also gains an unlikely investigator in Wilmer Slade, a verbose enforcer for one of the many loan sharks to whom Jack is in debt. Although he has sworn off gambling, Shannon continues to use his skill as a cardplayer to help him work out his cases, and he always tries to work out deals for his clients without having to go to court.—Mark Limvere-Robinson

Jack Shannon recognized that he was turning into the kind of man he had grown up hating. A workaholic Philadelphia lawyer, Jack brought home the big bucks and the lifestyle that went with it. But as he put it. "I treated my wife badly and I knew it and one day she walked. She took my daughter with her." The heartbroken Shannon became a compulsive gambler, which drained his fortune and ruined his legal career. Now Jack is back, running a one-man low-rent law office with a part-time secretary who bartered her labor for Jack's services in getting her boyfriend out of jail. He's trying to regain his daughter's love and trust, and doing his best to resist temptation.—ABGilpin