Gladiator-at-Law by Frederik Pohl
"Gladiator-at-Law" follows the story of Charles Mundin, a struggling lawyer who becomes embroiled in a complex battle against G.M.L. Corporation, a company that has manipulated the housing market using a groundbreaking invention known as the bubble-house. Co-owners Don and Norma Lavin seek Mundin’s help after their father's tragic suicide, driven by G.M.L.'s betrayal. The plot thickens as G.M.L. kidnaps Don, the sole person aware of the location of their father’s stock, in an effort to maintain control.
Mundin partners with various characters, including Norvie Bligh, a worker affected by corporate greed, and Harry Ryan, an eccentric yet brilliant attorney, to reclaim the Lavins' rightful ownership and dismantle G.M.L.'s power. As they navigate threats and deceit, the team devises strategies to undermine G.M.L.'s market stability, leading to high-stakes confrontations with influential figures like the Green, Charlesworth law firm. The narrative culminates in a dramatic showdown where personal sacrifices are made, ultimately allowing the Lavins to produce their socially responsible bubble-house. Through its intricate plot, "Gladiator-at-Law" critiques corporate malfeasance and the struggle for justice in a flawed system.
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Gladiator-at-Law
First published: 1955
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—dystopia
Time of work: The near future, no sooner than 2055
Locale: New York City and environs, including the slums of Belly Rave
The Plot
Criminal lawyer Charles Mundin, scraping by on the fringes of a decent life, is contacted by Don and Norma Lavin, 25 percent owners of G.M.L. Corporation, which makes the bubble-house, decent societys ubiquitous housing. G.M.L. double-crossed Don and Norma’s father, inventor of the bubble-house, using his “invention” to manipulate the housing industry. Their father committed suicide. Only through a G.M.L. error did control of their fathers stock come to them. Because G.M.L. cannot risk snatching the stock certificates and trying to explain a forced sale, it kidnaps and brainwashes Don Lavin, the only one who knows where the original stock is hidden.
Norvie Bligh, whom Mundin knows, is a worker who helps produce Field Days, bloody extravaganzas designed to pacify the underside of societys pent-up frustrations. He is double-crossed, fired, and jailed. Mundin bails him out. Blighs company notifies G.M.L., which immediately shuts down the Blighs bubble-house systems. Bligh morosely moves his wife and daughter to Belly Rave, the New York City slum where the citys have-nots must live. He learns Belly Rave survival techniques and resigns himself to a grimy existence.
Norma Lavin arranges for Harry Ryan to be attorney-of-record for the Lavins case. He is a dope-addled old corporate lawyer living in Belly Rave, but he is brilliant when lucid. Mundin acts as point man. They will buy one share of stock and find out when and where the next G.M.L. stockholders meeting is. Mundin will show up to sow discontent and recruit other stockholders.
G.M.L. kidnaps Norma to hold until after the stockholders meeting, thinking that it will then be safe because Dons brainwashed mind will not be able to find the Lavins stock in order to prove ownership. Mundin enlists Blighs help in finding Norma. They discover that G.M.L. is holding her at the site of the upcoming meeting. She is returned to them at the meeting.
Three stockholders join them after learning that the Lavins own 25 percent of G.M.L. With the stockholders money, Mundin and Norma enlist Blighs help in finding an underground doctor to repair Dons memory.
Once Don has his memory back, the group learns that Dons fingerprints and retinal prints are the identification needed to get the stock. The group begins to undermine confidence in G.M.L.s bubble-houses by spraying solvent on the earliest built houses, then capitalizing on the resulting loss of market confidence in G.M.L.s product.
The group has been monitored electronically by the Green, Charlesworth law firm, led by two incredibly old, rich lawyers kept alive because of their massive influence and wealth. Green, Charlesworths economywide influence relies on the status quo, including G.M.L.s continued financial stability. Mundin and Norma meet Green and Charlesworth, who say they will destroy the group and its efforts.
Two of the three stockholders who had joined with the Lavins abandon the group when they learn of Green, Charlesworths threat. Green and Charlesworth are able to enact the threat by triggering a relapse in Dons con-dition: The underground doctor was a Green, Charles-worth operative. Don walks off in a stupor to volunteer for the guaranteed suicide of Field Day. His death will preserve G.M.L. stability because Norma and the others will not be able to get the stock without Dons identification.
The group rescues Don, but Harry Ryan is killed and one of Blighs friends sacrifices himself to save Don, who regains his memory. Later, the group starts dumping its stock, causing other stockholders to abandon shares. The group then buys 70 percent of G.M.L. The Lavin bubble-house finally goes into production, to be used in the socially conscientious manner originally intended.