Mednick, Kevin 1953-

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Mednick, Kevin 1953-

PERSONAL:

Born 1953, in Woodridge, NY; three children. Education: Attended Binghamton University; University of Southern California, J.D.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Albany, NY. Agent—Mike Fila, Himmelrich PR, 3600 Clipper Mill Rd., Ste. 245, Baltimore, MD 21211. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Lawyer. Worked as a law clerk for a county court judge, associate counsel for a personal injury defense firm, in-house counsel at an insurance company, and as an assistant district attorney; Bendall and Mednick, Schenectady, NY, partner. WGY-AM, Schenectady, Don Weeks morning radio show, weekly "Real Law" segment.

WRITINGS:

An Almost Life, Permanent Press (Sag Harbor, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kevin Mednick was born in 1953 in Woodridge, New York. He graduated from Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York, and attended law school at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. During his legal career he served as a law clerk to a county court judge, as associate counsel for a personal injury defense firm, as in-house counsel for an insurance company, as an assistant district attorney, and as a partner for the Bendall and Mednick law firm in Schenectady, New York, which concentrates on medical malpractice and personal injury cases. He has appeared on the Don Weeks morning radio show on WGY-AM in Schenectady as part of a weekly radio segment called "Real Law," which deals with various aspects of personal injury law. He lives near Albany, New York, and has three children.

Mednick's first novel, An Almost Life, is about Mike Samuels, a personal injury lawyer who is experiencing a severe mid-life crisis. Divorced with two teenaged children, Samuels is falling apart, although he shows himself to be witty, entertaining, and charming when he chooses. Samuels's greatest flaw is his constant and continuing deep, destructive analysis of every aspect and encounter of his life and work, an analysis that throws him into a debilitating depression. Both assisted and harassed by his able secretary Alice, his laissez-faire friend Dan Stoneham, and his girlfriend Ann-Marie, Samuels manages to work his way through his life and job.

Samuels has a potential new client, Evelyn Walker, who has lost her scalp during a mechanical accident at the paper goods plant where she works. No one will take her case in the town where she lives, so she seeks help out of town from Samuels. She sees him as her savior, and although he tries to convince her that he cannot give her the help she needs, he very much wants to be her hero. To pursue Evelyn's lawsuit he must pull himself out of his funk and focus on her case. The trial, which takes place in the courtroom of a small town in upstate New York, reveals several twists and turns as Mednick brings the story to its conclusion.

Mednick treats his reader to a cast of characters drawn from his own experiences as a personal injury lawyer. Samuels's commentary on these personalities, which include cowardly jurors, irritating judges, and various semi-related topics, such as working-class psychology and the stupidity of golf, are funny and incisive.

Attorney Mark Solomon thought that Mednick's book was a good depiction of a lawyer's professional life. In his review of An Almost Life for the Billable Hour, Solomon commented that Mednick "holds a mirror up to our profession, and a little self-reflection is healthy. … Reading this book as a trial lawyer, I enjoyed Mr. Mednick's attention to detail and his commentary on the inner life of a litigating attorney." David Giacalone, in his review for F/K/A, called An Almost Life "fully satisfying and genuinely successful" and "a constant treat." He declared: "Read it for the sheer entertainment; for its insights into middle-aging, or finding yourself, your mate, or your place in the world." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly called the book a "quippy, discursive tale … [with] an appealing smalltown hero," while a critic for Kirkus Reviews said that the book was "fast-paced [and] entertaining."