There's a certain amount of truth to the cliché that most lawyers have a secret ambition to pen a courtrom thriller. Like (ahem)former newspaper reporters, most lack the discipline to sit down and start, let alone finish their Great American Novel. But some do manage to get something done in their spare time. Dallas lawyer Mark Werbner has been named as a finalist in the 2008 Texas Bar Journal Short Fiction Writing Contest, for his short story, "The Test." Werbner's tale recounts a big-shot civil attorney's somewhat bumbling representation of a thuggish client in a gritty murder case. And it wouldn't be fair if the story didn't have an unexpected plot twist.

Werbner, cofounder of Dallas-based Sayles Werbner, is a veteran trial attorney who has handled some of the country's most notable cases during his 30 years of practicing law. His courtroom victory in a $200 million contract dispute between members of the de Boule mining family was been recognized by the National Law Journal as one of the top defense victories last year. I can see a screenplay-in-the-making for his efforts to strike a blow against terrorism by going after their financing sources, a case that has already received national media attention.