The Lincoln Lawyer

Louis Roulet first appears to be an upstanding, innocent young man. He is a handsome, wealthy real estate agent in Beverly Hills. He drives expensive cars and lives a flashy life. His smooth presentation makes the revelation of his sinister actions all the more creepy. As the truth of his character is revealed, he turns out to be a poor student, a failed writer, and incapable of maintaining real relationships. His mother is the only person who can tolerate him. They have a co-dependent and twisted relationship.

Roulet is the ultimate villain. By the end of the novel he has raped, murdered, threatened, and had his mother kill on his behalf. He began following Mick as soon as he discovered he was the lawyer for Jesus Menendez; he chose him for his defense attorney to protect himself. Roulet is referred to multiple times as evil. He shows an incredible ability to lie, deceive, and calculate. Even after being discovered, he shows no remorse. Roulet is one of the only one-dimensional characters in the book. The author offers no motive for his criminal acts other than that he is pure evil.  

Reggie Campo is the victim in Louis Roulet’s case. She is a sex worker who offered her services to Roulet, only to be attacked by him. She first appears to be a confident temptress who may have targeted Roulet and framed him for a crime he didn’t commit. However, she is revealed as a timid young woman who came to Hollywood hoping to make it big in the movies, only to wind up selling her body for sex in order to pay the bills. 

Jesus is an innocent man serving time in San Quentin for a crime he did not commit. Jesus slept with a sex worker that Roulet killed, and because Roulet wiped his fingerprints, Jesus was the only suspect in the crime. Due to his socioeconomic status, his background in the projects of L.A., and his broken English, Jesus could not properly explain himself to the police.

Jesus trusted Mick to represent him. However, when Mick saw the evidence and took one look at Jesus, he assumed Jesus was guilty and never tried to prove otherwise. Jesus changes in prison. He begins as a man desperate to prove his innocence and transforms into an angry, bitter person who will never forgive Mick or the society that didn’t believe he could be innocent.

Levin is a private investigator who makes his living working for criminal defense attorneys. He is a former police officer who turned to private investigating, possibly because he was outed as gay at work. He has a quick wit and an incredible ability to understand the nuance of a case and find the imperative evidence. Levin and Mick are very close friends, so Levin works especially hard on Mick’s cases. Levin discovers the piece of evidence that frees Jesus Menendez—evidence that gets Levin murdered by Louis and his mother. 

Maggie McPherson (nicknamed Maggie McFierce) is Mick’s first ex-wife and a prosecutor for the District Attorney’s office. Together they share a daughter named Haley. Maggie divorced Mick because she hates defense attorneys; she thinks they are liars who keep criminals on the streets. However, she still has a soft spot for Mick, and is the first one to pick him up from a bar or help him with a case if he needs it. As Mick changes and grows throughout the novel, Maggie is open to repairing their relationship. 

Mary Windsor is Louis Roulet’s mother. She is extremely wealthy, white, and fiercely protective of her son. She owns the real estate firm that employs Roulet. Mary is willing to lie, manipulate, and murder to keep her son out of jail and with her: She concocts a false rape story to help her son win his trial. Eventually, Mary turns out to have murdered Levin. When she attempts to kill Mick after her son is arrested for the murder of Martha Renteria, Mick shoots her to death in self-defense.