FAQ

Though the movie does not acknowledge, and adds some dramatic elements to the reality, it takes more than coincidental inspiration from the life of a lawyer named Rob Billot employed at the law firm "Taft Stettinius & Hollister". He (and the law firm) was the corporate defense attorney for eight years for DuPont, before he broke out form the law firm and went against DuPont, and finally won the case.

Bilott's story was the focus of a featured cover story by Nathaniel Rich in the New York Times Magazine, entitled, "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare".

Michael Clayton is what's described as "a fixer". This means that he fixes problems for the firms clients. While, in a sense, all of the firms attorney's fix problems, Clayton specializes in more sensitive issues, ones that sometimes skirt the boundaries of legality or morality. As he explains towards the end he does things like suppress embarrassing photos, convinces the police not to press charges, cleans up drunk or high clients etc etc. He knows all the firms dirty laundry but he isn't a partner (as Karen Crowder notes) and does not practice law in any traditional sense.

A few years ago, Michael Clayton invested in a restaurant with his brother. As he explains this was meant to be a safety net, a separate source of income so that if he ever had to leave the firm, he could. He sunk most of his money into the restaurant and borrowed from some shady characters. At the start of the story the restaurant has failed and his brother who seems to have embezzled money has fled. Michael is left to settle the debt. The restaurant serves to heighten the tension for Michael and to explain why he can't simply walk away from a firm which he's obviously increasingly unhappy with. Michael is also a gambling addict - which could easily have contributed to the money problems created by the failure of the restaurant.