Greenway Plaza is a commercial strip near Memphis’s airport and the home of Bruiser Stone’s law offices. Its location among freight terminals, light industry, and small businesses places Rudy Baylor’s new workplace far from the polished downtown firms he had expected to join, making the setting a concrete measure of his changed circumstances.

Setting and Commercial Strip

The strip stands beside a five-lane traffic artery near the airport’s final approach. It contains cleaners, a video-rental shop, a liquor store, and a small coffee shop; freight terminals, industrial businesses, and bars occupy the surrounding area. The offices extend across six or seven adjoining units at the center of the strip, their footprint reflecting the firm’s gradual expansion.

The location also sits opposite Club Amber, whose bright lights and evening crowd contrast with the law offices. When Rudy returns after dark, most cars have left the firm’s lot, and the office is empty. Greenway Plaza is therefore both a working address and a place where the boundaries between legal business and the surrounding nightlife remain close and visible.

The Law Offices

Bruiser’s firm, identified as the Law Offices of J. Lyman Stone, is a cramped, improvised workplace formed from rooms joined as the business grew. Its reception area has inexpensive furnishings and worn magazines, while the library is a narrow room crowded with books, open volumes, and legal papers. Bruiser tells Rudy the property is paid for and that he bought it fifteen years earlier. Despite its rough appearance, the office is active: staff answer calls and handle paperwork, and lawyers work in cramped rooms.

Rudy’s own office is a used room two doors from the library, furnished with a desk, chairs, filing cabinets, a phone, a dictating machine, and legal pads. Bruiser gives him keys to the building’s front door and his office, allowing him to come and go at any hour. The practical details make Greenway Plaza the base from which Rudy begins practicing law under Bruiser’s supervision.

Rudy’s Work and the Location’s Significance

Rudy first arrives at Greenway Plaza in the afternoon, having spent time in the law school library reviewing insurance bad-faith cases. After completing his employment forms and discussing his financial situation, he asks Bruiser to delay his first salary until after a scheduled bankruptcy hearing. Their arrangement is precarious, but the office gives Rudy a place to work as he tries to regain a foothold in the profession.

At the new office, Rudy lays out the Black family’s dispute with Great Benefit, explains how Barry Lancaster used him and sought control of the case, and presents a draft complaint and a termination letter for the clients. Bruiser considers the proposed filing, and Rudy sets out to secure the family’s support. Greenway Plaza thus becomes the setting for a decisive transition: Rudy moves from being displaced by downtown firms to pursuing the case from a less prestigious, more uncertain workplace of his own.