[7] Formerly a greedy corporate lawyer, he has reinvented himself as a champion of the underdog who runs a one-man legal office with the help of his secretary Eleanor Downey.
His first client is Gail, a woman whose husband has been framed for a crime by John "Babe" Connor, the wealthy and powerful publisher of an archly conservative tabloid newspaper; Connor's lawyer Sean, an aspiring politician, is a former law school classmate of Maxwell's who is now married to Maxwell's ex-wife.
[7] Its original cast comprised Blais as Petey Maxwell, Clare Coulter as Eleanor, Nancy Beatty as Sarah, Benedict Campbell as John Connor, Dawn Roach as Gail and Hardee T. Lineham as Sean Harris.
[9] The play opened at the Perry Street Theatre in New York City in December 1990, with Saul Rubinek in the lead.
[10] A 1996 production at the West Coast Ensemble Theatre in Los Angeles starred Ian Buchanan as Petey Maxwell.