The Client is Grisham's second attempt to portray a female protagonist.

The first, law student Darby Shaw in The Pelican Brief, is brilliant and resourceful as she unravels a mystery and flees from threats against her life.

Yet she remains largely a flat character who does what the thriller genre demands — stay alive throughout daring adventures. Grisham expends more effort with Reggie, giving her a very specific personal history, a number of eccentric traits, and a challenging intellectual and moral dilemma on what advice to give Mark. Darby fits the formula, whereas Reggie is a character who could appear in a mainstream novel.