| “ | Not just screwing, Mitch. All sorts of intimate acts, oral and whatnot, that can be particularly hard for a trusting wife to forgive and impossible to forget. | „ |
| ~ DeVasher, showing Mitch McDeere photos of himself with a Cayman Islands prostitute |
Bill DeVasher was an antagonist in the John Grisham novel The Firm and the 1993 film based on the novel.
He was portrayed in the film by Wilford Brimley.
A former New Orleans police detective, DeVasher was the head of security for the Memphis based Bendini, Lambert, and Locke law firm. The firm was the law firm of choice for the Chicago based Morolto crime family, and the firm was actively involved in tax fraud and money laundering - with their illegal activities accounting for 75% of their business. As the head of security he monitored the firm's attorneys. In addition to being the firm's head of security DeVasher also was the local hitman for the Morolto family, doing their dirty work for them.
DeVasher arranged for the deaths of the five attorneys who had died while working at the firm. Each of the attorneys deaths were either ruled accidents or a suicide in one case. Each of these five attorneys were thought to either be about to betray the firm or were already working with law enforcement.
A couple days after the deaths of firm attorneys Marty Kozinski and Joe Hodge in the Cayman Islands recent Harvard Law graduate Mitch McDeere arrived at the firm. He soon passed the bar exam and was licensed as an attorney. McDeere was also suspicious of the deaths of the attorneys and other things that didn't add up.
When McDeere went to the Cayman Islands on firm business, DeVasher arranged for McDeere to have a tryst with a local prostitute. When the two had an encounter on the beach, DeVasher took photographs so that he could later blackmail McDeere if need be.
After McDeere decided to work for the FBI DeVasher decided that McDeere had to be taken care of. After a chase through Memphis DeVasher accidently killed one of his minions. Mitch then beat him to death with his briefcase.