Filmmaker John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, The Rookie) has signed on to write and direct The Partner for New Regency.

The project will be adapted from the 2005 John Grisham novel, which centers on a young Mississippi attorney who fakes his own death in order to swindle millions of dollars from his law firm. New Regency head Arnon Milchan previously wrote the John Grisham adaptations The Client, A Time to Kill, and Runaway Jury.

No production schedule was given for The Partner. It is said that John Lee Hancock is also circling Highwaymen, which he might direct before The Partner.