Tom Cruise. Chris O'Donnell. Matt Damon. Samuel L.Jackson. Matthew McConaughey. Brad Renfro.

All actors that have headlined film adaptations of John Grishman novels. Now Shia LaBeouf joins that elite club.

The "Transformers" star has inked a deal to star in "The Associate", Paramount Pictures' upcoming legal-thriller based on the book of the same name - a book, mind you, that isn't on shelves until January.

LaBeouf will play a student who's about to graduate from Yale Law School when he's manipulated into accepting a job at a prestige law firm and given privileged information about a multibillion-dollar lawsuit.

Variety has more