Posts

We Are Everywhere

We Are Everywhere.

If you’re like us, you love to get lost in a good book or a movie. Since quarantine started, we have certainly read a lot of books and watched a ton of movies. If you want a peek into our every day, check out these movies:

1. My Cousin Vinny: Hands down, one of the funniest movies EVER;
2. Legally Blonde: Although not totally accurate, there are some similarities to the law school experience;
3. Liar Liar: Because Jim Carey is always funny;
4. Chicago: As awesome as the movie is, the play is even better;
5. Erin Brockovich: The key to every awesome lawyer is having an equally amazing paralegal;
6. To Kill a Mockingbird: Although considered controversial now, it has been considered a time period classic;
7. A Few Good Men: It uses words like honor, code and loyalty;
8. A Civil Action: Weirdly enough, the book version was pre-requisite reading before our first year of law school and the basis of a civil procedure exam question;
9. A Marriage Story: Love, love, love this movie because of how it ends;
10. Kramer vs Kramer:  When the divorce process goes really bad;
11. 12 Angry Men: An interesting perspective of the process during which jurors come to a verdict;
11. The Accused: If you can get through the graphic three minutes, the film is an excellent depiction of a victim’s emotional journey;
12. The Lincoln Lawyer: It probably was not a coincidence that Lincoln hired Matthew McConaughey as their spokes person a few years after the movie’s release;
13. Philadelphia: We dare you not to cry at the end;
14.  Primal Fear: Probably one of the best psychological thrillers of all time;
15. Judgment at Nuremberg: Selected by the United States National Film Registry as one of the most “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” movies ever made; and
16. Brewster’s Millions: We have never seen someone include such crazy terms in a Will or Trust, but we could certainly have fun trying to spend all that money to inherit the ‘real’ fortune!

What is YOUR favorite movie?

Regards,
John & Faye

/by
, ,

Television Lawyers

If you follow us on Facebook*, you probably know that we love to reference movies and television shows. We bet you know some of these names: Vinny Gambini. Rachel Zane. Saul Goodman.  Fletcher Reede,   Sol & Robert. Rebecca Bunch.  Lionel Hutz.  Elle Woods.

What do all of these names have in common? They are all attorneys created by Hollywood and take creative liberties about what it like to practice law in the real world.

1. Attorneys are more like chess players than dramatic actors.  If you walk into a court house, you won’t see lawyers slamming their fists on the table or hear dramatic music. What you will find is lawyers huddled in a corner or in a conference room, trying to position their client in the most favorable way. There are, however, those Elle Woods toe tapping moments, where a new realization changes our next move.

2. Attorneys are actually decent people. Being an attorney means that you get to help people in your community with real solutions. We are generally nice people, just trying to perform a service, not the nasty, self serving jerks that Hollywood often makes us out to be.

3. Attorneys are pretty honest.  We present evidence that is favorable to support our client’s position. We can be creative in arguments and questioning.  We can present alternative explanations.  Much to the surprise of some clients and as Fletcher Reede once said, we “cannot lie.”

4.  Attorneys put a lot of work into an argument.  Good attorneys can make a strong argument and make it appear effortless.  One of our best friends participated scholarship pageants when we were in college. Did she wake up every morning looking like a Disney princess?  Nope, but she wanted to win, so she practiced her singing and spent a lot of time fine tuning her interview skills.  Similarly, attorneys spend hours, days and months looking at evidence and planning to argue our client’s position.

Who is your favorite lawyer on television or in a movie?**

If we can assist you in any legal matters, please call or email us at fayejslgal.com.

Regards,
John & Faye

* If you don’t, you should: https://www.facebook.com/Wjslegal/?ref=bookmarks
** Ours is currently Saul Goodman!

/by