A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar
Over the past few months, a number of you have written to us about A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar. It's a critically acclaimed, independent documentary film about lawyers and the legal profession.
The movie made the rounds on the film festival circuit earlier this year, and now it's out on DVD. Here's a brief synopsis:
A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar... is a celebration of the law and triumph over adversity that follows 6 future lawyers of all ages and backgrounds as they undertake the rigorous and excruciating California Bar Exam while also dealing thematically with certain hot button issues in our profession. The [themes of the film] include, among other things, stress, big firm economics, substance abuse, law as a calling, frivolous litigation, bar exam economics, women in the law and other threads that you can likely intuit.
These subjects are all near and dear to the hearts of ATL readers. And there's stuff in the film that ties into this week's special theme, non-top-tier law school graduates:
The cast members run the gamut, from a former Marine who has taken and failed the California Bar Exam 41 times, to top and middle graduates of the Loyola and UCLA Law Schools, to a Latina activist from East L.A. who attended a non-accredited law school, to other diverse and interesting people.
Sadly, the film was produced before the rise to fame of Loyola 2L. But it features other legal celebrities, such as Alan Dershowitz, Scott Turow, and Nancy Grace -- all of whom appear in this short clip:
Some of our favorite films are documentaries -- e.g., Spellbound, Capturing the Friedmans -- and some of our favorite people are lawyers. We haven't seen A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar yet, but we intend to; it looks like it's right up our alley. Exciting stuff!
A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar [official website]
A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar [trailer]
A Lawyer Walks Into A Bar [Amazon]
(19) Comments
... and didn't even see it coming.
41 times? Really? That's over 20 years. Imagine spending 20 years of your life studying for the bar? Either this guy was not studying or he has the worst life ever.
There should be a limit to the number of times you can sit for the bar. If you can't pass the damn thing by the fifth try, you have no business practicing law.
Love the old lady in the clip: "I'm a Christian..."
Hey, Mr. Big Shot Author, that's two things.
Buh-ha. What's Turow's billing rate?
Hopefully this will expose the utter scam of People's College of Law.
People's College of Law is to "College," what People's Republic of China is to "Republic.
The mayor of the second most populous city in the United States of America is a People's College of Law alum....
Of course, Villaraigosa also failed the bar multiple times.
5:10
But he has extramarital sex with hot women!
God I can't stand Nancy Grace.
I saw this last year at SXSW. It's definitely worth watching.
Roger that big time, 6:09
Points:
(1) Mark Lanier has had way, way too much plastic surgery;
(2) If you are at the LAPD station, don't call Nancy Grace, she's already convicted you;
(3) For $600//hour Scott Turow will complain about the billable hour, but not offer any alternation. (Cf. Winston Churchill on Capitalism.)
"The cast members run the gamut, from a former Marine who has taken and failed the California Bar Exam 41 times, to top and middle graduates of the Loyola and UCLA Law Schools, to a Latina activist from East L.A. who attended a non-accredited law school, to other diverse and interesting people."
What gamut is that, exactly? Totally unqualified to almost mediocre? I'm surprised they wouldn't throw in one, e.g., Stanford or Harvard grad who is unworried, slacks off all summer, and passes the bar just fine. It's not that "rigorous," folks; there are just a lot of idiots who take it (as this film apparently demonstrates).
Point:
(1) "alternation"?
11:53: The old "I never studied until the week before the exam" is probably the most common (and bullshit) story one hears. This is a documentary, not fiction.
I do actually know a guy who went to Harvard who slacked off all summer. He failed.
8:11
I gather you failed. Harvard was you, wasn't it? And by "Harvard," you meant "Brooklyn Law School"--the Harvard of the outer boroughs.