Leading Lawyers Weigh In on Portrayal In The Media
Santa Monica, United States – August 20, 2020 / Platinum Results Media. /
Can you remember the very first time you came across the word ‘lawyer’? For most of us it was on a television series such as ‘Law & Order’ or ‘Suits’. Perhaps you watched your parents enjoying shows such as ‘LA Law’ or ‘Cops’? This raises the question; what is the attraction of films and shows depicting law? As a society do we enjoy watching justice get served? Do we feel secure on the deepest levels knowing that we are protected by the integrity of the legal system?
Whatever the reason for our obsession with shows depicting lawyers, one thing is for sure – Hollywood has delivered what we wanted. This raises the next question – Has the big and silver screen’s deeply jaded the public perception of Lawyers? Has the profession been portrayed in an unrealistic light?
For this segment, DirectRank Media has reached out to some of the nation’s most awarded and respected law firms and leading attorneys for their thoughts and opinions of how Hollywood portrays the legal profession.
- Heidi J. Thompson, Ed.M, JD is founder of Lifeguarding Legacies, PLLC, a leading estate planning firm who literally wrote the book on estate planning in Arizona ( Lifeguard Your Legacy: What every Arizonian should know about Estate Planning). When we asked the question of whether or not Thompson thought that the Hollywood portrayal of lawyers influences how people think of the legal profession she said, “Having been an extra in Harry’s Law in 2015, I think many people find lawyers intimidating based on tv stereotypes, but I’m not sure that the stereotypes hold true in estate planning. I am not a litigator. I don’t appear in court. I wear dresses more than suits. And I generally meet with families in their homes rather than a stuffy law office.”
- Diane L. Drain, from the Law Office of D.L. Drain, P.A, is one of Arizona’s leading bankruptcy and foreclosure firms. When we posed the question of whether or not Drain thought that the Hollywood portrayal of lawyers influences how people think of the legal profession she stated “Hollywood’s goal is to sell a product. No one is going to watch a show that depicts the true life of a lawyer (it is usually very boring). Instead, Hollywood distorts the practice of law in order to garner attention and sell products. The sexier, more controversial, or shocking they can make a legal situation – the more likely someone is to watch the program and buy the product.”
- Jack Wilenchik of Wilenchik and Bartness, P.C. is a leader in the litigation and trial law space in Phoenix Arizona. They handle some of the most complex litigation cases in the state of Arizona including both civil and some criminal matters. When we asked the same question regarding the public perception of lawyers via Hollywood, he stated “Yes, for better or worse. I’ve represented folks in the film industry (film producers). I know that I had a number of misconceptions about how the movie industry actually works before I met them. So it’s no surprise that Hollywood writers, who have never spent time in the legal industry, tend to get that wrong too. Even many lawyers don’t really know how courtrooms and trials work because they are not litigators.”
- Nathan Ganapathi from Ganapathi Law Group. Ganapathi Law Group is a Vancouver BC based firm focussed on estates particularly Japanese ones as Ganapathi is fluent in the Japanese language as a result of attending and graduating from Hokkaido University. Ganapathi stated that “for the most part it is too romantic” when we questioned him about the way that lawyers are portrayed on the big and silver screens.
To date 2020 appears to be the work of fiction for most of the world, however this real world, not a movie set. Although the common theme is that the way Hollywood regularly portrays lawyers is incorrect, this hasn’t stopped us from seeking and confiding in the council and opinions of trusted attorneys. No matter how unsettling the times, we can’t see that our trust in Lawmen in almost every area of practise, to decrease or waiver in the predictable future.
DirectRank Media is a Los Angeles based Public Relations firm.