As the start of the academic year is rapidly approaching, those of you who are going to university for the first time will undoubtedly be stressing but fear not! This blog will give you something law related to do whilst also taking your mind off of any of your worries. After all who doesn’t love switching on a film and switching off their brain! So, enjoy this selection of my 7 favourite law related TV series’ and films.
(Special mention to the court scene in BBC Sherlock Season 2, Episode 3, The Reichenbach Fall)
1. Rounders
Beginning with my favourite of the movies about law students, this movie features Matt Damon as a poker shark turned law student, forced to crawl back into the New York City poker underworld to save a dead-beat friend. It’s not a truly great movie by any means but it has some stellar moments – particularly memorable is John Malkovich an eccentric gangster Teddy KGB. Malkovich’s performance is what helped elevate the film to a cult status.
There isn’t a whole lot of lawyering or law-studenting in here, but is that really such a bad thing? It’s a great one to watch when you don’t want to think too much.
2. A Few Good Men
Centring around whether two US Marines were ordered to kill a fellow Marine, this film stars many household names and has become somewhat of a classic. As law students, we all know that no case is clear cut and this one is no exception.
3. Legally Blonde
If you didn’t watch Elle Woods march around that courtroom in her infamous pink attire and want to be her, I don’t know what to say. More realistic people may argue that the story is completely unbelievable, but a) show me a courtroom drama that is truly realistic and b) that’s not the point of this film. The lesson is this – with hard work and a positive attitude, anything is possible.
4. Erin Brockovich
Great for law students who want to ‘make a difference’, this film tells the story of the legal struggle between a large cooperation and a legal assistant who uncovers its misdoings. This is also a really inspiring film for feminists everywhere, as prior to getting the legal assistant job, Erin was an unemployed single mother.
5. Silk
Running between 2011-2014, this BBC drama series told the lives of the barristers working at a fictional criminal law chambers in London. The great thing about this series is the way it balances showing the characters’ working and personal lives. The show’s writer, Peter Moffat, drew on its experiences as a former barrister, which is probably why the show – for all its drama – still retains an air of authenticity. In an interview, Moffat said that “life at the bar is the richest possible drama territory”, which I believe would make an excellent wall quote for any aspiring barrister!
6. Suits
If you are reading this I know you are already aware of what Suits is – after all being asked “have you watched suits” is a rite of passage for those doing a law degree.
7. The Paper Chase
This is really the only serious flick about law school life. It’s brooding and intense, perfectly capturing the dynamic between law professor and student. The movie is worth watching just for actor John Houseman’s academy award winning performance as Professor Kingsfield. The Paper Chase’s Professor Kingsfield is like a distillation every one of these scary Arch-villain type professors.
I doubt you’ll run into any professor quite as intimidating as Kingsfield, but the movie is still instructive: if watching makes you want to be 500 miles away from a classroom situation like that, you might want to rethink those law school plans! Also, while the depiction of the socratic method may be exaggerated, the movie is deadly accurate in showing what studying for finals is like. Law school finals are all-consuming!
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