the archives of f/k/a . . .

Pape & Chandler’s Pit Bull has a new fan: James J. Kilpatrick.

Asking, “How Do You Feel About Bulldogs?” (The Conservative

Voice, March 21, 2006). Kilpatrick describes the battle of the

Ft. Lauderdale motorcycle injury lawyers with the Florida Bar,

asking:

First question: How do you feel about trial lawyers?

 

Second question: How do you feel about pit bull dogs?

May the one breed lawfully adopt an image of the other?

 

 

The Supreme Court will step into this touchy question if it

agrees to hear an appeal brought by two Fort Lauderdale

lawyers against the Florida Bar.

Kilpatrick rightly notes that “Some close questions of First Amendment

law make it a tough case to call.”   However:

“The Florida lawyers are eloquently represented in the U.S. Supreme

Court by professor Rodney A. Smolla of the University of Richmond

School of Law. In his petition for review he argues persuasively that

lawyers should not be punished for advertising “that is not false,

fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading in any sense.” Good point. Is

the amorphous “dignity of the profession” an interest so overriding

that it trumps a First Amendment right of commercial speech? Good

question.”

Although noting that “Lawyers have had a tough time of it at least since Luke

wrote his gospel 2,000 years ago,” Kilpatrick concludes: 

 

                                                                                     Hoya Jack

“My own thought comes down to this: If I want to sue my doctor

for a botched operation, give me a pit bull lawyer every time. And

if I learn of his services on TV, so what? “

Of course, we’ve been covering this case in depth since May 2004. Here is

our discussion of the pretentious opinion of the Florida Supreme Court in

Florida Bar v. John Pape and Marc Chandler.  Two days ago, we posted

“pit bull logo taken down – do you feel more dignified?,” which includes

images of the Pape & Chandler masthead, with and without their Pit Bull

logo.  We have also preserved a P&C pit bull ad here.  

 

update (11:30 PM, March 21):  Marc Chandler just emailed me to say that

1) The Florida Bar waived its right to respond, and 2) the Supreme Court has

not requested a response.  We’re afraid that this makes it highly unlikely that

the case will make it to the “discuss list” and then be granted certiorari.  Let’s

hope miracles nonetheless happen.

 

“PitBullLogo”

 

runaway kite!

the dog also eyes it

restlesslly

 

     Kobayashi Issa

       translated by David G. Lanoue

 

 

p.s. Speaking of personal injury lawyers, we’re pleased to

say that the first two Google results, this morning, for the

query What Is An Appropriate Contingency Fee> were from

here and here at f/k/a - despite the insults of a certain dignified

p/i lawyer..   

                                                                                        here

 

My Referer Page came through again for me, today, just when

I needed to be distracted from those darn real-world, evil lawyers.

Someone (a “Sucher”) in Germany did eine Google Suche with the

query /are all lawyers trustworthy/. Did the querist expect a yes

or no answer? Well, er oder sie found neither here at f/k/a,

but instead got an excellent quote by Sol M. Linowitz, from his book

The Betrayed Profession, on the profession needing to live up to its

rhetoric of providing justice for all.

However, I don’t want to harp on Sol’s sermon. Instead, I want to

point you to an article that I found among the other Google results.

It’s a year old, but I haven’t seen it mentioned at other weblogs. It is

“Court TV’s 15 Most Memorable Movie Lawyers” (Hollywood Heat, by

Daniel Green, May 12, 2005.) It’s a great list, with interesting analysis,

plus quotes from a few lawyers and law professors about their favorite

film lawyers.

 

Although the Dignity Police certainly won’t agree, I concur with the #1 result:

 

 

1. Vincent Gambini (Joe Pesci) in “My Cousin Vinny” (1992).

The author notes:

“Best of all, he keeps the jury (and the audience) entertained

and focused. Last year, the Seventh Circuit Bar Association

voted Vinny’s opening trial statement (’Uh, everything that guy

just said is bullshit. Thank you.’) as the best in movie lawyer

history. In the end, we’re inclined to agree with screenwriter

David Mamet, who once said of My Cousin Vinny, ‘I think

that s the best movie ever made, don t you?’ “

 

[Ed. Note: And paralegal Mona Lisa Vito was very memorable, too! Did you say "two yutes"?]

 

Here are the other results (go check out the discussion), with a few quotes that I particularly appreciated:

 

to kill a mockingbird

 

2. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) in “To Kill A Mockingbird” (1962)

. . . “Atticus Finch was a genteel Southern lawyer. It was very

difficult to raise his ire to the level that’s needed today,” argues

attorney Mike Papantonio, author o the “In Search of Atticus

Finch: A Motivational Book for Lawyers.” “I don’t know if Atticus

Finch is relevant anymore.” Still, of all the lawyers Court TV

interviewed for this article, Peck’s portrayal was the performance

most often mentioned.

 

“I saw that film as a young kid,” recalls Scott A. Hughes, a

personal injury lawyer in Bellevue, Washington, “but it still rever-

berates.”

 

“Was that why you became a lawyer?”

 

“No,” Hughes admitted. “I became a lawyer to make money.”

 

3. Arthur Kirkland (Al Pacino) in “And Justice For All“ (1979)

. . . “Eighteen years later, Pacino portrayed a very different, much
less honorable type of lawyer in “The Devil’s Advocate.” In that film,
he played Satan, a partner in a successful New York firm.”

4. Charles W. Kingsfield, Jr (John Houseman) in “The Paper Chase“ (1973)

“He delivers probably the most famous line ever written about law school:
‘You teach yourselves the law. But I train your mind. You come in here
with a skull full of mush and you leave thinking like a lawyer’.”

the verdict

5. Frank Galvin (Paul Newman) in “The Verdict“ (1982)

“The practice of law, the real practice, is 99% paperwork. If they
ever made a movie about a lawyer and it was real, it would be 1,000
hours long, boring and no one would watch.”

– Steven Moss with Kahn Kleinman in Cleveland.

6 and 7. Tie: Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy) and Matthew Harrison Brady (Frederic March) in “Inherit the Wind“ (1960)

8. Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell) in “Judgment at Nuremberg“ (1961)
9. Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) in “A Few Good Men“ (1992)

. 10. Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) in “Legally Blonde“ (2001)

“Susan Hitzig, a Manhattan real-estate attorney, said she connected with
Woods ‘because I was considered a dumb blonde too. She showed you
can be a good lawyer and not have to change your whole life around’.”

11. Paul Biegler (James Stewart) in “Anatomy Of A Murder“ (1959)

13. Amanda Bonner (Katharine Hepburn) in “Adam’s Rib“ (1949) adam’s rib

“Hollywood is rarely kind to its female attorneys. Most are either incom-
petent (Demi Moore in “A Few Good Men“) or have sex with their client
(Glenn Close in “Jagged Edge“). Amanda Bonner, though, is smart, tough
and successful. . . . Bonner was certainly a nice role model for young
women interested in becoming lawyers, especially because she emerges
from the case [as criminal defense counsel vs. her ADA husband] triumphant.

14. Fletcher Reede (Jim Carrey) in “Liar Liar“ (1997)

15. George Simon (John Barrymore ) in “Counsellor at Law“ (1933)

Is your appetite whetted for more films about lawyers and the law? Seethe 700 titles (linked to summaries) at the Law in Popular Culture Collection of the Texas/Austin Tarlton Law Library.

wind-beaten marque
saying only
“Coming Soon”

summer day
a seat in the movies
away from others

matinee
the summer sun
under the exit door

 

…………. by John Stevenson
“wind-beaten marquee” – Some of the Silence (1999)
“matinee” – Quiet Enough (Red Moon Press, 2004)
“summer day” – Upstate Dim Sum (2004/II)

 

drive in movie…

opening our eyes

during the love scene

ed markowski

 

leaving the movies-
believing this world
is the real one

 

 

 

insomnia-
a screensaver glows
through a dark window

 

 

clouds seen

through clouds

seen through

 

 

 

jim kacian

“leaving the movies–” & “insomnia–” – World Haiku Assn.

“clouds seen” - The Haiku Anthology (3rd Ed.); Six Directions (1997)

the paper chase