Things Lawyers Like – Secretly Wishing Their Careers Were More Like TV

Ask a lawyer about his path to becoming a member of the bar and he will almost certainly bombard you with stories of the many mundane hours he spent reading and outlining. Then ask him what law practice has been like and expect to hear about days and nights he spent reviewing documents and researching case law. In other words, he will describe a life that is nothing like what they show on popular TV shows about lawyers, and then promptly point out how the TV shows about lawyers are nothing like the real thing.

Lawyers have a love-hate relationship with TV legal dramas. They love the attention they bring to the profession, but they hate to admit that the practice of law really isn’t all that exciting. After all, hardly anyone wears a flattering outfit, flirts in the hallways or goes to happy hour with their entire department at 5:30 pm. Oh yeah, and the gossip and drama filled co-ed bathroom from Ally McBeal simply doesn’t exist at Big Law LLP. So, the lawyer’s only viable plan is to knock down the legal drama to build himself up.

Nothing brings this out like Law & Order. Watch an episode of Law & Order with a group of lawyers and you are certain to hear statements like “You can’t do that!” or “That would never happen in real life.” Mostly inaccurate hearsay objections are sure to abound. But truth be told, these same lawyers are excited to see a courtroom on TV and would love to see one in person some day; especially one where a dramatic cross-examination is interrupted by a theme song teaser and a commercial break.

Any lawyer would also love to be able to channel his inner Eli Stone and predict the future. Then again if a person had that ability, he’d never finish law school.