Law in Popular Culture

Meeting Miss Nelle: Ala. Lawyer Has a Rare Encounter with the Author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

Count Clark A. Cooper, an attorney in Birmingham, Ala., among the fortunate few people who have been allowed inside the inner sanctum of Harper Lee’s private life. By the normal standards of our media-drenched world, it shouldn’t be very hard to meet someone of her renown. She ought to be…

Aug 1, 2011 5:50 AM CDT

John Grisham Wins First Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction

John Grisham’s The Confession, a novel that chronicles the gut-wrenching politics of a last-ditch death penalty appeal in Texas, has been named the winner of the inaugural Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The 2011 Prize will be awarded at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 22…

Jul 28, 2011 4:21 PM CDT

Appeals Court Rejects Found-in-Trash Claim, Orders Davy Crockett Marriage Doc Returned to County

Calling a found-in-the-trash claim made on an Antiques Roadshow television episode a dog that won’t hunt, a Tennessee appellate panel has also agreed with a lower court that an unexecuted 1805 marriage license for Davy Crockett, the famed American frontiersman, soldier and politician, must be returned to the courthouse from…

Jul 27, 2011 7:44 PM CDT

Jack McCoy Named Most Popular Fictional Lawyer in Blog Contest

Move over, Lionel Hutz. The votes are in, and the most popular fictional lawyer of the last 30 years is Jack McCoy, the prosecutor played by Sam Waterston on Law & Order. Above the Law asked its readers to vote in its Fictional Lawyer contest. McCoy won, to the consternation…

Jul 21, 2011 12:57 PM CDT

Decades Ago, I Took a Newspaper’s File of Unflattering Photos of a Federal Judge, Law Partner Says

Women, more so than men, tend to be portrayed in an unflattering manner in photos as their popularity wanes, writes former Congressman and current law firm partner Martin Frost in a Politico opinion column. And, while female politicians tend to suffer the most, others including lawyers, have also felt its…

Jul 20, 2011 10:48 PM CDT

Casey Anthony Free But In Hiding Due to ‘Lynch-Mob Mentality’ of Many; Will She Make a Statement?

Freed from a Florida jail over the weekend after completing, with credit for time served and good behavior, her four-year term for providing false information about her missing daughter, Casey Anthony is now lying low. “She’s gone, she’s safe and elaborate plans had to be made to keep the people…

Jul 18, 2011 8:04 PM CDT

Blog Posts and Tweets Helped Defense Team Win Acquittal for Casey Anthony in Capital Murder Case

It wasn’t just when selecting jurors that defense counsel in the high-profile Casey Anthony murder trial found social media helpful. Her legal team also looked to opinions expressed on Twitter, Facebook and in blog posts for strategic guidance about how best to defend a client accused of capital murder in…

Jul 14, 2011 5:45 PM CDT

Green Bag Debuts New Supreme Court Bobblehead: Justice Clarence Thomas, Standing Atop Pizza Boxes

It’s not for sale. But a new bobblehead doll of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas being given away by the Green Bag is likely to be an instant collectible just the same. The popular dolls are prized by many, and are even collected by Yale Law School’s library. In…

Jul 11, 2011 8:44 PM CDT

Man Sues Over Not Being Allowed to Wear Tiger Suit to Golf Tournament

A man in a bright orange, 8-foot tiger suit, an homage to pro golfer Tiger Woods, was asked to leave a PGA tournament at TPC Boston after a complaint by Angel Cabrera, Woods’ playing partner that day. In response, Jason Goodwin, who wore the same suit to a PGA event…

Jul 8, 2011 9:14 PM CDT

Chamber of Commerce-Funded Movie Focusing on Scruggs, Milberg Weiss Is Set to Premiere Monday

The new Hot Coffee, which premiered at Sundance in January and on HBO last month, offered a positive look at the plaintiff’s side in the infamous 1994 case in which Stella Liebeck won $3 million from McDonald’s, among other cases. But a Chamber of Commerce-funded movie set to premiere on…

Jul 8, 2011 7:41 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Google+ Tested by Bloggers; Which Headlines Will Make ‘SVU’?

Will Google+ Supplant Facebook? A few law bloggers managed to score invites and field test Google+, the company’s new Facebook-style social network—and most liked what they saw. “Google+ appears to be promising that you can gradate access/permissions/exposure by placing your peeps in different ‘circles,’ ” Seattle practitioner William Carleton wrote…

Jul 1, 2011 1:52 PM CDT

Playing Against Type: New Documentary About the Foreclosure Crisis Has a Surprise Ending

In early 2008, Swiss film director Jean-Stéphane Bron read a small news item about the U.S. housing market that gave him a big idea. Bron decided to make a documentary about the growing foreclosure crisis in the United States. Specifically, the film would focus on Cleveland, which between 2007 and…

Jul 1, 2011 6:20 AM CDT

Documentary on ‘Hot Coffee’ Case Airs on HBO; Public Approves, Tort Defense Blog Sees Flaws

Over the years, the words “hot coffee” have become virtually synonomous with the phrase “frivolous litigation.” It all dates back to the notorious case of Stella Liebeck, the elderly woman who was awarded nearly $3 million in a lawsuit against McDonald’s in 1994 over a cup of spilled coffee that…

Jun 28, 2011 11:20 PM CDT

What Would You Name Your Lawyer Band?

“Jailhouse Rock.” “I Shot the Sheriff.” “Folsom Prison Blues.” “I Fought the Law.” Plenty of rock songs have been written about legal troubles. But lawyers aren’t just the fodder for song lyrics. Many attorneys are musicians themselves, and many find a clever way to allude to their profession in their…

Jun 15, 2011 4:56 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: ‘Hangover II’ Tattoo May Be Altered on DVD; Weiner’s Behavior Harassment?

Tattoo in ‘Hangover II’ May Be Altered on DVD The Hollywood Reporter blawg Hollywood, Esq. reported exclusively this week that Warner Bros. has told a Missouri judge in court documents that if litigation over the tattoo on the face of actor Ed Helms in The Hangover II and its promotional…

Jun 10, 2011 1:30 PM CDT