Comments on: Duty calls

By: Terri Weiss

Terri Weiss — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 16:24:02 +0000

Hi Miriam,

Trust me, the lawyers appreciate your positive, civic-minded attitude!

My favorite legal novels are Anatomy Of A Murder, and Presumed Innocent (despite the latter’s misogyny). The Verdict, My Cousin Vinny, Anatomy Of A Murder, and Judgment At Nuremberg are my personal top movie picks. Damages, of course, for TV.

Here’s a link to the ABA Journal’s top 25 movie, book and TV show selections. Some are a bit unexpected: http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/25_greatest_law_novels

Here’s hoping that both the case, and the lawyering, are interesting!

: )
Terri

By: Judith Burnett Schneider

Judith Burnett Schneider — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 02:22:28 +0000

Miriam, I served on the jury of a criminal trial — the rape of a six-year old girl. It will go down as one of the most remarkable experiences of my life. It taught me a lot about how people (jurors) behave in stressful situations. What was most amazing to me was how some individuals were so easily influenced by the opinions of others. And how others were so unreasonably inflexible. I guess that’s what makes the world go ’round. The bottom line is this: Stay on the good side of the law. You don’t want your fate to be determined by 12 individuals who want to get reimbursed for parking and go home! I don’t know that I’ve seen realistic jury deliberation in fiction. Some of the utterings of my fellow jurors were far too scary to put into print!

By: Joelle

Joelle — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 17:28:47 +0000

My husband was just in the play Inherit the Wind. I’m not sure I recommend it though, as it is all still so applicable today that it really pissed me off. It’s based on the Scopes Monkey Trials and when I lived in Tennessee, we went to visit the courthouse where they took place. It’s now a museum of sorts. Pretty interesting stuff.

Personally, I’m a fan of Perry Mason!

When I was called for jury duty, we had to report every day for two weeks. Sometimes we’d get let go early, but a lot of the time, we sat around in a big holding area. They had a GIANT screen TV. Guess what we watched? The OJ Simpson trial.

By: Katie Newingham

Katie Newingham — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 13:08:53 +0000

D.C. – I may check your selection out after finishing my very long read. I’m done for the year with anything over 350 pgs.

Nothing new but To Kill a Mockingbird stays with me.

As far as tv, I’m still a fan of Law and Order SVU.

By: D. C. DaCosta

D. C. DaCosta — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 03:56:21 +0000

The Mr. Tutt series of short stories by Arthur Train. Popular in the 1920s and ’30s, they deal with an old-fashioned NYC lawyer whose unconventional exercise of the law and rather elastic sense of ethics do not endear him to the (rather corrupt) prosecutorial authorities.