If anyone needs assistance in money laundering or helping to grow their drug empire, then better call Saul. Saul Goodman, the attorney for protagonist Walter White in the show Breaking Bad and the protagonist for Better Call Saul, is a defense attorney who is willing to do whatever it takes to make a quick buck. As a matter of fact, most lawyers today are condescending and will lie or do whatever it takes as long as they are gaining some sort of profit. However, that is really what television shows are illustrating to the public rather than actual facts. Television shows such as Law & Order, The Wire, or Breaking Bad are just a few examples of how television affects how defense attorneys are viewed in today's culture.
In today's society, people
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view defense attorneys as sly, selfish and willing to bend the truth a little. Primarily, people believe that lawyers only care about the money they will be receiving, not fighting for justice or what is considered to be the right thing to do. The media today represents the most successful lawyers as being unethical and in order to be a successful attorney they must throw morals out of the window, although in reality a small number of lawyers are unethical when practicing the law (Parente, 2015). This stereotype exists because of the way lawyers are portrayed when watching a movie or their favorite television program. To further the stereotype, attorneys are often portrayed as being rich and having a powerful role in the criminal defense system (Parente, 2015). Regarding specifically defense attorneys, when someone watches their favorite show and sees that an attorney is defending someone who is portrayed as being obviously guilty, this causes that person to look at the defense attorney negatively (Spitz, 2000). This holds true for many of the primetime drama shows that are shown today which feeds into the stereotype even further. Shows such as Law & Order, Breaking Bad, and The Wire provide just a few examples of how television has shaped people's views of defense attorneys. These shows illustrate the stereotype regarding defense attorneys on the small screen through their use of production values. Law & Order is the show that most people watch when they want to satisfy their craving for a legal drama. What makes Law & Order unique is the focus on the plot of the episodes rather than the characters. However, the same detectives and prosecutors are frequently seen throughout the series while compared to seven different prosecutors and thirteen detectives, there are thirty-eight different defense attorneys throughout the twenty year run of the show (Shniderman, 2014). Also, Law & Order tends to focus mainly on the detectives and the prosecutors, even when the defense attorney is speaking, throughout every episode. This is a production value used to portray the prosecutors as being the central figures and the good guys of the show while the defense attorneys are portrayed as the bad guys (Shniderman, 2014). To further the portrayal of the defense attorneys as the bad guys, a majority of the defense attorneys on the show all use immoral methods. For example, in season thirteen, episode eleven, the dorky and frail looking Randy Dworkin uses his intelligence and his way with words to win over the jury and the judge by making his client seem as though he looks to aid the Jewish population, knowing full well that a majority of the jury and the judge are Jewish. Dworkin never denied that his client was guilty, but lied and used the emotions of the jury to attempt to win the case. Unlike Dworkin, the strict and aggressive Donna Emmett in Law & Order: SVU immediately claims her client is innocent and she immorally attacks the victim of the case to get the answers she wanted in the episode Doubt. Dworkin and Emmett are two completely opposite characters who both are defense attorneys from the same TV series and both of them use immoral tactics to gain an advantage. Unlike the Law & Order franchise, Breaking Bad only has one lawyer throughout the series.
However, Saul Goodman, played by Bob Odenkirk, is just as immoral as all the defense attorneys in Law & Order. Goodman represents Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher turned to an infamous criminal and drug kingpin. When first introduced to Saul in the episode Better Call Saul, Goodman is first hesitant and even turns down an offer of 10,000 dollars from White if Goodman agreed to do whatever he can to keep a drug dealer who works for White from revealing White to the cops. After being kidnapped by White and his partner, who believed that they would have to go to great lengths to have Saul agree to helping them, Saul quickly agreed to do it without much persuasion. Goodman's criminal mind was introduced in this episode as well when he decided that he would hire someone to act as though he was Walter and get arrested in White's place. It was also obvious that Goodman's only concern was money since he wanted a total of 90,000 dollars, 50,000 of which he was going to keep, from White and his partner for helping them out. At the end of the episode, Saul visited White and said that he would like to be a silent partner as long as he would be getting paid a portion of the money. Throughout the series, Saul works with White by helping him launder his illegal money and by using his connections to get White out of some serious danger. Not only did Saul's actions portray him as a corrupt …show more content…
lawyer, but so did some production values such as the appearance and location of his office. Saul's office is located in a run-down, cheap stripper mall which represents Goodman as being a dirty individual just like the location of his office. However, inside his office it is very stylish with paintings of the Constitution all over his walls and a nice, long desk with comfortable, expensive looking chairs. While the outside of his office represents the dirty and corrupt traits about him, the beautiful appearance of his office represents that Goodman is all about money, even if he has to earn that money illegally. Saul Goodman is not the only attorney in a television show who works alongside a criminal because he wants nothing but money.
Maurice Levy, played by Michael Kostroff, is a defense attorney in The Wire who shares similar traits with Saul Goodman. Levy's main clientele are the Barksdale Organization, a drug dealing gang led by Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell, located in Baltimore, Maryland. The Barksdale Organization pays a retainer to Levy for his services whenever they find themselves in trouble. Levy remains silent and secretive about his ties with the Barksdale Organization, but he still advises Barksdale and Bell how to avoid investigations regarding the drug trade. Although Levy attempted to silently aid the Barksdale Organization in their illegal actions, some of the people living on the streets of Baltimore, such as Omar Little, see right through Levy. Word choice is a crucial production value used in The Wire to support that stereotype that Levy is an immoral defense attorney. For example, when defending a member of the Barksdale Organization, Omar is brought on by the prosecution to prove that Levy's client is guilty. When questioning Omar, Levy ironically called him "amoral" and a "parasite." Levy's choice of words were not only describing Omar, but they were used to describe himself as well. Omar's word choice regarding Levy was also used to support the stereotype when Omar said, "I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase." These choice of words were used to
compare Omar, a common street thug, to Levy, a defense attorney.
Originally when he is mentioned in this story he is shown to be "the ultimate top-dollar ambulance chaser" trying to make a living off others pain. It's assumed that he is amoral and cold-hearted. Yet, as the story progresses it gets more and more difficult to see him in this manner. He actually turns out to be a deeply compassionate presence in this novel and in the lives of those dealing with loss in the town of Sam Dent. It turns out that he comes to the town just as the other lawyers (having heard about the accident) looking for clients, but eventually starts to grow fond of the sleepy town and its people. The town slowly alters his involvement in the case as he befriends those he is representing. He even volunteers his legal advice to people, such as Risa Walker on divorce proceedings, after the case falls through. He also helps support the Walker's hotel by keeping a room there even when he is not in Sam Dent. His style of dress also changes fro...
Meat head, dumb jock. These are just two of the many derogatory labels given to football players. Is it possible for me, a meat head, to hear the criticisms dealt to the sport of football? Is it possible for me, a dumb football jock, to understand and be objective about the issues raised in the book, Friday Night Lights? Yes, because I'm not the stereotypical football player like those described of Odessa, Texas.
Criticisms of lawyers are the topic in Richard A. Wasserstrom's article "Lawyers as Professionals: Some Moral Issues." Wasserstrom broke this topic into two main areas of discussion. The first suggests that lawyers operate with essentially no regard for any negative impact of their efforts on the world at large. Analysis of the relationship that exists between the lawyer and their client was the second topic of discussion. "Here the charge is that it is the lawyer-client relationship which is morally objectionable because it is a relationship which the lawyer dominates and in which the lawyer typically, and perhaps inevitably, treats the client in both an impersonal and a paternalistic fashion."
The characters are initially what drew me to the film, particularly Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) and Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) and their relationship. White is something of a Big Brother Mentor to Orange, as Orange is brought into Joe’s operation under the guise of being new and kind of inexperienced as a consulting criminal and Freddy naturally gravitates toward him, as is shown through various cutscenes of Orange and White having normal conversations with each other outside the Heist. Their relationship dynamic is shown further after Orange has been tagged and White is comforting him both in the Getaway Vehicle and the Warehouse. Their dynamics are reinforced throughout the ending of the film as White tries to convince Joe that Orange is NOT the rat. (at that point, he had full faith in Orange not being the rat. White trusted him deeply.) However upon Orange’s betrayal White presumably shoots him in the face before subsequently being shot to death by the police, telling us that he doesn’t value people exploiting him. I mean, who values that right?
'Lawyers are all right, I guess - but it doesn't appeal to me,' I said. 'I mean they're all right if they go around saving innocent guys' lives all the time, and like that, but you don't do that kind of stuff if you're a lawyer. All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot-shot. How would you know you weren't being a phony? The trouble is, you wouldn't' (Salinger 172).
In the case that allegedly inspired the episode, prosecutors moved to remove a mobster’s attorneys from a case because there was evidence that the attorneys knew the crimes would be committed. Therefore, the attorneys could be called as witnesses. Prosecutors contended that the attorneys were in fact “house counsel” for the mob. The attorneys were removed.
Plea bargains are highly prevalent in the popular television series Law and Order. If a random episode is chosen, there is a high chance that lawyers in the show have offered a plea bargain. While many people would believe that media skews the public’s understanding of how often plea bargains occur, however, this is actually an appropriate representation. According to Heumann, approximately 10% of criminal cases actually continue on to trial (Heumann, 1975). Similarly, as stated by Menkel-Meadow, plea bargains are the reason why there may be congestion in the courts, but a low number of criminals are actually jailed (Menkel-Meadow, 2005).
Shover, N, & Hochstetler, A. (2006). Choosing white-collar crime. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
The Blacklist is a crime drama television program that airs on NBC. It is an American television series that stars Megan Boone, James Spader and Harry Lennix. The idea behind it is that an ingenious, criminal mastermind, for some apparent reason, starts to assist the FBI in catching the world’s most wanted criminals, some of which they did not know existed. Yet, Raymond “Red” Reddington surrenders to the authorities under the condition that he will only cooperate with a rookie FBI profiler, Elizabeth Keen. NBC ordered for a nine episode first run on October 4, 2013, and in December 2013, they renewed the show by ordering a twenty two episode second season as an early indication for future success. But, what were the reasons for the show’s early success? After examining various trade journals and articles on the subject, I am asserting that The Blacklist is the number one new television from last Fall’s list of pilots based on its specific marketing, distribution, audience, timeslot, critical reception, and potential revenue.
Despite the longstanding acceptance and promotion for the crime-fraud exception, it appears that the use of the exception to report fraud has been relatively scant and use of ethical rules to sanction lawyers is similarly rare. For those that may favor private regulation or the ability of the market to dictate its own terms it seems that the equilibrium reached was one without lawyers disclosing of their own accord. This could be just viewed as an information failure problem—even if the ability to report fraud up the ladder was technically already available, lack of knowledge may have prevented lawyers from reporting fraud when they otherwise would have done so.
The influence of the media on women is not unknown, but it was especially prevalent in the 1960s. According to David Croteau and William Hoynes, both professors of sociology, “Media images of women and men reflect and reproduce a whole set of stereotypical but changing gender roles” (quoted in Mahrdt 1) and, as society changes and opinions are altered, television shows adapt. However, the television show Mad Men is unique because it does not show life today, but the life of the 1960s. It shows what life was like for the women who lived during a time when the “feminine mystique” controlled society.
We've come to a point where television has become so loaded with “vampire-this” and “werewolf-that,” that each show has begun to look like the reruns of another. Luckily, this definitely isn't the case for creator Vince Gilligan's, Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad follows the life of Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston), an ordinary high school chemistry teacher. With a loving wife and teenage son at home, over time, Walter has formed an exceedingly mundane routine for his life. After soon discovering that he had been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, Walter decided to take extreme measures in order to secure his family financially. Eventually, he would descend into a world so dark and utterly twisted, that it would eventually consume him. Walter White became Heisenberg; the greatest drug lord the streets had ever seen. As he ascended in status within the drug cartel, the love and trust he had from his family and friends quickly descended. There are thousands of reasons that explain why millions of people tune into Breaking Bad. This series offers a much needed relief from the Dracula descendents, which frankly, are slowly diminishing any scope of variety existing on television. Because of the outstanding acting, seemingly distorted reality, and uniquely relatable storyline and characters, this hit show tops the charts as the best modern-day television series that cable has to offer.
In an argument between prosecuting attorneys in “Scorched Earth,” the first episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’s thirteenth season, a pessimistic critique of the American legal system’s power to protect the weak from the strong, the unspoken but nonetheless manifest presupposition of said attorneys regarding the ends of the justice system, appears in contrast to an implied legal idealism, but this critique is ultimately rendered tepid by a partial triumph later on in the episode for the side of justice through the work of dedicated legal agents sensitive to the rights of the powerless.
The Walking Dead, a television show about surviving in the zombie world, is based on the comic book with the same name created by Robert Kirkman. In this show Rick Grimes, a sheriff's deputy, awakes from his coma and finds himself in a hospital. He soon discovers that while he was in a coma the world had become infected, turning humans into flesh-eating zombies later called Walkers by the characters. As Rick sets out to find his family he encounters many other survivors such as Glenn, Daryl, Carl, Maggie, Carol, Sasha, Hershel, Beth, and Michonne, among many others who have died along the way. Rick and the survivors have been through a lot throughout the show, such as having to move from place to place to avoid being eating by walkers. After walking a longs way, they finally find shelter in an old prison where they now live. Although The Walking Dead shows a lot violence, it sends many positive messages to the viewers that teach them about survival, religion and betray and how each of these can be beneficial in the real world
“Year after year, twenty-something women come to New York City in search of the two L's: labels and love” is the very catchy line that opens the film with Fergie’s ‘Labels or Love’ as the soundtrack and The Big Apple as its introductory shot. The scaling deduced from the bird’s eye-view-point of New York City, showing its Metropolitan atmosphere with skyscrapers and the famous Brooklyn Bridge; to the urbanites of the City; then to the lead actors of the film. A fifteen year-old girl watches the film, mesmerizing the ecstatic city while admiring the skinny white bodies of the ladies. And last but never forgotten, she gets carried away with the funky upbeat rhythm of the song emphasizing “Gucci, Fendi, [and] Prada . . .” That is the introduction of Sex and the City and the focus of its cinematography. With its elements, the movie can honestly influence teenage girls. Yet as much as critics such as Maya Gordon of Psychology of Women Quarterly say how media contributes to the sexual objectification and values women “based on their appearance,” this film should be an exemption.