"Welcome to the
Law Firm" - July 28
Welcome to the Law Firm
Without further ado lets meet our contestants.
Olivier - Seems cocky, his bark is worse than his bite
Regina - Employment Litigator - potential bulldog
Michael - Criminal Defense - an intimidator and
potential threat
Keith - Civil Litigator
Kelly - Civil Litigator - Pleased with the selection
of men
Anika -Criminal Litigator - a tough cookie and force
to be reckoned with
Elizabeth - Civil Litigator
Barrett - Municipal Defense Attorney
Chris - Public Defender - a real contender with
argumentative experience
Deep - Public Defender
Jason - Civil Litigator - Charming and disarming
Aileen - A looker who is likely smarter than she looks
This is all we learn from the Associates first
impressions of each other, so I am sure we will learn
more with time.
The lawyers are going to be randomly split into teams
of 3 with each team taking a side of one of this
weeks two cases. Performance on these cases will be
evaluated and as a result either one or two associates
will be eliminated. Roy Black warns that lawyers that
they had better takes these cases seriously as cases
will only hold greater gravity in the future. This
weeks cases are:
Case 1:
Candy Danzig v. George Leach
Danzig claims that her 3 legged dog, Dingo, was
dragged through a fence and mangled by two Mastiffs
owned by Leach. Leach, Danzigs neighbor, however
claims that he is not responsible for the injuries
sustained by Danzigs Dog
Case 2:
Karen Allen v. Bill Ryan
Allen, the plaintiff, was pulled over by Ryan whose
car was equipped with standard police lights and
sirens for a traffic violation. After the incident,
Allen learned that Ryan was not an officer but the
county Coroner and therefore believes Ryan held no
authority for the actions taken. Ryan defends his
actions claiming that he was acting as a citizen in
good faith.
Lets get into the meat of the cases. Try to keep the
cases straight now, because trying to keep two cases
straight while watching one episode is hard enough.
Case 1: Dog Fight
Team Danzig
Keith, Jason, Aileen
First impressions: Confident, but need to know that
the incident occurred on Danzigs property to
eliminate the oppositions potential defenses. They
can always just point to Dingo, the 3 legged dog, and
win.
Team Leach
Olivier, Regina, Anika
First impressions:
Olivier mocks the melodramatic nature of the
situation, masking his true fear of a sympathy plea.
The teams seems unsure of how they are going to make
this situation look good considering the negative
state their defense is in now.
Team Danzig travels to Candy Danzigs home to view the
scene of the attack and speak with Candy. Candy points
out the hole where Dingo was pulled through and
explains that she tried to pull Dingo back through by
his hind legs, but that she was unsuccessful. The
teams seem afraid that Candy may be emotionally
unstable as a witness.
Meanwhile Team Leach is meeting with their client and
as they are introduced to the mastiffs Regina
expresses fear of being bitten. George Leach then
tells the associates that a blind monkey could see
that they are non-aggressive dogs. The attorneys have
looks of disbelief on their faces as the dogs bark
violently at them.
Case 2: Coroner Cop
Team Allen
Michael, Kelly, Deep
First impressions: In reflecting on the case, Team
Allen realizes that their first challenge is to prove
that damages were caused by a reasonable belief that
Allen thought Ryan was an officer of the law. Deep
analogizes the flashing lights to basic human
comprehension and the link is made.
Team Ryan
Barrett, Elizabeth, Chris
First Impressions: In trying to understand their case,
Team Ryan feels that it is important to speak with
their client immediately. This is understandable
considering that their side of the case is somewhat
unusual.
In meeting with Bill Ryan we learn that Allen
attempted to pass Ryan in the right lane. When Allen
passed Ryan, Bill decided to use the lights to pull
over Allen supposedly with the sole intention of
telling her that her actions were inappropriate. Allen
does admit to passing Ryan on the right and committing
the infraction. It was not until one week later when
while out at dinner, Allen re-encountered Ryan having
dinner with his family. Allen exclaimed to her friend
Corinne that Ryan was the police officer who pulled
her over and Corinne argued that if that was true that
there was a problem as she knew Ryan was the county
coroner. Ryan maintains his claims that he personally
felt that his actions were necessary due to the fact
that he sees the other side of accidents every day and
wants to prevent unnecessary incidents.
Back on the Dog Fight case, Regina and Olivier are
arguing over presentation styles as Regina is
uncomfortable that Olivier concept of levity may be
closer to borderline mockery. After a few minutes of
arguing, it seems that they have both decided to move
on even though there is definitely not a sense of
compromise or camaraderie on Team Danzig
Over on the Coroner case, Kelly is proving herself to
be a weak teammate to Michael and Deep. At least that
is what Michael thinks after Kelly argues with his
depiction of Ryan as a vigilante. Kelly is worried
that vigilante may have a positive connotation which
riles up Michael who just finished a speech on how
Bill Ryan is no different from Robin Hood; if he we
alive today he would be arrested.
As for the prosecution, Team Allen is having
difficulties operating as a team too. Except in this
case it is because Chris is used to working alone and
rather than acclimate to the situation Chris is
choosing to eliminate himself from group think.
Barrett is concerned that Chris may not be prepared to
go for the jugular in the way that it will be
necessary for them to do in order to win. For the time
being, Chris continues to relegate himself to
research.
The Defense (Team Ryan) for the Coroner case is
suffering in their attempt to get Kelly up to speed.
Michael and Deep are trying to coach Kelly through a
simple opening argument to no avail. Kelly seems ill
equipped to ad lib her way through an open and as a
result Michael says that he would feel more confident
if it were just he and Deep going into court tomorrow.
Olivier and Regina are still bickering on Team Leach,
now over the possibility/impossibility of a dog being
pulled through a chain link fence. Anika is going
crazy as very little work is getting done and all that
she has done is endure the bickering of two children.
However, it is now time for all of the whining and
infighting to end because the trials are ready to
begin.
Beginning with the dog fight case, the first argument
comes before the first witness is called. That is,
unless you consider Dingo to be a witness. The Defense
was not notified that the dog would appear in court
and the defense chose to make and objection. The
prosecution argued that the dog was necessary to give
understanding of the situation, but the judge argued
that the tactic was aggressive lawyering and with a
jury in the room would have been grounds for a
mistrial. Aileen in an aside says that under normal
circumstances she never would have brought the dog
into the courtroom unannounced.
With Candy Danzig on the stand, emotional pleas were
made and Miss Danzig descriptively told of how her dog
was mauled without a hitch.
This left the defense with the challenge of getting
the best out of their witness George Leach. Honestly,
I dont know if this could have been done. Leach
needed a leash in the worst way possible as he yelled
big dogs running amongst other things throughout the
courtroom. George Leach came across like a lunatic,
and seeing as he was uncontrollable, Regina might have
made a mistake in even attempting to control him on
the stand. Arguably, she could be blamed for not
having sufficiently prepared her witness.
In the cross of Leach, Jason was addressed as son by
Mr. Leach and Jason, who seemed a little cocky, tried
to over-control the situation by cutting off the
witness answers. After being reprimanded by the judge
Jason began to pull it together until during later
questioning George Leach stated that Dingo was a
menace to society and would still be a menace even if
you cut all of its legs off. Jason then moved to have
this statement stricken from the record. To clarify,
Jason, an attorney for Miss Candy Danzig attempted to
have an inflammatory comment that hurt his opposition
stricken from the record. I think we know where this
is going.
In closing, Olivier gave a dramatic and trite but
effective closing however, this case had already been
decided. Keith completed his close ripping into the
unprofessional style in which Olivier delivered his
close and veritably mocked him in court. Fortunately
for Keith, the mocking was substantiated as the judge
ruled in favor of Miss Danzig for the full medical
costs.
In the Coroner case, Kellys lack of understanding of
an opening argument came to fruition. Her mistakes
were attacked by the judge in the arbitration and her
case was potentially hurt. Deep and Michael wanted to
cry over Kellys ineptitude, but maintained their
demeanors. This was important as Chris launched an
attack of objections while Michael was trying to
question Allen. Mind you, many of these objections
could have been avoided if Michael would stop leading
Allen, but nonetheless, the objections improved the
entertainment factor and showed us that silent Chris
has some fight in him.
His fight only grew stronger as he crossed Miss Allen,
sustaining that Ryan never demanded her license and
that her emotion distress was not substantiated with
medical/therapy bills.
In the prosecutions cross of Mr. Ryan, Deep
established that Mr. Ryan had to speed and break the
law himself in order to perform his so called Good
Samaritan act. This additional act of incrimination
alerted Chris that Deep was significantly talented.
This cross led into Michaels close on which Chris
also commented pointing out that Chris thinks that he
knows everything, but that even with this confidence
he still was very good. It almost sounds as if Chris
is conceding this case for his side, but only the
verdict will tell.
The verdict comes and its $5,000 for Miss Allen
straight from the pocket of everyones favorite
coroner cop. No one seems surprised at the decision,
but Barrett and Elizabeth feel that the decision was
unfair.
Kelly is overjoyed with the victory and believes that
it will keep her around for one more week, but Deep is
not so sure. Lets move on to Roy Black to find out.
Roy argues with all of the associates over their
aforementioned blunders and chides Team Leach for not
thinking in advance that Team Danzig would bring in
the dog. Also, he expresses disappointment in Jason
trying to have an advantageous comment stricken from
the record and in Kellys inability to handle the
questioning of the judge. With those weaknesses
spelled out, Roy Black dismisses Kelly and Jason using
the new catchphrase that will be sweeping the nation,
The Verdict is in, and you are out. Yeah, I dont
even believe that one will work. Regardless, Roy Black
cut two winners this week, so winning a case
definitely doesnt make you safe.
Now there are only 10 associates left and they will
continue to compete until they are whittled down to a
single winner. Check back next week as the recaps will
only become less confusing as more lawyers are
eliminated. (Seems like everything is less complicated
when lawyers are taken out of the picture). See you
next week.
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