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15 October 2020 / Mark Pawlowski
Issue: 7906 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Law, camera, action!

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Mark Pawlowski looks at how law-related films can be useful in the legal classroom

Increasingly in law schools, films with a legal theme are being used to identify how law and lawyers are perceived in various aspects of legal activity ranging from legal practice (ie, intrinsic lawyer skills including legal argument, negotiation and advocacy) to various aspects of the legal process (eg, the function of the judge and jury) as well as important elements of legal and ethical theory.

Classic films such as To Kill a Mockingbird, (1962), The Verdict, (1982) and Suspect, (1987) provide excellent examples of popular perceptions of men and women in the legal profession. The interesting question that emerges from these films is whether screen portrayals of lawyers actually reflect our popular cultural experience of what a lawyer should be like and what he (or she) should represent. There is, of course, no doubt that fictional portrayals do not match real life. What is interesting, however, is to see whether these images accurately reflect the

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NEWS
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NLJ this week: Mazur and more—inside the litigation frontline

From blockbuster judgments to procedural shake-ups, the courts are busy reshaping litigation practice. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School hails the Court of Appeal's 'exquisite judgment’ in Mazur restoring the role of supervised non-qualified staff, and highlights a ‘mammoth’ damages ruling likened to War and Peace, alongside guidance on medical reporting fees, where a pragmatic 25% uplift was imposed

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Momentum is building behind proposals to restrict children’s access to social media—but the legal and practical challenges are formidable. In NLJ this week, Nick Smallwood of Mills & Reeve examines global moves, including Australia’s under-16 ban and the UK's consultation
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Reforms designed to rebalance landlord-tenant relations may instead penalise leaseholders themselves. In this week's NLJ, Mike Somekh of The Freehold Collective warns that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 risks creating an ‘underclass’ of resident-controlled freehold companies
NLJ this week: Court of Appeal clarifies when a claim truly begins
Timing is everything—and the Court of Appeal has delivered clarity on when proceedings are ‘brought’. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains that a claim is issued for limitation purposes when the claim form is delivered to the court, even if fees are underpaid
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The traditional ‘single, intensive day’ of financial dispute resolution (FDR) may be due for a rethink. Writing in NLJ this week, Rachel Frost-Smith and Lauren Guiler of Birketts propose a ‘split FDR’ model, separating judicial evaluation from negotiation
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