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TRASHING LAW FIRMS BIG TIME:
THE GIRLS CLUB DEBUTS
by Michael Asimow
A good story needs a strong
antagonist. In David E. Kelley's new TV drama series The Girls
Club, that antagonist is a big law firm. The first episode
of the show represented the law firm and its partners as cruel,
rude, bullying, cynical, greedy, sexually harassing monsters.
The firm encourages vicious and underhanded competition between
associates.
 The protagonists are three young
women trying to make their way as junior associates at a big
San Francisco firm. The women--who are roommates and were law
school classmates--are way out of their depth. They find themselves
among a truly horrible and repulsive collection of sub-human
beings, and they are totally clueless about how to take care
of themselves.
Lynne (the blonde one) is inexplicably defending a death penalty
case all by herself. It is her first trial and she is absurdly
under-qualified to handle any sort of trial, much less a death
penalty case. The client, a studly young man, supposedly had
been having an affair with an older woman whom he supposedly
killed for some unknown reason. Lynne naively takes the client's
word for it that he's innocent.
The case fizzles out in a mistrial
and the client dies in prison (apparently of asphyxiation while
masturbating). Lynne receives little support and much harsh criticism
from Hahn, an older partner, who sits in the back of the courtroom
and needles her. Needless to say, she is terrified, freezes when
called on to make her opening statement, and botches her cross
examination of a witness and other aspects of the defense. Moreover,
Lynne is completely thrown off course when the DA tells Hahn
that Lynne is infatuated with her client; Hahn requires her to
disclose this to the client (actually, the client is infatuated
with her).
Jeannie (the redhead) is inexplicably
assigned by partner Spencer Lewis to defend a deposition in a
stupid medical malpractice case involving the sister of a partner.
A gynecologist fainted while giving the client a pelvic exam
and collapsed into her crotch. There is no negligence or wrongdoing
here. The firm bullies the physician into settling the case because
Jeannie credibly threatens to litigate it to death regardless
of costs or the merits. But we discover that Lewis assigned Jeannie
to this case because he is sexually harassing her. He hugs and
fondles her and promises to give her lots more good experience
if she will go out with him. Jeannie has no idea how to deal
with this kind of predatory behavior and agrees to have dinner
with him. Sexual harassment of staff or female associates is
a major problem in law firms, but the theme is handled here in
an unsubtle, sledge hammer manner.
Meanwhile, Sarah (the brunette)
is enmeshed in a vicious rivalry with another associate named
Rhanda. Both are competing for the favor of Meredith, a cynical
and unpleasant female partner who is called "the praying
mantis" behind her back. Meredith claims that she is the
last bastion of masculinity in the firm, because a woman must
be even more masculine than the men to survive in this Darwinian
environment.
Rhanda tells Sarah to write her portion of a brief in long flowing
sentences--so, needless to say, Meredith thinks Sarah is an unqualified
jerk who can't write. As a result of her skillful maneuvering,
Rhanda gets to argue the motion and Sarah is in Meredith's dog
house. We don't, however, learn anything about what this case
is actually about. Sarah tells off Rhanda in the hallway, calling
her a "dyke" in the hearing of everybody within miles.
This nearly gets Sarah fired and she has to spend 10 weekends
taking anger management courses (time for which she can't even
bill!). Another associate (Mitchell, known as "The Worm")
tells her to start looking for a new job.
To me, the show was very disappointing
in terms of its legal content. The death penalty case and the
malpractice case were just silly. Basically, all three plots
dealt in some way with sexual issues (sometimes with several
sexual issues), apparently on the theory that this is all the
audience really cares about. As compared to The Practice
or Law and Order, there was nothing remotely approaching
thematic material of interest in terms of law practice or professional
responsibility. The legal material was as lightweight as Ally
McBeal even though the show is a drama, not a comedy. Hopefully,
Kelley will come up with much more interesting legal substance
in future shows or this viewer won't be tuning in again.
The Girls Club is, however, interesting in a different
way. It is part of a recurring theme found in novels and films
which demonize large law firms. The Harris Poll asks each year
about the public's opinion of various institutions. Law firms
bring up the absolute bottom of the list--behind such suspect
institutions as Congress, the media, labor union officials, the
military, or big corporations. (As a result of recent corporate
scandals, big business will probably plunge into the sewer along
with law firms.) Sadly, novels and films reflect (and perhaps
reinforce) the public's contempt and hatred for law firms.
John Grisham is the best selling
novelist in the world. In Grisham's novels, law firms are consistently
represented as pits of corruption and all-around evil. Obviously,
The Firm is the best example--a respected tax law firm
turns out to be a collection of killers and a front for the mob.
However, in many other Grisham novels, both big and small law
firms are shown as greedy, disgusting, unethical institutions--think
of The Street Lawyer, The Rainmaker, The Partner,
The Testament, and The Runaway Jury among others.
(The Chamber is an exception--a big law firm is supportive
of an associate who takes on a death penalty case pro bono.)
Numerous other novels have imitated Grisham's approach and vilified
law firms.
And it's not just books. The
same is true in film--and not only adaptations of Grisham's books
like The Firm and The Rainmaker. Numerous other
films, some of them very good, have trashed law firms. Just think
of The Devil's Advocate, Regarding Henry, Liar
Liar, The Verdict, Class Action, and Philadelphia,
among others. In each of them, law firms and their partners are
represented as greedy, unethical, homophobic scoundrels. In my
article Embodiment of Evil: Law Firms in the Movies, 48
UCLA L. Rev. 1339 (2001), I sought to identify and explain this
phenomenon and to question whether real law firms were anything
like their bad filmic counterparts.
Until now, law firms have been
treated benignly on television. LA Law treated the firm
of McKenzie, Brackman as the place where many legal and personal
stories were situated; the firm itself was seldom vilified (although
some partners like Brackman or Becker were represented negatively).
The Practice treats a small firm in a favorable way--the
lawyers and staff are mutually supportive and idealistic. The
First Years (an ill-fated TV series which debuted and quickly
died last year) sometimes showed some of the negative aspects
of big firm practice, but the stories were too silly to be treated
as an indictment of the institution.
But The Girls Club is
another matter entirely. Here the enemy is the law firm itself--not
opposing lawyers, prosecutors, judges, or evil clients. The firm
is a clone of the firms in Grisham novels or films like The
Devil's Advocate or Class Action. It consists of truly
disgusting partners who oppress and harass young associates and
encourage vicious rivalries among them. It is dog-eat-dog, profit-maximizing,
and in all ways repulsive. It is a horrible place to work. The
series will certainly reinforce the public's view that law firms
are the pits of evil. Fortunately, if the debut show is any indication
of the show's quality, it will quickly disappear. But what do
I know? I said the same thing about Ally McBeal.
Posted: October 25, 2002
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