LAW IN CULTURE PROJECT- ASSIGNMENT: PART TWO
The source I have chosen for my Law in Culture Project is a show called How to Get Away with Murder, which is an American TV show that focuses on a group of law school students that are selected by their criminal defense professor/practicing attorney. This show is a fictional legal drama that depicts many aspects of a lawyer, paralegals, how law firms function, and how the court system works. The show How to Get Away with Murder starts with Annalise Keating, who is the lead actor and a top criminal defense attorney who has her own firm. She is also a law professor at Middleton Law University. This show is very relatable to me personally because of the aspects of how life may be in a law school as a student. Professor Annalise Keating taught courses to the freshmen who entered as the first year, and every 4 years she selects 5 students she calls the “Keating 5,” and they were Wes, Asher, Connor, Mikaela, and Laurel. In Annalise Keating’s firm, she works with Bonnie and Frank, who are her paralegals, and helps with casework. The student and her paralegals help Annalise with many cases as each episode in this show presents a new case. As a college student majoring in BS in Science and Paralegal Studies, the casework helped me understand how important a paralegal’s job is because they assist attorneys with all legal litigation, research, and jury handling, among other things.
As a defense attorney, Annalise depended on her paralegals and students who were picked to help her out with cases. In this show, there were many examples of the tasks of legal and service work. Bonnie and the Keating 5 pick witnesses and juries, do background research, analytical research, draft papers, and provide the proper legal treatises and statutes. For example, in Season 6, Annalise Keating defends an identically named wrongful death lawsuit, Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Taking on a death row client is nearly impossible to defend in light of unfair trials for prisoners of color and oppressed ethnic black communities who committed the same type of crime. Knowing the statistics, Annalise still argues for Mr. Lahey, which leads to an appeal of her decision to not only fight for her defendant but also take a petition for the prison system and oppressed ethnic black communities that get unfair trials or have to wait for trials for a long period of time. Annalise and her assistance from Bonnie and the Keating 5 helped her draft a writ of certiorari (we learned that in class! Now that I know what that is and how it works) and her legal reasonings as to why she is not happy with the decision, they aid her with all the facts that were presented in this case, the legal reviews, witnesses, and evidence, but also with a public petition to show that it is an important jurisdiction that needs to be changed. Bonnie and Keating 5 received signs of prisoners who shared their concerns. This show truly shows how the court system works and how paralegals and attorneys coexist in a legal work environment. Without the help of Annalise, she would not only win a case that the US Supreme Court hears and the writ of certiorari drafted by her law firm, she would win legal litigation, not just that one in particular but every case in any jurisdiction.
Watching this show really helped me focus on my decision to become a paralegal and eventually study to become a licensed attorney. In reality, the courts and how they’re handled by judges and attorneys are completely different, but the work behind the cases is the same; it takes hours of hard work and efficiency. This class helped me understand the authorities a paralegal cannot do and is able to do. It’s completely different from a lawyer, who studied law and has proper jurisdiction and qualifications to practice law. I did not know the difference between watching “How to Get Away with Murder” and the role of Bonnie, who was a paralegal. I thought they were the same. I truly hope I can one day be in Annalise’s shoes, defending people who are in need.
