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.

The source I’ve selected for my Law in Review project is Vincenzo, a movie that was released on February 20, 2021 produce by Kim Hee-Won . The main character in this movie is a mafia also a lawyer with a strong sense of justice. The majority of what I observe occurs in the courtroom. According to what I understand, he spent the majority of his life in Italy but decided to travel back to his native country in search of hidden gold. However, when he arrived, the location where the gold was hidden had already been brought by another person, so he had to flee to retrieve it. In the process, he became involved in a conflict with a corporation. Vincenzo soon understood that the people who bought the Geumga Plaza, who have the gold, are also among the causes he was fighting for. He also came to the conclusion that there is no justice in the nation, and that using the law in the courts was insufficient. The majority of the courtrooms where trials have taken place show ethical legal conduct.

The source I chose is a memoir called My Beloved World by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The book was published January 15, 2013 and focuses on Sotomayor’s childhood and life, including her path into the legal world. 

My Beloved World begins directly from her childhood and leads all the way up to adulthood. Sotomayor tells us how life was like being a young Catholic raised girl living in the Bronx with diabetes, a father who loved drinking, and her entire family living nearby. Sotomayor navigates the readers through her childhood, teen years, and well into adulthood. Along the way we experience a lot of struggles, tears, joy, and both good and bad memories. We see many interactions with friends, family, teachers that help and mentor Sotomayor, and are a major influence on the person that she is today. 

The memoir portrayed legal concepts through mini stories. During her time at Yale Law School, we’re taken through her experiences in both her personal life and academically. She joins many Latin/Hispanic clubs, does internships, attends various events, and eventually begins working at the District Attorney’s office when she graduates. When she first started out as an assistant, she was assigned to one of six trial bureaus, which included up to fifty experienced prosecutors and support staff. The new assistants did not expect to enter a real courtroom for at least another year, as this was normal. Instead, after a few weeks of working on a case assignment, it was ready to go to trial. Sotomayor tells us first hand how the legal system works, and how the workings within a court are with her firsthand experiences like this one. 

Since My Beloved World is a memoir, it presents the legal world in an accurate manner, at least through the way Sotomayor sees it and interprets it. Her journey into the legal field begins much before law school, but that is where it is heavily spoken about. I would recommend this book to others because although this story is about Sotomayor’s personal life, it is also a story about growing up in difficult situations and making the most of it. The story is about succeeding regardless of who you are, and where you are. As long as you have the motivation and willingness to succeed, you can. I personally love this book, I’ve read it multiple times as a child, and now as an adult. It had a really big impact on my life because I relate to Sotomayor. Many of the things she went through throughout her childhood resonated with me and my own experiences, so seeing someone like me succeed was a big thing for me as a child. Sotomayor and this book are the biggest reasons why I have an interest in the legal profession. While working on this assignment, I conducted some of my own personal research and found that a recent study from the ABA (American Bar Association) finds that 5.8% of lawyers in the US are Hispanic. The HNBA (Hispanic National Bar Association) found that Latina’s make up 2% of all lawyers in the US. After reading these numbers, it just makes Sotomayor’s story much more impactful to me, and the numbers serve as an additional source of motivation.

Veronica Mars is the film I chose for my Law in Culture assignment. The chosen film is about the main character, Veronica Mars, who is a student that works as a private investigator under the supervision of her detective father, Keith Mars. Veronica Mars, played by actress Kristen Bell, is about to graduate from law school and is interviewing with prestigious New York law firms when she receives a call from her ex-boyfriend Logan, played by actor Jason Dohring, who has been charged with murder. When Veronica goes to Neptune to assist Logan in finding a solid defense lawyer, she soon develops suspicions about the way the case is being handled and finds herself drawn back into the life of an amateur detective life she had thought she had left behind. Spoilers! Logan is innocent. With the help of Veronica Mars, she was able to prove his innocents with her excellent detective skills. 

Although it seems like Veronica Mars was a natural talent to be a private investigator or a detective, she is actually an aspired attorney who attends Law school. She is a very resourceful person. What makes a good case is having factual evidence to back it up. She strives for justice. Lawyers rely largely on their capacity to do an in-depth study on topics relating to the cases they work on for analytical and research skills. She goes above and beyond during her investigations, searching for documents while trying to prove Logan’s innocence. 

Did it actually portray the legal field? Like most films, no because it’s a teen drama. The film “Veronica Mars” was more of a criminology and detective base type of file. I feel as though the traits that she has displayed would have made her a good candidate to be a good lawyer.  I really enjoyed re-watching this film again. Veronica Mars greatly influenced my interest in law. Just the main character, Veronica mars, strong will persona and striving to help people get justice inspired me a lot. I hope I can go to Colombia University just like her. 

The source I chose is titled “Abducted in plain sight”. It is a true crime film that was created by Skye Borgman and was released in 2017. The documentary focuses on the real story of Jan Broberg, who was kidnapped twice throughout her life by the same man, Robert Berchtold.

Jan Broberg was born on July 31, 1962, in Idaho, while growing up she had the company of the parents and two sisters as well as a family friend who everyone adored and was referred to as ” B”(Robert Berchtold). In the documentary Jan says that she felt as if Robert was her father, everyone said they had a “special bond” and that the family trusted him so much to the point where they would let Robert sleep in the same bed as Jan, nobody suspected that he had ulterior motives.

One day, when Jan was twelve Robert asked her mother for permission to take Jan horse-riding after school to which her mother agreed. Robert’s plans were different and evil. When he got Jan into the car after picking her up from school, he drugged her and escaped to Mexico with the captive child. Jan says that when she woke up, she was in a dark room with Robert lying next to her, she was confused and when Robert woke up, they would listen to a tape recording that he purposefully made to brainwash Jan into believing that there were aliens that were going to kill her family if she did not have sexual relations with Robert and got pregnant. They called this ” the mission”.

Jan believed they had to assume their role in the “mission” and Robert proceeded to engage in sexual actions with the minor, he raped her for days and she believed they were accomplishing their mission. Robert and Jan got married in Mexico and because he wanted to go back to the United States as a married “couple” he had to ask Jan’s parents approval for the marriage to which they refused and flied to Mexico, they took Jane back to the United States and reported Robert for the kidnapping. When Robert returned to the US he was charged with kidnapping, although he had not been charged for rape as officials could not find the evidence. Robert was sentenced to serve 5 years in prison, but his sentence was reduced, and he ended up serving only 3 months in jail.

After this ordeal Jan’s parents allowed Robert to continue to see Jan after getting out of jail, it was revealed in the documentary that Robert made the way back into the family and engaged in sexual activities in separate occasions with both of Jan’s parents while also raping the little girl when he had the chance. Jan developed Stockholm syndrome and believed to be in love with Robert. Jan was so brainwashed that she wanted to keep seeing Robert and complete their “mission” which is why she left home with him months after the first kidnapping.

Robert kidnapped Jan for a second time, they went to Utah and changed names. He enrolled her in an all-girls catholic school and asked the staff not to reveal any of their information. The FBI found their whereabouts, took Jan to safety with her parents and Robert was charged with kidnapping again. Robert was not convicted this time for the kidnaping and was sent to a mental facility instead. He was released after six months. As time passed Jan realized that the “mission” was not real and although Robert continued to taunt the family, she was ready to move on. Jan and her mother ultimately wrote a book about this story to spread awareness.

After watching this documentary, I could not help but to feel like everyone failed Jan. The documentary shows the truth behind her parents, who failed to report her missing in time and only did so after two whole weeks of the little girl being missing. They kept letting Robert into this little girl’s life after he kidnaped her. They knew the motives behind this monster and did nothing to stop it, if anything they encouraged him by engaging in sexual acts with him. Robert continued raping and brainwashing Jan for years until she developed Stockholm syndrome. The police also failed Jan because they did not find the evidence to charge him for raping a minor, I believe they could have done a better investigation. At one point during the documentary Jan said that Robert raped her in a way in which he would not break her hymen so if anyone did a rape kit on Jan, they would not find evidence enough to charge him. After the second kidnaping Robert was not convicted and instead, he was sent to a mental facility which shows that clearly the system is flawed and, in some cases, unjust because they did not consider him a threat to society even after he raped, brainwashed and kidnapped this child in two different occasions. This documentary does not show a lot about law processes, although it shows that evidence is a very important in legal proceedings, a case could be decided mostly based on evidence which is something I take from this documentary and will probably have in mind in the future as I start my career in the legal field. I recommend this documentary to anyone interested in true crime although it is a very hard case.

The source I chose is a documentary titled “The 13th” directed by Ava DuVernay. This project was released on October 7th 2016. The documentary focuses on racism and the prison system affecting Black and Brown People. It also speaks on matters such as Police brutality and misconduct, civil right activists and the constitution etc.

The title is actually referring to the thirteenth amendment in Section 1, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”.  There are a lot of cases where people were arrested before identifying if they were innocent or guilty (which the film addresses). In the beginning of the documentary it was said that although slavery was abolished over 150 years ago this issue still exists in the form of mass incarceration. For example after the civil rights movement,  African Americans were getting arrested for “Minor crimes” such as “Loitering and Vagrancy” which led to the prison population increase. It was also stated that “While black men account for some 6.6 percent of the U.S. population, they currently make up 40.2 percent of the prison population”.

Throughout the entire film there were several topics discussed, however they all branch out the main focus which is racism. As mentioned before the documentary speaks about civil right activists and how they were portrayed as “Menaces” for simply standing up for basic human rights. An Educator in the film mentioned how black people travelled and moved to different areas hoping to escape racism from the south but they still faced this oppression because of constant racial profiling/stereotyping. Some of the cases that were mentioned is the Central Park 5, Florida V. Zimmerman, Kalief Browder V. New York, unfortunately these were all cases that included African Americans being targets because of racist stereotypes and Injustice. There are many cases where innocent lives were taken away and imprisoned because of discrimination and false accusations.

This documentary was very informative. This portrayed the legal system accurately because it shown how racism still exists, and how Black and Brown people are most likely to be wrongfully convicted then any other race. They provided us with so much facts and statistics. Guest speakers like teachers and some of the survivors of police brutality, and wrongful convictions took the time to talk about their stories. I learned that there were movements passed by some of the past U.S. presidents that I wasn’t aware of until recently, rarely anyone has mentioned them. I recommend you to watch it because it is very educational.  Watching  documentaries like this makes me want to be something in the legal fields so I can help people who have gone through or are going through these issues.

Link of the Documentary : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8                (Time 1:40:02)

Ava Duvernay interview on “The 13th” project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CK7f8A4tPU   (Time – 13:00)

The source I choose for my law in culture is a short films called ” Capturing the Friedmans” releasing in 2003  which is a cases that happened in 1980s created by Andrew Jarecki.. This is a documentary  It is based on the 1980s child molester inquiry cases involving upper middle class Jewish families Arnold and Jesse Friedman. The family’s existence was abruptly changed when late Arnold entered a guilty plea to the charge and received a prison term. While subsequently admitting guilt, Jesse claims that “his father had raped him as a child in an effort to get a less severe sentence”

The source I have chosen for my Law in Culture Project is a true crime documentary called “Girl in the Picture”. An American Netflix original documentary, directed by Skye Borgman, tells the story of a girl named Suzanne Sevakis, also known as Sharon Marshall who was found dying on the side of the road and identified as Tonya Hughes. Later on in the documentary her 6 year old son Michael, gets kidnapped by someone who’s know as Tonya Hughes husband and Sharon Marshall’s father. I chose this documentary because I heard a lot of good reviews about it and my cousin actually seen it and told me about it and thinks I would really like it since I’m into true crime. I also chose it because I heard that it took police and detectives years to figure out almost everything in this case and still to this day not everything is figured out.

The source I have chosen for my assignment is a memoir called ‘My Beloved World’. The book was published January 15, 2013. It is about Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s life, starting from childhood and going into adulthood. She describes her life as a child growing up in the Bronx, and all of the struggles that came with that. As the years go by, she chooses to go to Princeton and Yale Law School. She goes into detail about her time there and her experiences during and after graduating. I felt that this book was perfect for this assignment because I want to work with something that I love.