From Katherine:

It is happening again. Our second (and last!) child is getting married and part of my mother of the groom preparation involves watching my favorite wedding movie of all time: the 1950 version of FATHER OF THE BRIDE.

I love this movie. I can it watch any time, anywhere. I am not alone – it is considered a beloved classic by many film buffs. It was directed by the great Vincente Minnelli and stars the always brilliant Spencer Tracy and the breathtakingly young Elizabeth Taylor.

I don’t know how in all the times I’ve seen this movie I didn’t think about the fact that Spencer Tracy’s character, Stanley T. Banks, is an attorney. His profession is not important in the film except to establish him as someone who is wealthy enough at the end of the day to pay for the every growing price tag for his daughter’s wedding. But I think that the lesson of that professional choice for a character bears fruit for attorneys who watch it.

When the film was made, the studio system was still in place. Spencer Tracy’s deal was with MGM. He was obligated to make the films that they wanted him to make for the most part. Father Of The Bride was one of those obligations. In fact, the lore is that he loathed the script, the making of the film, everything about it. He thought it was ridiculous, and that his whole career was going down the drain and that he would never be taken seriously as an actor again. A consummate professional, he turned in a spotless performance, even while thinking that it was his acting death knell. Instead, it turned out to be the film and the character for which he is best known and best remembered and best loved.

Sometimes when I work with the real life Stanley T. Banks of the world they feel just that way about the case. More than one time a panicked attorney will say to me, “The reason you are here is so that when this whole thing goes to hell in a hand basket no one can turn around and sue me for not pulling out all the stops.” And, in spite of fear, terror, and the risk that their futures are on the line, they pull themselves together and do their consummate professional best where it counts – in the courtroom. And I am thrilled each and every time. Just as I am when I watch Spencer Tracy’s performance in this film.

Whether watching it for the first or millionth time there is one scene that attorneys should watch with care. It takes place in the kitchen in the middle of the night. Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor find themselves together, both victims of jittery wedding nightmares. But Tracy puts his terror aside easily and instinctively and comforts his daughter. It is a scene I find played out in preparation rooms all over the country and for all time between attorneys and their clients. When watch this scene, know that I am giving you a standing ovation every time you replicate it in your own practice.

TIP: Never let them see you sweat.

From Katherine:

I don’t know how we missed SALVATION BOULEVARD when it came out this summer – but was surely glad we found it in a hotel room this week. Filmmaker George Ratliff offers up a dark comedy exploring the modern day phenomenon of mega churches. It’s clear from reading the reviews of others that many didn’t get as big a kick out of the plot of this one as I did…but what we all agree on is that the cast is not only amazing, but individually and collectively they shine brighter than the sun. In fact, I think that it is for one and all one of the highlight performances of an already stellar career. And that’s a lot to say of a cast that includes, among others, Pierce Brosnan, Marisa Tomei, Greg Kinnear, Ciáran Hinds and Jennifer Connelley.

Why?

They are clearly having the best time of their lives doing this film. We’ve seen each and every one of these stars in other films. We know that each is brilliant and can be pretty darned funny. BUT it is one thing to be funny.  It is another to have fun while doing a project – so much fun that it spills over into your performance. So much so that each performance sparkles with delight.

What can attorneys learn from this?

Clearly George Ratliff, when he was directing this show, made the set a pleasure. Each actor was given just what she or he needed in order to feel confident, secure, and free to simply have a blast. Take it as far as possible while keeping it real. Allow each individual to soar – and thereby – making the whole even greater than the sum of its parts.

How often have I worked on trial teams that operated just this way? Always when I have this experience there is a leader at the helm who truly wants each member to shine, and fosters an atmosphere that allows “magic” to happen.  Is there a greater joy or pleasure?

As you watch this film, the “best work” of everyone is clearly evident. It is as good a measure of leadership for any trial lawyer as I have seen in a film recently. Oh – and enjoy!

TIP: Are you getting sparkling performances from your trial team?

From Katherine:

When Ron Clark, A Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at Seattle University School of Law asked us to blog about his “movie” for Legal Stage we were intrigued. He said, “Write about Freck Point Trial and Garage Movie – you’ll find it in the back of the third edition of the law school textbook I co-authored, Trial Advocacy: Planning, Analysis and Strategy.”

What a great education tool for law professors and law students!

You know how in most trial advocacy courses, you have a professor lecturing about various aspects of trial advocacy and students learning by doing? Can you imagine if you added to this, students also getting to watch a whole trial, conducted by top notch trial attorneys, demonstrating everything from style, to substance, strategy and to how to use up to the minute technology in the courtroom? Can you imagine as a law school professor, getting to comment on all the aspects of trial as demonstrated by this great repertory company of your colleagues? From Voire Dire through Closing Argument, students and professors can watch and discuss every aspect of this “Trial Demonstration Movie.”

I was clearly impressed by many things about this great educational tool. For example, The Voire Dire demonstration showed many commonly asked courtroom Voire Dire questions. But what I really enjoyed was the true to life facial responses of the jurors when thinking about the questions. Most attorneys I know say that the first time they really understood that jurors need to be “read” was the first time they struck a jury.

I also was really impressed by the attorneys “outside the courtroom” discussing their strategy, their feelings about the judge, etc. with the “interviewer.” Again, this gives the student a real life experience and the professor the opportunity to comment on that real life experience.

Finally, I want to point out that every single attorney doing the demonstrations during this “mega” trial had a completely different style and demeanor. How great is this both for the student to learn that there are “many” ways to be a great lawyer, and for a professor to be able to comment on various styles. We meet every stripe of trial lawyer from one who loves being an intense demonstrative storyteller, to another who is just friendly and relaxed and a “best friend”, to another who is respectful and business like, to yet another who is the essence of “reason.” Brilliant.

It is clear that this isn’t a movie made by professionals from Hollywood. But it is more than abundantly clear that this is a film made by legal professionals who want students to get a leg up on what the real world is all about. I highly recommend it.

TIP: If you are teaching trial advocacy, think way outside the box!

VIEW A FILM CLIP OF THE FRECK POINT TRIAL AND GARAGE MOVIE

From Alan:

THE DEBT is an adult, intelligent and captivating thriller. International intrigue and WWII and Nazis and Israeli agents from Mosad…the pace, the cutting, the music, the plot and the extraordinary acting all combine to make this a film for thinking people. And it is a continuous build of suspense. Which brings me to my point…what can lawyers learn from this film?

Of course there is a great story, that is essential. But it is the SEQUENCING in the telling of the story that is what you should look to, if you can remember while being propelled and sucked in to this remarkable journey.

Every story has a beginning, middle and end. And, in court, as we have always advocated, the end should instruct the jury, arbitrator, mediator or judge. But the question always arises as to, where do you begin the story?

We have always suggested starting at the juiciest place…the “sexiest” part…a grabber. And one classic way to do this is how THE DEBT begins…with what seems like the end. This is a tried and true and very effective way of having a narrative unfold. Begin at the end. And in the case of this film, a very dramatic, action-filled and gripping end. Then, rewind, as it were, and tell the story leading up to that first image/section. The audience/listeners will have a sense of familiarity, of being in on it, and there is a lot to be gained by this.

Another complication in this particular narrative is that the story takes place in two different times…with the same group of characters. During WWII and in 1997. So, there are two simultaneous narratives developing. And both of these employ this same principle of moving back through time. From the end to the beginning. And eventually, some of that conflates in the contemporary plot. By then, we are so taken in and caught up that we rejoice, or at least Katherine and I did, in knowing and hoping and wondering and being surprised by what is happening.

Often, in your cases, there are complex, interweaving narratives. When telling a story live, in court, it is essential to have some physical anchor, a place where you stand in the room, for each of these narratives. With this physical anchor clear and secure, it is possible to have multiple narratives unfold, intercut and happen at the same time. In film, of course, the editing, the cutting, allows the filmmaker to move us in place and time. In court, you have the burden of doing that yourself. Of course if you try it and become adept you will feel the power and synergy of building the narrative and suspense of multiple stories simultaneously. Try it. Rehearse. It will be hard at first, but it will get to be fun. And it is very effective.

TIP: Try telling your story from the end first, then rewind back to the start. And, try telling multiple narratives simultaneously. Rehearse, practice. Choose a case that benefits from these techniques. You will gain so much.

From Alan:

Adaptation is very difficult. And to move from one form, a novel say, to another, like film, is even more difficult. Each form carries its own rules and structure. And within each form achieving a high level of expression requires different techniques and a different kind of storytelling. Coleridge once said that great literary criticism is a poem in response to a poem. With adaptation, the same is true. So, the film of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is quite a masterpiece of both storytelling as a film and of adaptation.

If you speak to most lawyers of my generation and before, I am almost 59, the novel of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD often serves as an inspiration…both for lawyering and for the quiet, gentle, active nobility of spirit and deed for which men strive. Having just reviewed the wonderful documentary HEY, BOO about the novel, film and the life of Harper Lee, it seemed fitting, actually necessary, to review the film of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

I had not seen this wonderful film in many years. The artifice and style of the time made it seem quaint to me when I was a young, arrogant actor. Well, now that I am older and slightly less arrogant, I was startled by the immediacy and contemporary quality of the film, the acting and the story. Of course, there are some moments that seem “old fashioned,” but overall this film far exceeds so much of contemporary filmmaking.

What can lawyers learn from this film? Gregory Peck’s character, Atticus Finch, is the man who defends people no one else will defend. The neighbor, beautifully played by Rosemary Murphy, says something like, “There are people who do all the things none of us wants to do but that need doing…your father, Atticus, is one of those people.” That character trait is what inspires so many lawyers. And yet there is something else to be learned here. Something about telling a story.

What struck me most watching the film this time was how much silence there is. Between characters, within scenes, within exchanges. What is left out, what is not said and not shown has so much impact. The space in between. Silence and gesture where language is felt by us, the audience. The filmmakers have allowed room for the audience to fill in the emotional and narrative story by leaving out words.

Even in the filmmaking itself there is much omitted. It is customary in modern films to usually “turn around” and show the reverse angle in a scene. If we see one person talking, the camera will usually flip so we can see the reaction and watch the other person talking. In TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD these “reverses” are very rare. We watch the character’s back. We “make up” the response. We hold on the “empty” space of someone’s back or in a wide shot and this allows us, the viewer, to participate; to supply so much of the story. In the silences and in the empty spaces the listener, the audience, the jury, fills in the story.

Of course, this requires a lot from the storyteller. Leading up to and away from these silences, these “empty” spaces, the story must be succinct, compelling and strong. Active, in both an emotional and narrative sense. And if you have created such a story, then you must learn to welcome and value the silence.

TIP: Are you letting the jury particpate and become involved? Do you value the silence and use the empty space as part of your story?

From Katherine:

Remember how much I loved the adaptation of the novel WATER FOR ELEPHANTS? Stand back. I love the adaptation of Kathryn Sockett’s amazing novel. From the moment our creative team member, Shilpa Mysoor, put it in my hands I was hooked. A brilliant new voice in the wonderful tradition of Southern American writers! I looked at the movie poster the first time I saw it with more than a little bit of trepidation…I hate it when my favorite books turn into horrible movies. Thank heavens that my fears were assuaged from the first frames of the film – just like the novel, the film of THE HELP had me at “hello.”

What can attorneys learn from seeing this amazing film? So much – but I am going to concentrate on only one aspect. It is the amazing portrayal of how people get other people to tell them their stories. This is what attorneys do with their witnesses all the time. I am especially moved by one of these relationships we get to follow in the film. It is between the young would-be journalist, Skeeter (Emma Stone), and her first interview subject, the maid Aibilene (Viola Davis). The arc of the relationship reflects how sometimes, as a lawyer, you have to “hang in there and keep trying.” Emma has to first learn that getting the story wasn’t going to be easy. She then has to be willing to be quiet. To listen. To be open. To earn the respect of her “witness.” How often have I been brought in to “open up” an Aibilene because a Skeeter hasn’t been willing to put aside ego, preconceived notions of how things “must be,” and to put her/his honor on the line to earn trust. The arc of this relationship changes each of them individually, their relationship, and ultimately this country.

TIP: Are you willing to find the way to get this witness to “open up” and tell you the story?

From Alan:

I most certainly agree with Katherine. THE HELP is a remarkable film with outstanding performances. Performances that stayed with me.

What I want to talk about here is RELATIONSHIPS. What we follow, as an audience, are the relationships among the characters. The stronger the relationships, the more they change and matter to us, the more we care about the story. How we follow a story is through the development of these relationships.

In this film, the relationship between the two main black women, characters played by the stunning Viola Davis and the equally compelling and strong Octavia Spencer is what helps propel the narrative…the story. And their relationship with the character played by Emma Stone, the development of that relationship is what makes us care and helps drive us into and through the story.

What can lawyers learn from this? What the jury follows is relationship. To an outsider, a juror, the courtroom is a foreign world. Despite all the lawyer shows on TV, we all come into this world with expectations, preconceptions and distortions. Part of your job is to be our guide. To take us, and take care of us, through the journey of the trial. And we will learn about this world and about the story you want us to follow through how you treat your client and your witnesses. And also, how you treat the judge and bailiff and all the all the other characters who populate the world of the courtroom. Your relationship to all of them and to us, the jury, will inform and shape our understanding and caring of your story.

And make no mistake. Do not underestimate the effect of your behavior, your relationships with everyone in the courtroom – and in the lunchroom, in the hallway, in the parking lot. You may be observed and those observations will lead to judgments about you and your case and your story.

TIP: Are you aware of your relationships with your clients and with your witnesses? Are you aware of how these relationships are perceived and of what story they tell?

From Katherine:

I know, you were really hoping that instead of giving you new information about an attorney favorite for the Dog Days of Summer that I would write about the new Smurf movie. Actually, one of the guys in my playwrighting group tried to convince me that I should go because he claimed there is a new character called “Legal Smurf”. Thank God I’m not that blonde.

Okay. I love LEGALLY BLONDE. Love it! I find it amazing that when I ask attorneys what their favorite movie about the law is that they don’t all shout out that title in their top hits. I love the story of Elle Woods (played by the extraordinary Reese Witherspoon learning that her skills of being sharp, savvy, compassionate and discerning can be used to help others by becoming an attorney.

But why I want you to watch it this time around (other than to have a fabulously rollicking time) is that I often use this film as a homework assignment for witnesses. With many witnesses, answering “too quickly” is an issue. People get nervous, the stakes are high, and they tend to “speak first and think second”. After I help cure them of the habit, I recommend that they watch the film, paying close attention to the cross examination of Enrique (the brilliant Greg Serano) by Emmett (the wonderful Luke Wilson).

The following dialogue is delivered at breakneck speed:

Emmett: Did you take Mrs. Windham on a date?
Enrique Salvatore: Yes.
Emmett: Where?
Enrique Salvatore: A restaurant in concord, where no one could recognize us.
Emmett: How long have you been sleeping with Mrs. Windham?
Enrique Salvatore: Three months.
Emmett: And your boyfriend’s name is…
Enrique Salvatore: Chuck.
Emmett: Right.
[Everyone gasps/laughs]
Enrique Salvatore: Pardon me, pardon me. I thought you said friend; Chuck is just a friend.
Chuck: YOU BITCH.

I can’t tell you how often any speedy witness “gets it” from watching this scene. We all have a good laugh and the lesson is solidified thanks to Enrique. I am happy to report that in the stage play based on the movie, LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL, that scene gets a big laugh every night. Even though we all know it is coming, the audience still gets the biggest kick out of it! I think we all recognize that “speed kills” each and every time we experience it in this scene – whether on stage or screen.

TIP: Help your speedy witnesses by having them watch the cross examination scene from LEGALLY BLONDE.

From Katherine:

Ask attorneys what book and movie were their greatest influencers in choosing to become a lawyer and 9 out of 10 respond TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Now there is a fantastic documentary in limited release in theaters but available for sale on DVD on the author, book and film. The filmmaker is veteran Mary McDonagh Murphy and its title is HEY, BOO: HARPER LEE & TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

For every attorney who wanted to become Atticus, related to Scout, grew up in the shadow of Boo Radley, or wanted so badly to see that nothing bad ever happened to another Tom Robinson, this film acts as a “must take” journey. Murphy goes into great depth about the back story of Harper Lee and her writing of her great and only novel. She gives us further insight into all the characters, including her father who was the basis for Atticus. We hear from a host of folks, including her sister who still practices the law in her late 90s! There are “behind the scenes” tales of what went on during the filming told by Mary Badham who played Scout.

But for me, it is the commentary by “others” that offers attorneys the most valuable lessons. First, there is the commentary on the politics of the time (Andrew Young, Oprah Winfrey, and Tom Brokaw). The interplay between the book, the movie and the civil rights movement is so moving. It reminds everyone who has the privilege of working for justice how great an impact our cases can have.

Second, there is the commentary by the writers who are forever influenced and affected by the book. I kept thinking about how attorneys will talk about a great trial lawyer who was a mentor with stunning examples of what made him or her so good. Here, you are experiencing other writers talking about this master writer and her masterwork (a work that is influencing a 6th grader today who is going to become a lawyer just like you did!).

I can think of no greater master class in storytelling that I could send you to right here and right now. It is simply delicious. It will inevitably make you look at your own storytelling as a trial lawyer on a whole new level. Why? Because they are all talking about the storytelling skills of a work you think you know as well as you know your own heart. Just wait. You’ll learn even more.

TIP: Can you list the qualities that make you a good trial lawyer? Did you get them from trying to be like Atticus?

From Katherine:

Summer is in full swing – time to kick back and look at old favorites and what they can teach us! It seems like a big favorite for attorneys is MY COUSIN VINNY. Who doesn’t love Joe Pesci’s Vinny? Who doesn’t envision himself/herself kicking major ass big time in the endearing way that Vinny does in all those courtroom scenes at the end of the film?

Although I am crazy about the courtroom scenes, it is the journey of Vinny’s learning curve that always sucks me in. I think that is where the real lessons for attorneys lie. They include:

1. Know your case, dude.
2. Know the law, bro.
3. Dress like the lawyers do in the town in which you are trying the case, pal.
4. Don’t piss off the judge, especially if he once played Herman Munster.
5. Trust your trial team – particularly if she is smarter than you are.
6. Once points 1-5 are under your belt, you can fly.

How many lawyers love the feeling of point 6, but aren’t willing to do the work and take the journey that encompasses points 1-5? Watch Vinny. It may be your second time, it may be your millionth, but watch the first part and see if there aren’t some laughs of recognition this time.

TIP: You can’t soar like an eagle if you aren’t willing to take the journey to the top of the cliff.

From Katherine:

BEGINNERS is a must see film.  I know, I know, it is in limited release. It shouldn’t be – it should be in your local theater in my opinion.  BEGINNERS is a delicately woven tale of how we are ALWAYS “starting over” in the game of life.  But we start over bringing the past with us – a past that rarely lets us either live in the moment or leap into the next chapter of our lives with the willingness to embrace a blank slate.

The performances are brilliant.  Is there any day of the week with a “y” in it that you DON’T want to see Christopher Plummer’s extraordinary artistry? But the work of the film maker – writer and director Mike Mills – is truly masterful and not to be missed.

But what is in it for lawyers to go to BEGINNERS? Two elements of storytelling – emotional truth and passage of time – are skillfully demonstrated and readily useful in cases.

Let’s start with point of view.  The entire film is told from one point of view – that of the character Oliver, played by the wonderful Ewan McGregor. What is unique about the telling of Oliver’s story is that the clear emotional truth of each scene is raw and present.  As McGregor plays the scenes of his past and present, he is as emotionally alive as he was when they were happening to him.  For those of you who are lawyers who have studied or read about psychodrama, you would put that label on it.  For those of you, who like Alan and me, studied acting, you learned it as “emotional recall” or “sense memory.”  When I work with witnesses, I often take them back in time to get them to express the emotional truth of a piece of testimony they must give.  Sometimes it is the time when a child was misdiagnosed by a doctor.  Sometimes it is the time when a contract was forced on someone. Sometimes it is the moment when a partner realized the other partner had betrayed him. As you watch the film, be aware of how fully and completely the character is immersed in the moment he is recalling.  Haven’t you needed that from your witnesses – at least from time to time?

The second element is passage of time. This film is not told in chronological order.  So in order to orient us to the time period he wants us to find Oliver in, Mike Mills does two interesting things.  He says, for example, “This is 1955.” We then are given a still photo of them time.  Then “This is what cars looked like.” We are then given a still photo of a car of the time. We then are oriented with a few more repeatable elements.  Finally, he says “This is what it looked like when people were in love.” We then are given a series of still photos from the time of people in love.  This sequence: date, a few elements that are repeatable and which have changed, and then the eternal element that doesn’t (love) is HIGHLY EFFECTIVE.  It takes very little time and it is SO HELPFUL. Imagine you have a case that takes place over several years.  You need to orient the jurors visually to how things are different now from what they used to be. As I said in the blog post here for Fair Game (3/30/11) – this is your job.  I love the idea of the simple repetition of the same elements visually again and again as we watch them change. Mike Mills uses time and repetition again in a few places by simply changing one element in the visual in photo after photo after photo for a few seconds.  For example, in one time marker there is a plate cookies in the waiting room of the outpatient clinic where father Hal (Plummer) and son Oliver (McGregor) go for several weeks and months for Hal’s chemo appointments.  The plate, table, plant remain the same.  But the cookies change from shot to shot…and with that change we know that they have gone into that room again and again and again over days and days and days.  It is absolutely brilliant and you can adapt it to the visuals of your case.

TIPS:

1. Are your witnesses emotionally truthful and present?
2. Tell your jurors about the passage of time through your visuals.