Category: Lauren Rismani

My interview process was spectacular. I had the honor to interview someone, who has done fantastic work in the legal world. She has had so many experiences in the legal world with practicing cases. She is smart, intelligent and determined in the courtroom. 

I interviewed Lia Fazzone. Lia attended Choate boarding school for high school. Lia then attended Duke University and received her undergraduate degree from Duke University. After receiving her undergraduate degree, she decided to apply to law school. She decided to attend University of Denver law school. She has been practicing law in Denver since 1997 and is still practicing today. 

When speaking to her about law school, the first question I asked was talking through a typical day in law school. Lia proceeds to answer explaining that law school started around 8-9:00am, having class until around 3:00pm. She explained on average maybe having 2-3 classes a day. When attending your classes, she explained to me the “Socratic method”, which I mentioned in one of my first blog posts, but explains that this method helps you become prepared about a case to discuss in class. One aspect she taught me was that in law school, when talking to a professor about a case, they might argue back to you, meaning that you have to argue to them and prove your point about the case. Lia said, “First year[ of law school] is the most regimented”( Lia Fazzone). She explains that after the first year, once you start to understand the legal way of reading and understanding a case, it becomes easier to understand. 

I asked her if she had to give a piece of advice to someone thinking about applying to law school, what would you say to them. She responded immediately saying “definitely go to law school”( Lia Fazzone). She continued to talk about law school and she explained that she finds practicing law to be engaging still to this day. She has been practicing for a long time so her explanation that she still finds practicing law still engaging after many years of practicing is  admirable. 

Lia talked about her experiences in law school and listening to her journey made me excited for my journey. Truthfully, I’ve known Lia for a long time and I’ve always looked up to her. Her experience makes me want to work hard in law school and receive my JD. She inspired me to look into law school and I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to interview her about her journey! 

Till next time 

LR 

Sources 

• Discussion with legal expert( Lia Fazzone)

This week, I learned what an infographic is. I had a small understanding of what an infographic was but learned a lot more information this week. An Infographic provides information in the form of photos and small descriptions. They are usually appealing and informational to read and colorful with pictures. Personally, I loved learning and reading infographics. The examples that we learned about in class were very inspirational. There was one example that I absolutely loved and it was an infographic but it was almost like a scavenger hunt to find the answer. It was an infographic designed to find out your answer to the questions. It was tremendous and very intriguing. 

I looked at a couple of infographics about lawyers and law. For example, I looked at one infographic and it gave me information about lawyers. It was about 5-10 points and it was very colorful. It intrigued me to read it because of all the color and the simplicity of reading it. The colors in this infographic were vibrant, which made reading it fun. The structure was easy to follow. It was about 5-10 points and it was structured from top to bottom making it easy to read. It also organized the information from past to present. It talks about the history of law, steps it takes to become a lawyer and stats revolving around becoming a lawyer, stats about lawyers work and much more. The information was clear and concise. It did not confuse me about the information at all. 

The example I looked at was informational because it included stats about lawyers which made it informational. I loved reading this infographic and I think infographics will become more popular in upcoming years. The reason why I think that is because it adds advertising, information and visuals to the mix which I think is popular now. We learned in class that a successful infographic is short and simple and gets to the point. An infographic with too much information or long sentences or the colors are off, the infographic may not be as successful. But  an infographic that is well thought out, short facts, beautiful coloring and fonts and easy to read might be more successful. I enjoyed this week’s discussion about infographics and I’m excited to make my own infographic about law school. It will be important to make it easy to understand, factual and fun to look at. 

Sources 

• “Lawyers Tales: Collection of Facts about Lawyers – Infographic: Fun Facts, Lawyer, Law School Quotes.” Pinterest, 8 Sept. 2018, http://www.pinterest.com/pin/lawyers-tales-collection-of-facts-about-lawyers-infographic–138907969743117058/. 

Wow, wow, wow. New show alert. I decided to watch another new series about lawyers called “Lincoln Lawyers.” Lincoln Lawyers is about Mickey, the main character, and his journey into practicing law again. Mickey is a criminal defense lawyer.  In law, there are two types of cases. Criminal and Civil.

In episode 1, We learn that Mickey hasn’t had a case or practiced law in awhile. In law, if you do not have any ongoing cases or not doing any work related to the law, the term used is “not practicing law.” But in episode 1, Mickey is called into the office of a judge and he has no idea why he was summoned by this judge. The judge tells Mickey that a lawyer, who passed away, had left his practice, meaning his business, to Mickey. Mickey is shocked by this news. In the episode, Mickey addresses the judge and says “your honor.” In law, when you are speaking to the judge whether it’s a meeting or in the courtroom, when an attorney is speaking to a judge, they say “your honor” to address the judge. 

Mickey takes over the practice and has to go to court for one of the cases all in the same day. Mickey explains to the judge and the other attorney that he just got the case that day and needs time to prepare for the bench trial. The judge appoints Mickey one day to get familiar with the case. In this case he is defending his client who was accused of grand theft. Grand theft is stealing an item over a certain amount of money.  Mickey meets with the client and learns about the case. 

Mickey preps for the bench trail. A bench trial means that when trying the case, there are the attorneys and the judge. A trial means that you are trying the case in front of the attorney’s, a judge and a jury.   

Mickey prepped and got the entire case dismissed. The case did not have to continue with the bench trial because the case was dismissed. The client was very happy with Mickey. 

Overall, I loved watching this new TV show. It was interesting to learn more about criminal defense work and what types of cases there are. I definitely will be adding this show to my list of shows to watch! 

Until next time 

LR 

Sources 

• “Lincoln Lawyer” Season 1, Episode 1 
• Discussion with legal expert 

I will say the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I watched “Partner Track” and wrote about it in my first blog post this week.  After watching the first episode, I’ve suddenly become a major fan of this show and decided to watch the next episode and learn more about merger and acquisition law. Also, I aspire to be like the main character, Ingrid so I wanted to watch another episode and write about it.  

In this episode, Ingrid had a case where there was trouble with one business and the exact lease terms. Ingrid’s boss explains that she needs to go back to the original lease and look at the exact wording of the lease to determine what the company can own. Unfortunately, the lease was written around 1960 so she had to look for the lease in a room filled with file boxes. Nowadays with technology, paper work is backed up onto some sort of technology to save and have quick access to paperwork. 

The files for this case were in an unorganized room filled with probably thousands of paperwork and she had to reorganize and find the lease and examine the exact wording. After organizing the file boxes, they search and read through the paperwork to find the lease. They found the  lease and the agreement between the companies may not happen. However, Ingrid found other paperwork to counter agree to the other lease so the business was saved again by Ingrid! 

Another case that was talked about in the episode was about a founder of a company who had a trust fund for her grandchildren. The founder of the company had put in place a trust for each of her grandchildren so once she passes away, the grandchildren get money from the company she started. 

The founder of the company then decided to terminate the trust, meaning getting rid of the trust funds for the grandchildren and finding another buyer for her company. The grandchildren, founder and lawyers met in a conference room to negotiate terms. Unfortunately, she passes away in the same episode, so if no paperwork was done to terminate the trusts, then the trust would have stayed in place.  

In this episode, I learned about how important exact wording is on paperwork. In Ingrid’s case, she needed to find exact wording on the lease to help her client. I also learned how much paperwork there is in a law firm! Crazy amount of paper! Overall, I enjoy analyzing the details of the cases in the show and hopefully another season comes out so I can watch more of the show! 

Till next time 

LR 

Credible sources 

• “Partner Track” Season 1, Episode 2 
• Discussion with legal expert

For this week’s blog post, I’ve decided to watch a new series about lawyers. This series is called, “Partner Track.” The main character, Ingrid,  is a merger and acquisitions lawyer.  This means she helps businesses who decide to merge with another company or if a business wants to separate from another company. They help with the financial aspects with writing contracts and negotiation terms with legal work. She went to Harvard law and is very dedicated to her job. She is hardworking, dedicated and passionate about being a lawyer. Ingrid is a current senior associate. Ingrid aspires to be a junior partner at her law firm. She wants to prove to her firm and herself that she can be a great addiction to the law firm by being a junior partner and hopefully partner after the first promotion. 

According to legal experts, being a partner at a firm means that you own equity in a firm. Meaning that if your firm makes money, you get a percent of whatever money the firm makes.  A junior partner is being promoted to a partner but you do not own equity in a firm, it’s non-equity. 

In the first episode, Ingrid wants to land another big deal to prove to the firm that she would be the best candidate for junior partner. She will compete with the other lawyers in her firm to try and make junior partner.  Ingrid competed with one of the other lawyers in which they had to pitch to the client to make the best deal for the client and the company. The client decided to go with the other lawyer instead of Ingrid but, the other lawyer cheated and took Ingrid’s idea so technically Ingrid won! She also found out that the other lawyer cheated by giving out confidential information about the case which can ruin the case. Ingrid decided that she needed to tell her boss to save the case and the law firm. Ingrid’s idea worked and she saved the case! 

In the show, Ingrid works with a paralegal. A paralegal helps a lawyer with any filing of paperwork, helps manage the cases by staying organized with all the papers, helps with emails, communication and everything.

This episode was interesting to learn more about merger and acquisitions law and the deals they help with! 

Till next time 

LR 

Credible sources 

• “Partner Track” Season 1, Episode 1
• Discussion with legal expert

Many people watch TV shows and expect that they can do the jobs displayed in the TV show. For example, when I was younger, I watched the show “Grey’s Anatomy” and thought that I could become a surgeon no problem. Little did I know that that dream ended quickly realizing my fear of needles and blood and coming to terms with the fact that I would never become a surgeon.   

Many of my readers know the passion I have of going to law school. I decided to watch an episode of “Suits” to see if it correlates with being a real lawyer. Exploring the media to see if the events taken place in the show “Suits” is like working in a law firm. 

I analyzed Season 2, episode 9 entitled “Asterisk” 

In this episode, Harvey and Mike were arguing for their client and expressing that their client has the right to say their opinion publicly. The argument the opposing lawyer made was that the opinion was intentionally causing harm to someone’s reputation and in this case was seen as malice. The judge listened to both sides and set the meeting to trial. 

Trial is when the case is sent to the judge and both attorneys have to argue for the client to prove their case. In this case, Harvey is set to go to trial to defend his client and to prove he is innocent, whereas the opposing lawyer is making his case to prove that Harvey’s client is guilty. According to my legal expert,  90-95% of cases are dismissed from trial. Meaning that only 5-10% of cases go to trial. 

The opposing lawyer met with Harvey after the meeting  and requested that his client make a public apology. If this were to happen, then the case would not go to trial. 

Harvey met with the client and the client said he would not make an apology statement and that this case is going to trial. 

Mike finds evidence to support his client’s case and shows Harvey this information. Harvery presents his client with a deal. The client took Harvery’s deal and the case did not go to trial. If a client takes a deal, that means that the trial is dropped. If the client did not take the deal, then the case would have continued into trial. 

What I learned from this episode and speaking to an expert in law, is that there is a numerous amount of negotiation in a case. The case goes back and forth until there is a settlement. In the particular episode, there was a large amount of negotiating to make 1 deal. It shows that when becoming a lawyer, you need to negotiate and argue for your clients best interest. 

Till next time

LR

Credible Sources

• “Suits” Season 2, episode 9 
• Discussion with legal expert 

I am going to be quite honest, I did not know what a CSR was or what it stood for. I had no initial thought or idea of what a CSR was. To make matters more confusing, I did not know how CSR was related to law or what it helped with in the legal world. I had so many questions about what CSR was and how it could relate to law or even if it related to law at all. 

CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibilities and essentially the main purpose of a CSR is to emphasize what a company believes in and what their company stands for. For example, a business company that focuses on selling shoes, could state that as a company, they want to focus on investing in charities to help children afford shoes. This example could be on their CSR page and explain why they value working with charities. This highlights what the company believes in and what they want to do as a company. 

After researching, I came across a law firm called “Njord Law Firm” and I looked at their corporate social responsibilities and what their company stands for and what they value as a company. It was on their website and it summarized a multitude of company values. 

In this specific law firm, Njord prioritizes how they treat their clients with consideration and care in the legal world. They want their clients to feel valued and supported with the legal service they are receiving. They want their client to feel supported by their business. 

The Njord law firm wants their employees who work within the company to feel supported. They emphasize the employees balance of work and life outside of work and support their employees through navigating the balance. They want employees in their company to feel supported by their business. 

They want their law firm to be known to be diverse and inclusive of everyone in their company whether that be gender, faith background, economic background, etc. Whether it is someone in their company or a client they are helping, they want everyone to feel included regardless of gender, faith background, economic background, etc. 

They prioritize the support of different charities and want to help in any way that they can. They also want to help with overall climate change and to show their support, they have invested in alternative energy sources to help with climate change.

 A CSR is not enforced by legislation for a company to have but highly encouraged for a company to have one. It shows what a company stands for and all they value. I personally would love to know what business I’m currently working for and understand what they value and see if I also value the same principles. I would want to know that the company I’m working for values the same values as I do or aligns with who I am as a person.

Till next time 

LR 

Credible sources 

• https://www.njordlaw.com/responsibility  
• Discussion with legal expert

“Center for Nonprofit Law” 

The mission that the “Center for Nonprofit Law” firm serves is to help  nonprofit organizations with any legal issues they might be having, while creating a confidence for the client and supporting the cause of the nonprofit organization. While researching nonprofit law firms, “Center for Nonprofit Law” stood out to me especially since they are in Eugene. This stood out to me because when I think of Nonprofit law firms, I think of large corporations in major cities. Seeing this law firm in Eugene makes me happy because it shows that good work is being done in the city where I’m currently living. It also shows that nonprofit law firms can be in any major or small city. 

In the legal world, each lawyer and law firm charges an hourly rate. It depends on the law firm. The more renowned, more prestigious law firms that have a good track record with wins over loses, tend to have a higher hourly rate. The hourly rate can also depend on the specific lawyer and their track record with wins and loses. It also could depend if a lawyer practices independently or they practice at a firm.  The partners at the law firm will most likely have a higher hourly rate compared to the associates at a law firm. The partners of the law firm play the role as the coach of a team where the associates play the role of the players on the field. 

A lawyer who works at a nonprofit law firm charges a lower hourly rate in hopes of helping people and organizations that can’t afford it. 

Some examples of tasks the “Center for Nonprofit Law” helps with are taxes with nonprofit organization groups. The law firm can also help formulate how the nonprofit organization will start their business and help with the legal aspect of starting a non profit. 

When looking at their website, they have a page called “Testimonials”. On this page, there are numerous quotes from nonprofit organizations thanking them for all their help with legal issues. Some of the organizations are local here in Eugene so seeing good works being done both legally and with a nonprofit organization in the same city is admirable. 

Overall, this was a great law firm to write about. My favorite part again is that this law firm is located in Eugene. Knowing that people are being helped in the city by people who care is praiseworthy and inspiring!

Credible source

• https://www.centerfornonprofitlaw.com/

“You got into Harvard law?” 

Legally Blonde has been one of my favorite movies growing up. I loved it at a young age and I enjoy it even more now because this movie has taught me multiple lessons. The number one lesson that this movie taught me is that you can do anything if you give it 100%.

Elle, the main character, was planning on getting engaged to her boyfriend after graduation. Her boyfriend, Warner, broke up with her and said that his family wants him to marry someone who has a future in their career. Warner got into Harvard law and Elle decided to apply to Harvard law and follow Warner in hopes of connecting with him again. 

In terms of reality of the movie to real law school, Elle scored a 179 on the LSAT which a perfect score is a 180. So Elle tested extremely well on the LSAT. For her essay, she decided to make a video instead of writing an essay. In the real world of applying to law school, this is unheard of. People who want to apply to law school will need to write an essay, have a resume, have LSAT scores and letters of recommendation. There are multiple factors needed when applying to law school, a video essay is not needed. In the movie, Elle was accepted into Harvard law and started law school in the fall. 

When Elle arrived at Harvard, her first day of class didn’t go as planned. In her first class, the professor used a method called “socratic method”  meaning that the professor can call on anyone in the class to answer the question. The professor asked Elle a question about the reading, Elle explained she had no idea that there was a reading. The professor eventually kicked her out of class since she wasn’t prepared. According to my expert, the socratic method is used quite often in law school. 

Later on in the movie, Elle got an internship at a prestigious law firm and was working on a murder case. The firm met with the client and when asked for her alibi, she would not tell them her alibi. Elle realized that the client was in the same sorority as her so they bounded over that. Elle visited the client alone to get the alibi and lied on the form signing a different name which is not allowed. According to my expert, some states allow law students and interns working with a law firm to be alone with clients but some states do not allow an unsupervised law student without a professional representation while talking to the client. Elle lied on the signin waiver form which could be used as evidence to the opposing case or could change the outcome of the trial. 

Overall, this movie is great! I would highly recommend it to someone who wants to know more about law school. Although there are some fictional aspects of law school portrayed in the movie, it does accurately display the determination of graduating from law school. Elle had to work extremely hard and did so! This is a great “feel good movie”. Truly one of my favorite movies! 

Credible source 

• Discussion with legal expert
• https://www.princetonreview.com/law-school-advice/socratic-method#:~:text=How%20the%20Socratic%20Method%20Works,details%20overlooked%20or%20issues%20unresolved.
•  Robert Luketic, 2001, Legally Blonde, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Hello everyone! I’m extremely thrilled to start my journey on this blog in sharing with my fellow peers my thoughts and opinions on TV shows and Movies that are focused or involve our legal system in the US. For my blog, I’m going to watch and review Movies and TV shows that revolve around the legal world. Personally, I am entertained by Movies and TV shows that involve criminal and civil cases. Although, I do enjoy all types of genres. 

I have been thinking about my next phase of life, and exploring the idea of going to law school. I came to this conclusion as I realized I loved and really enjoyed watching films or TV shows that revolve around the legal process.  My focus is to examine the movies, get information from experts of the law, research the law through the “Justia US Law” and analyze if that movie is truly on point with the real legal world or if its way of base as to the reality of the legal world. The reason why I chose this topic is primarily because of my personal journey to find my career and my next adventure . After graduation, I plan on studying for the LSAT and applying to law school. The truth of the matter is, I have no idea what law school will look like. What is the application process like? What classes do you take in law school? How hard are law classes?  What are the classes like? What do real legal cases look like? What actions are taken in a court by the lawyer? I know absolutely nothing which makes my blog exciting. 

This blog will help me learn more about the legal world while sharing my knowledge with my readers. This blog will help me and hopefully give someone another viewpoint of the law. My blog will be exciting because I’m preparing myself and my readers about the realities of law school. Viewers of my blog will expect 3 main objectives.  One, I will write a summary about the movie or TV show I have watched. Two, I will then explain if the Movie or TV shows are similar to the reality of the legal world by asking real lawyers and through research. Three, I will rate the movie and give the reader my honest opinion.  My goal is to have my blog a place where people can gain knowledge about law and law school while also helping me plan and analyze my next steps.  I’m so excited to learn more and write all about it! The first movie I will be watching and reviewing is “Legally Blonde”. 

See you next week 🙂 

LR

Credible Resource: https://law.justia.com/