Fight The Hypo » Law In The Movies

The Law 1; Ashton Kutcher 0.

Dr. Bombay — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:09:31 +0000

Not that it take a lot to set fire to the factual underpinnings of your average Ashton Kutcher vehicle, but its sure funny when your concurrent law school studies bring the gasoline. To wit, I was flipping through HBO late last night, and caught the first 15 minutes of “What Happens in Vegas,” a predictable pile of crap staring Mr. Kutcher and Cameron Diaz. First, a brief plot synopsis: Morons go to Vegas, get drunk, get married, and win a big ol’ slot jackpot. Because they both want the cash, they get forced by a judge to stay married and go through counseling. This next part I’m speculating on, (but given the predictability of this drivel, I’m 100% sure I’m right) they then wind up finding that they though they’re unlikely pair, they complement each other, and wind up falling in love for real. (Sound of me barfing).

But here’s where trust and estates came to the rescue. Nevada is a community property state, meaning that assets acquired after the marriage are presumed to have joint ownership. Since the property retains the character of the locale in which it was acquired, even the tried plot device of them both being from New York wouldn’t matter. So rather than wading through another hour’s worth of contrived blather, if the plot had cleaved to the true nature of the law, they could have gotten a quickie divorce, split the loot, and gone about their merry way. Suck on that Hollywood! Knowledge of the law (and good taste) smash another one of your intellectually insulting piles of crap!

Law is Like…. the French Taunter

Casebook Sherpa — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:15:46 +0000

How would you capture the essence of law school? I’ve felt since the very first semester that the movie The Paper Chase gets at something central to law school – a challenge to your ego inviting you to take up an intellectual quest for knowledge and growth. A bit dramatic, I know, but I think there’s something to Hart’s obsession with learning and excelling.

Though it struck me recently that perhaps law school is more accurately portrayed in this scene:

You’re certainly on a quest. But the law simply taunts you from behind a citadel of brick and mortar. You’re powerless to do anything about it since the extent of your weaponry is sword and coconut shells.

Movie Review: There Will Be Blood

Casebook Sherpa — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:29:05 +0000

“There Will Be Blood” is a good movie (for the first time ever, Mrs. Sherpa is wrong on this). Daniel Day Lewis – though he’s playing a similar character to Bill “The Butcher” Cutting - is excellent and his character is exceedingly evil. The trouble is you can’t find much sympathy for his victims.

The movie itself is based on Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil! It’s the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) and his quest for oil in turn of the 20th-century Southern California. He’s quite possibly evil incarnate and the film – though masterfully done – is not an uplifting story. In places, it’s downright abusive to a viewer (kind of like Crash).

From a historical perspective, understanding the legal consequences and interests at play at this time would probably be interesting to ponder. This review however turns on one phrase: I Drink Your Milkshake! The line has inspired its own website (and even its own sports metaphor).

How does it come up? Well, Plainview buys up all the land – except one parcel – in a town that’s sitting on an “ocean of oil.” He strikes it big and makes a fortune.

When the holdout owner passes away, the town’s church, pastored by local pentecostal healer Eli Sunday (played by Paul Dano), acquires an interest in the land. Eli is broke, having squandered donations to the church. So, he approaches Plainview about buying the church’s interest in the tract, knowing that at one point the property held oil at and beneath the surface.

Plainview is about 10 years ahead of him. After getting Eli to admit that he believes God to be a superstition as a condition for buying the land, Plainview informs the preacher he doesn’t need the land because he’s been drinking the oil for years:

I wondered whether that was true, having a hard time recalling the precise rule of Pierson v. Post and the Rule of Capture. States dealing with the challenges of resource extraction adopted some version of the rule of capture which allows property owners, like Plainview, to extract resources from beneath their property even if those resources drain into that ground as a result of the extraction.

You can’t drill down on a slant into the ground under someone else’s land, but if, as a consequence of your extraction the oil or water or gas migrates to your ground it’s considered fugitive and you have every right to it:

In the absence of a statute declaring otherwise, the landowner, by drilling on his or her land, may capture what he or she can of the contents of a pool, notwithstanding that in doing so the landowner reduces the common supply theoretically available to his or her neighbors.

38 Am. Jur. 2d Gas and Oil § 10.

The film is worth seeing, though be warned that it’s a bit slow. Still, the acting is great. Let me know, whether, you find one redeeming quality in Plainview.

Movie Review: The Paper Chase (Or: How Law School Messes With Your Head)

Casebook Sherpa — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:00:18 +0000

I can’t imagine a law school blog that does movie reviews without including one on The Paper Chase.

Having watching it recently, I’ve been thinking about it a lot. And there’s probably not much I could say about the classic movie The Paper Chase beyond what’s already been well-said.

It’s the story about Hart a 1L at Harvard Law School, his adjustment to law school, and his obsession with impressing his Contracts professor, the legendary Professor Kingsfield. The setting is your stereotypical law school – professor calling on students, giving far too little time to answer questions, students competing to have the smartest answer in class, students crumbling under pressure, some figuring out how to manage it all.

Here’s a taste of it from the movie’s opening scene:
[wp_youtube]-qHEBABE6PU[/wp_youtube]

So, I won’t bore you with a plug for the movie. Instead, I’ll bore you with how I thought the movie captured a side of law school that has really struck me as its essence. That is: law school messes with your head.

I have not had a Professor as utterly old-school as Kingsfield. I’m certain several of my profs are as brilliant as Kingsfield is made out to be, though they are much more humane, infinitely more approachable, and far more eager to help. Hart’s passion was ignited by this obsession with impressing Kingsfield, with unlocking his secret to brilliance and somehow turning it into a greater understanding of the law and why he was studying it. In doing so, he realized what was really important and why he was going to law school – in addition to realizing that he could do it.

But it’s my guess that this is what law school is all about. At least it is for me. Law school kind of dares you to obsess about it – to spend every waking hour in search of understanding. Perhaps it’s just me, but at times I envision the law as a mocking opponent, taunting me, calling me names, insulting my mom, disparaging my character. Daring me to step up and try to understand why things are the way they are, find the answer to why I’m studying law, to challenge my assumptions about life and society, and to really figure out what it means to work for justice, truth, and fairness (the values I hope embody whatever I do with my degree be it continuing in my present job or beyond).

I suppose that’s overly dramatic.

The point is that The Paper Chase captures, for me, the idea that law school challenges how you think and who you are. To anyone with a competitive side – and I venture each law student has one in his or her own way – this idea eats at their pride and drives them to survive and succeed (perhaps drives them crazy too).

I do wonder whether I see it this way because I didn’t go to law school right after undergrad and I’m more set in my ways as a result. Thoughts on that idea???

In the end, Hart realizes that grades aren’t the most important thing and he tears them up. There’s a certain romance to that idea. I can sympathize with this idea. But it’s still ridiculous. Sure, a law student cares about truly learning quite apart from grades. But you gotta know your grades, right?