Devin J. He cites the accurate depiction of the monotony of courtroom life with minimal dramatic license, big firm attorneys being jerks, the unglamorous life of an attorney just trying to make ends meet, and fraudster ambulance chasers jumping in front of cars. Saul's office is a lot of fun visually, but in reality, even the cheesiest of strip mall lawyers don't come close to the level of tackiness Saul's office achieves.
It's almost as if he's trying to seem illegitimate. To be fair, Better Call Saul might have played it more subtly were the office not a handover from Breaking Bad. The prosecutor responds with no arguments, but merely plays the tape showing the crime in progress, which turned out to be decapitating a cadaver and performing sexual acts with the head.
The scene plays out hilariously and demonstrates a lot about the protagonist, and is also very realistic. Sometimes the evidence is just too overwhelming, and there's no need for any persuasive language. You're not allowed to enter the well without permission. In doing so, he displayed many of the traits that we regularly hear are optimum for in-house counsel, from a thorough understanding of the business and its wider context to a consistent focus on commerciality, combined with an expert ability to weigh risks against opportunities.
Goodman became much more than the sounding board for legal problems — his advice and real-world connections were so integral to the success of the business that he became a de facto partner in a wildly successful Albuquerque meth empire. There is much an in-house counsel can learn from Goodman and his approach just as, admittedly, there is also much from which any smart lawyer should run screaming. A quick recap for those who missed the original TV show: Breaking Bad is a multi-award-winning drama that follows the story of Walter White, a fairly ordinary middle-class family man who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
Crippled by medical bills and worried for the financial future of his pregnant wife and teenage son with cerebral palsy, White decides to use his skills as a high school chemistry teacher to manufacture methamphetamine, and employs local loser and former student Jesse Pinkman to distribute his product.
White quickly discovers that not only is he a genius at the making of meth, but that he has a real hunger for the power his burgeoning business gives him. Early on in season two, White and Pinkman turn to Goodman as things are getting a little out of hand. Goodman breezes in as a quintessential strip mall lawyer. Unsurprisingly, White expresses his uncertainty, but his partner is quick to assure him that this is the guy for them.
Goodman repeatedly uses his skills and experience to save the two men, and his thorough understanding of the drug trade and the larger context in which it exists sets their enterprise on the kind of profitable trajectory that White and Pinkman could never have managed themselves. He helps them to operate largely within the boundaries of the law, keeping them just out of reach of the DEA, out of prison and alive. In that spirit, what makes a great general counsel? We asked a number of GCs: what specific lessons can be taken from Goodman?
His willingness to stick with it and that care and connection with his clients is great. He tells it like it is. You know where you stand when he gives you his advice. Call it client commitment, call it whatever, he has it. All agreed that essential characteristics of a great GC include a good understanding of the business and the commercial context of the project, a proactive attitude and the ability to see the key issues, communicate effectively and work collaboratively.
Saul Goodman vs. Tags Salt Lake attorney. Related posts. Termination of Parental Rights. When getting a divorce a major concern is that of the welfare of minor children. Their needs, Continue reading. In a recent interview on National Public Radio's Fresh Air , host Terry Gross asked Odenkirk how lawyers reacted to the character - did they like Saul, or were they offended by him? He responded:.
Well, most - I've heard, more than once, people say, I've got to tell you. I know lawyers like Saul - which is always funny to me, because it occurs to me that maybe they mean to say they're like Saul. Why would lawyers identify with Saul? Assuming as I hope we can that it's not his criminal activities, what do they see in him that strikes a chord? One thing you can say for Saul: he makes good on his TV claim to be a fighter for his client. He is committed to the success of Walt and Jesse's meth operation - willing to give them the "tough love" news that they "suck at peddling meth" 8 and to do whatever it takes to make their enterprise successful.
That quality is one that the public admires in lawyers and one that most lawyers hope to see in themselves. As Marc Galanter notes in Lowering the Bar :. People are distressed about lawyers' willingness to defend the guilty, but they are reluctant to condemn lawyers for going all out for their clients, even sleazy ones. Here, of course, Goodman's client 10 is not just sleazy but flat out bad. And, as Galanter notes, "[P]ublic estimation of the level of [lawyer] commitment that is present and that is desirable depends at least in part on the characteristics of the client.
But one of the dark delights of Breaking Bad is its extraordinary ability to create ambivalence about characters who do evil. Walter White is a manipulative, murdering, child-poisoning, drug-dealing megalomaniac - yet many viewers still find it difficult to condemn him. If there is any ethical lesson for lawyers in Breaking Bad , it might be a warning about the siren song of unrestrained advocacy. Clients desire it, lawyers admire it, and it plays well on TV. But in real life, lawyers are bound to put the rule of law before the rule of the client.
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