The Seamless Web: A Blog on Law, Popular Culture and Related Issues

Top 10 Lawyer Movies

Here's a list of top 10 lawyer movies courtesy of the blog Lawyer Avenue. What? No Presumed Innocent? No Adam's Rib?

Love and Marriage and Law: Forget It?

Psychologist Fiona Travis tells us what we already knew: if you're a lawyer, or worse, a female lawyer, maintaining a relationship is really difficult. At least in that pop culture has it right.

In recent years, some of America’s most popular TV programs and films depicted lawyers winning in court but losing in love. A distortion of reality, or do lawyers really have problems building and sustaining relationships? Regrettably, the image is accurate.

It’s not that lawyers lack relationship-building skills. But, overworked, overburdened and squeezed by time – and now, the worst downturn in two decades – lawyers do exhibit communication and intimacy breakdowns peculiar to their education, their professional training and work environment.

Of course. Lawyers are used to micro-examining everything, and challenging what they hear. Many of them make their livings by litigating. But many more negotiate. So why is it that those negotiation skills seem to fail them in relationships? Or do they? I actually know a fair number of happily married lawyers (including women). Do the stereotypes lie?

A Listing of Detective Blogs

I came across this listing of "private eye" and "detective" blogs and thought it was an interesting compilation. I don't know how the author decided what to include since she doesn't provide her criteria (apart from "These blogs are written by members of the police force who can share first-hand experience of crime and investigation") but clicking on the links makes for some browsing fun. And gee--most of us like "top 10" and "10 ways to" lists, don't we?

e-Justice Blog: The Top 50 Detective Blogs

 

Conan the Scientificarian

Great story: Conan O'Brien's folks corrected a science error that appeared in the Science section of the New York Times. Here 'tis....

British Advisory Body Report Says TV Presents Poor, Stereotyped Image of Women

The Guardian reports on a study, to be released tomorrow, that criticizes the television image of women at work by the National Skills Forum.

The report by the National Skills Forum, an independent advisory body, says: "No major British broadcaster has made any commitment to challenging gender stereotypes at work. This should change."

The report does not name the unsympathetic portrayals it refers to, but they might include Jane Tennison, the police detective played by Helen Mirren in ITV's Prime Suspect. Tennison became an alcoholic who found it difficult to maintain a stable relationship. However, the report praises the BBC's Silent Witness, which starred Amanda Burton and Emilia Fox as pathologists, for producing a "huge increase" in the number of women training to be forensic scientists.

The 70-page report, due to be released tomorrow but seen by the Guardian, contains 27 recommendations on how the government, employers, schools, the media and adult education can help close the gender skills gap, which it says costs the UK an estimated £15-23bn a year in productivity.