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

What Not To Wear

Some federal judges are not happy. The National Law Journal ran this article about jurists who complain that more attorneys are showing up in the courtroom ill-attired, wearing short skirts, work out clothes, and--well--garb that's not law-worthy. And the judges can't say anything about it to the legal eagles because it might be considered ex parte communication. They suggest that law firm partners say something to these young attorneys, but many partners are reluctant. The back up plan is law schools--one would presume they mean career services staff and (maybe) law professors. Well, we do suggest, off and on, to students when they're within earshot, that they might like to spruce up their wardrobes, but of course, students don't have a lot of money when they're in school, and they don't always listen to us on that subject. After all, many of us tend to be, ahem, older....But we'll keep trying.

New Law Shows On Tap For Fall

From FindLaw's blog Greedy Associates, a post about new lawyer dramas for fall.

CBS Legal Drama Stars Julianna Margulies

CBS has scheduled a new legal drama for next fall: The Good Wife, starring Julianna Margulies (late of "Canterbury's Law") as an attorney back in the work force after her husband is sentenced to prison.

Gender, Copyright, and Filk Literature

Melissa L. Tatum, University of Arizona College of Law, Robert E. Spoo, University of Tulsa College of Law, and Benjamin Pope, University of Arizona, have published Does Gender Influence Attitudes toward Copyright in the Filk Community? as Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No. 09-21. Here is the abstract.      

Over the past few decades, the filk community has expanded from a small group of science fiction convention-goers who occupied unused convention rooms during the late night hours to a community large enough to organize several dedicated filk conventions each year, a Hall of Fame, and an annual awards ceremony. While many filk songs are original lyrics set to original music, many more filk songs consist of lyrics written to existing music and/or lyrics based on characters/worlds created by other people. These practices potentially create problems in light of existing intellectual property law. In this paper, we explore those issues and whether a filker's gender influences his or her attitude towards intellectual property law. After setting out a basic explanation of filk and the intellectual property issues, the article details the various statistical results generated from the databases we built (one objective and one subjective) and draws some conclusions about gender and filk.

Download the paper from SSRN here.

NBC Nixes Two Legal Dramas For Next Year

Apparently neither David E. Kelley nor Dick Wolf will have his new series on the air come next year. Mr. Kelley had come up with a legal drama called Legally Mad; it was to star the popular Kristen Chenoweth and was slated for a mid-season slot. Mr. Wolf's new drama, Lost & Found, was also a mid-season replacement series. Both were offered to NBC. Mr. Wolf's series may turn up on another network. NBC now owes Mr. Kelley a sizable payment for its refusal to pick up Legally Mad. One wonders why the network passed on the shows--perhaps too much like prior products? But Hollywood like a sure thing....Here's a little more from the Hollywood Reporter and from Variety.

Simon Baker Stars In New Version of Jim Thompson Novel

Simon Baker (TV's Mentalist) plays the attorney hero in an adaptation of Jim Thompson's noir thriller The Killer Inside Me opposite Casey Affleck as Lou Ford, the sheriff with the yen to kill. The book was previously filmed in 1976 with Stacy Keath in the role now taken by Mr. Affleck.

Dom DeLuise Dies

Dom DeLuise, the famed character actor, has died. He was known for his roles in such films as Silent Movie, Men in Tights, Spaceballs, and Fatso, and for such guest turns as the one on 3d Rock from the Sun, on which he played "Mr. Pollone," Bug's (David DeLuise's) father. Mr. DeLuise was 75.