Prompt #10- Recognizing the Truth

By- Katie Nagy

                                          

The TV Show, Suits, on the USA Network is a fun show that I personally love to watch, but the way lawyers and law is portrayed on the television show misrepresents the field of law.

To start, while all the characters on the popular TV show make six figure salaries and live luxurious lifestyles, but the truth is that entry-level salaries for lawyers are not luxurious at all, and the median salaries for all lawyers is around $120,000, so few lawyers make the big bucks ("Top Salaries" para. 3).

Another misrepresentation of lawyers in the show Suits is the portrayal of the lawyers’ ethics. While a miniscule amount of lawyers in the real world might lie or cheat in order to win a case, most lawyers follow the law, so they can keep their license to practice law. If lawyers are found to be extorting clients, taking money from clients then not defending them, etc they could lose their license and never practice law again (Wolfson para. 23). On the TV show, you see Harvey Spector, one of the main characters, blur the lines of the law, but there are little to no consequences for his actions.

               Finally, a huge misrepresentation of lawyers in the popular television show, Suits, is the main plot of the television show. One of the main characters, Michael Ross, never attended a law school, but is a genius and can remember everything he has ever read about law, so Harvey Specter hires him. While being a genius and remembering different laws and such may help win cases, there is much more to being a lawyer. There are some aspects to being a lawyer that you learn in law school that you cannot get from a book. In law school there are mock trials that help people learn the correct behavior and process in courtrooms and there are classes on legal writing, arguments, etc ("What to Expect" para. 12). It is very unlikely that someone who did not go to law school could easily become a lawyer, even if he is a genius. 

I do not believe that Suits’ main goal was to accurately portray lawyers, but to create a fun television show about good-looking and funny lawyers, and in that aspect the television show succeeded.

Harvard Law School. Digital image. Top-Law-Schools. PhBB. n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015

Suits on USA. “Series One Official Trailer.” Online Video Clip. Youtube. Youtube, 31

May 2011. Web. 27 October 2015.

"Top Salaries of Associates." NALP. National Association For Law

           Placement, 9 Oct. 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

"What to Expect in Your First Year of Law School." Princetonreview. The 

        Princeton Review, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

Wolfson, Andrew. "Disbarred Lawyers Face Career, Personal Hurdles." USA Today.

          Gannett, 19 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.