Dog Daze in the Courtroom - The Law Firm, Episode 1 by Kay Sesay
First impressions were made, and the competition sized up as the
twelve attorneys met for the first time at The Law Firm. After Kelly made the comment that she was "pleased with the selection of men" it did leave me wondering what she was there for.
The attorneys are ushered into a conference room to meet the Managing Partner, Mr. Roy Black who is one of America's premier trial lawyers. Mr. Black ensues to tell the contestants what he's looking for in a lawyer; he wants to see "how you can perform under the pressure of a real court room." The winning attorney receives a cash prize of $250,000 and Mr. Roy Black's recognition.
So here we have Aileen, Keith, and Jason representing the plaintiff, who wants to be reimbursed for her dog's medical bills, and Olivier, Anika, and Regina, who are representing the defendant who doesn't feel that he should pay. Meanwhile, Michael, Kelly, and Deep are representing the plaintiff in an arbitration case where the plaintiff was pulled over by the coroner. The defendant's legal team is Elizabeth, Barrett, and Chris.
48 Hours before trail, Aileen and Keith visit their client Candy Danzic at her home to see where the incident took place, while the defenders in the dog case visit their client George Leach. George exclaims, "I thought you guys were gangsters," (haha) as they exit the black SUV they arrived at his home in. The lawyers seem to be a little leery to get acquainted with George's dogs, not that I can blame them mind you. George of course does not see his dogs in that light and explains that "a blind folded monkey could tell you that these are two non-aggressive dogs"; meanwhile the dog barks on as the lawyers look on with, "you've got to be kidding me" faces.
26 Hours before the trial, Karen the plaintiff in the Coroners Case meets with her legal team to discuss details. Karen had acknowledged the fact that she did indeed commit a traffic infraction, but was disturbed once she found out the person who pulled her over was not in
fact a police officer.
Bill, the coroner, explains that he was trying to do the right thing as a concerned citizen when pulling Karen over.
After Elizabeth threw in the idea that everyone has the right to perform a citizens arrest, Chris decides he would rather go to another room to continue doing research, as he's used to working on his own … Hello, you're on a team!!
Meanwhile the plaintiffs seem to be struggling with how they wanted to present the case; Michael wants to portray Bill as a vigilante, however, Kelly feels as though if they use that approach being a vigilante would not be seen as a good thing.
Kelly struggles while practicing her opening statement, which has her team mates feeling unnerved as they feet she won't be able to ad lib.
Poor Anika has to deal with the clash of personalities that manifests in what seemed to be constant bickering between Olivier and Regina, who just can't seem to find a common ground to be able to work together constructively.
At 2:30 am the team representing the plaintiff in the Dog Case leaves The Law Firm wondering if they were the last to leave; they are not. We get another peep at Olivier and Regina still arguing, Olivier shaking his head as he puts his face in his hands and Regina's voice trails off as we fade to black.
There is an instant objection by Olivier when Dingo the dog is brought in by the defense. The Judge scolded Aileen for bringing in the dog, and then asked Olivier why he felt the dog shouldn't be there for him to see.
Regina's attempt to control her client is unsuccessful; the more she cross examines George the more animated he seems to get. He feels he doesn't need to pay for anything as Candy told him it was her dog that made the hole. George claims that when the dogs started running before the attack he sounded some kind of car blow horn, and was yelling "big dog running, big dog out", as he does the motion of sounding the horn, and also makes the sound effect - or at least tried to. This was just too funny!
Equally funny is George's impression of Dingo as he was fighting back the two big dogs.
After the comic relief was over Jason, who cross-examined the defendant, decides he will make the motion to ignore the fact that the defendant felt the dog would be a menace with no legs. I did notice Aileen wanted Jason to go with it, and Keith wished he had been the one doing the cross-examination. When questioned by the judge as to why he would do that, Jason responds with something along the lines of wanting the trial to move forward.
I don't know if it was a case of nerves, but Kelly really went to bits when it came to the opening statement of the arbitration. The judge asks for which facts the evidence would support, and Kelly replies by telling the judge something about the plaintiff going home to prepare for the holidays after the incident. I'm still scratching my head about that one!
Chris impresses his team mates by throwing objections that are sustained, at what seemed to be every question Michael asked Karen.
Chris asks where the medical bills are to support her claims of needing counseling but Karen has none.
Deep surprised me and came with the angle that Bill, the defendant had indeed himself broken the law by speeding after the plaintiff and thus going over the speed limit ... Nice!!
Ultimately the plaintiff won in the case of the dogs, the plaintiff also won in the case of the Coroner. Elizabeth took the loss emotionally and started to cry, which struck me as odd; I mean no one wants to lose, but a lawyer crying over a lost case, come on! Olivier was mighty bitter about the loss and berated and swore (both of them may have been swearing) at Keith about the dog tactic.
The teams meet back at The Law Firm with Roy Black to get the verdict. He more or less laughs at the fact that the dog defenders weren't ready for the plaintiff's "surprise", and had no counter move.
Black also gets on Jason's case for not taking advantage of an opportunity.
Two attorneys were sent home:
"The verdict is in: Kelly you're out."
"The verdict is in: Jason you're out."
Kelly left without much fuss. Jason expressed the fact that he thought that he was going to win and didn't know what he did wrong!!
If you have any questions, or comments about the show or my recap feel free to drop me a line at kay@realityshack.com
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