February 12, 2006

Night Court

Well, not exactly. Last Thursday I visited Sandra, my ADA friend, while she was arraigning men (hallelujah! -- borrowed that Weather Girls ref from mars) during an evening shift at Brooklyn Criminal court. My judicial-related experiences are limited to my observation of jury selection as a student in Boston and a US Court of International Trade trial in New York. And of course the exciting 4 hours which I spent in the basement of the Norfolk County courthouse for jury duty.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It wasn't Night Court; didn't spot any wisecracking judges, sex-obsessed ADAs (but really, how can I tell as an observer?) or bald bailiffs. I did see lots of arraignments for drug possession and one for assault with a table (mars says she spotted some cops giggling during that one). If I were to draw a completely un-scientific conclusion from this sampling, I would say Brooklyn sure has a lot of drug users or at least drug users who aren't too savvy about hiding their habit.

Slightly tangential: Conviction, the new NBC show from Law & Order creator Dick Wolf about the lives of seven NYC ADA's will premiere soon. It's "character oriented" (interpret as you will) versus specific crime/case oriented like the other L&O shows. Word on the street that it's rather soapy in tone. I'm not a TV person, but this looks like it has potential to be a deliciously good guilty pleasure show.

Conviction cast

Didn't see any folks who looked like this wandering the halls of Brooklyn Criminal Court.

11 Comments  |  Link


11 Comments

at 1:36 PM Blogger springsandra said...

What are you talking about? I look exactly like the blonde on the right. Ok, fine, I don't. But I do wear glasses. :-D

I'm so happy you guys came to visit me. Sorry you didn't see much fun stuff. I really wanted to show you how I make offers and actually go through some folders with you -- that's the fun part. Another time. :) Or perhaps in the future you'll come watch me on trial!

 
at 1:52 PM Blogger Awreye said...

ooo, i would love to see you do more lawyering. especially for a trial.

 
at 2:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Frankly, I think that the new tv show "Conviction" will fail miserably - at least that's what I'm hoping for. I like most of the Law & Order series (I find Vincent D'Onofrio too creepy for the small screen). Yet, do we really need yet another show that celebrates DAs and the US justice system, and will undoubtedly inspire more young people to become lawyers?

 
at 2:17 PM Blogger springsandra said...

Honestly, I've never watched a law show in my life... I'm not a law & order person, and I was forbidden from taking up watching any of those shows during law school (we were told they're so inaccurrate, they could mess you up when it comes to "real" lawyering) and now, why in the world would I want to come home after a long day doing this stuff to watch some fake incarnation of it on tv? I can't imagine anyone who doesn't do it would want to watch it, though. But then again, I don't watch ER either, so maybe I'm missing something in genre shows.

 
at 2:39 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ever since I had to visit the emergency room at Methodist Hospital in the Slope with my own medical emergency last year, I hate "ER." The show glorifies ER doctors. I was expecting competent doctors during my visit, instead I waited all night and left without a diagnosis. When I went to see my PCP the following day he laughed at my ignorance and told me it was typical of most ER experiences. I hope medical school students aren't watching that show.

 
at 4:01 PM Blogger Meredith said...

My mom used to go to night court with her friends to watch (what they hoped would be) weirdos and their trials before going out for the night. I've been wanting to do that for so long!

 
at 7:19 PM Blogger springsandra said...

Next time I'm on night arraignments, you're welcome to come by... no trials, but it's kinda interesting. I'm doing day arraignments this Tues/Wed/Thurs, but that's just until 5ish.

 
at 7:32 PM Blogger Awreye said...

i wouldn't want Conviction to fail (at least before I get to see a few eps!), but all those soapy NY shows seem to fail. there was CPW a few years ago (tangentially) about the magazine publishing industry. Love Monkey (tangentially) about an A&R record exec was just pulled. Seems like only NY cop/lawyer shows seem to do well.

i haven't met any lawyers/doctors who admit that they were inspired by a tv/movie to enter their profession -- but i have no doubt that there are those out there who were somewhat influenced before they entered med/law school. heck, i was briefly inspired to become an archaeologist after watching a few Indiana Jones films when I was a kid.

 
at 7:35 PM Blogger Awreye said...

No weirdos spotted last Thursday. Bit disappointing really.

 
at 8:59 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

ah... so there was someone out there who cared about dick's story

back on topic though:), definitely must see sandra in action again some time, more lawyering!

 
at 12:31 AM Blogger Awreye said...

I care! OK, sleep now.

 

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