course resource readings
james r. elkins
Introduction & Background
The Cinematic Lawyer: The Magic Mirror and the Silver Screen
Rennard Strickland, University of Oregon School of Law
The Hollywood Mouthpiece--Screen Justice
Rennard Strickland, University of Oregon School of LawFilm and the Law
Steve Greenfield, Guy Osborn, Peter RobsonHow Does Law Look in the Movies?
David Ray Papke, Professor of Law, Marquette University (review of Anthony Chase,
Movies on Trial: The Legal System on the Silver Screen (The New Press, 2002)Conflicts of Law and the Character of Men: Writing Reversal of Fortune and
Judgment at Nuremberg
Suzanne Shale, New College, Oxford University (insightful commentary on how film narratives are constructed and what film-makers are attempting to do within the conventions of a Hollywood film)Discussion: Convergence of Law and Popular Culture, ABC Radio Transcript, May 14, 1996
The Lawyer Gets The Girl--And Creates the Future
A "Picturing Justice" commentary by Professor John Denvir, a long-time student of lawyers and filmFilm, Law and the Delivery of Justice
Steve Greenfield & Guy Osborn, 6 (2) J. Crim. J. & Pop. Culture 35-45 (1999)
Historical Perspective
Juriscinema's First Golden Age: Law and Lawyers in Film, 1928-34
Francis M. Nevins, Professor of Law, St. Louis University
Law/Lawyer Film Courses
Visual Literacy and the Legal Culture: Reading Film as Text in the Law School Setting
Philip N. Meyer, Vermont Law School [See also: Philip Meyer, Law Students Go to the Movies,
24 Connecticut Law Review 893 (1992)]Teaching Film at Harvard Law School
Alan A. Stone, Harvard Law SchoolUsing Fiction and Film as Law School Tools
Francis M. Nevis, Professor of Law, St. Louis UniversityFilmsy Evidence
Ethan Katsh, Legal Studies Program, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
On Hollywood Films & Society
Hollywood & Society
Douglas Kellner
The Lawyer and Popular Culture
Why Lawyers Should Study Popular Culture
Raby B. Browne, Department of Popular Culture,
Bowling Green State UniversityIntroduction: Law and Popular Culture
Paul Joseph, Nova Southeastern UniversityLaw, Lawyers, and Popular Culture
Lawrence M. Friedman, Stanford UniversityGet Off the Screen
Lisa Scottoline, lawyer, novelistLaw and Popular Culture--Film Collection
Roy M. Mersky, Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas
Lawyer as Hero
The Lawyer as Hero?
Gerald J. Clark, Professor of Law, Suffolk UniversityLawyers as Superheroes: The Firm, The Client, and The Pelican Brief
Judith Grant, Professor of Political Science, University of Southern CaliforniaYoung Mr. Lincoln: The Lawyer as Super-Hero
Norman Rosenberg, Department of History, Macalester CollegeHeroies or Villains? Moral Struggles vs. Ethical Dilemmas: An Examination
of Dramatic Portrayals of Lawyers and the Legal Profession in Popular Culture
David M. Spitz, insurance defense counsel, North Miami Beach, Florida
Characters
Villains in Film
Stuart Fischoff, Popular Culture Review
Women Lawyers in Film
Woman as Lawyer in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema
David Ray Papke, Professor of Law, Marquette UniversityAdam's Rib
Paul Bergman & Michael Asimow excerpt from Reel Justice:
The Courtroom Goes to the Movies (Andrews and McMeel, 1996)
Race and Films
Narratives of Law and Inquality in Popular Film
Margaret M. Russell, Professor of Law, Santa Clara UniversityAfrican American Attorneys in Television and Film
Cheryl Smith-Khan, Florida attorney
History of Law & Lawyers in Hollywood Films
Law, Cinema, and Ideology: Hollywood Legal Films of the 1950s
David Ray Papke, Professor of Law, Marquette UniversityThe Movies of Classical Hollywood, the Law, and the Case(s) of Film Noir
Norman Rosenberg, Macalester College
On the Relationship of Lawyering and Lawyer Films
When Law Goes Pop
Richard K. Sherwin, Professor of Law, New York Law School
A Law Culture Diagnostic
James R. Elkins, Professor of Law, West Virginia University
(review of Richard K. Sherwin, When Law Goes Pop: The Vanishing Line
Between Law and Popular Culture (University of Chicago Press, 2002)Nomos and Cinema
Richard K. Sherwin, Professor of Law, New York Law SchoolBlurred Boundareis: Popular Culture and the Practice of Law
Avi J. Stachenfeld & Christopher M. Nicholson, Legal Video Services, Oakland, CaliforniaImages of Law & Lawyers in the Visual Media
Richard K. Sherwin, Professor of Law, New York Law SchoolLegal and Popular Storytelling in Closing Arguments in a Criminal Case
Philip N. Meyer, Vermont Law School
Filmography
Lawyers and the Law: A Filmography
Paul J. Mastrangelo, New York Law School LibraryLawyers and the Law: A Filmography II
Outstanding Films About the Law and Lawyers
Robert Bloom picks the best in cinema
Essays/Commentary--Films
Adam's Rib
Paul Bergman & Michael Asimow excerpt from Reel Justice:
The Courtroom Goes to the Movies (Andrews and McMeel, 1996)Anatomy of a Murder
Timothy Hoff, University of AlabamaBreaker Morant
Drew L. Kershen, University of OklahomaCape Fear
Francis M. Nevins, Professor of Law, St. Louis UniversityCape Fear
Richard K. Sherwin, Professor Law, New York Law SchoolThe Client
Judith Grant, University of Southern CaliforniaDead Man Walking
Carole Shapiro, Professor of Law, Touro Law SchoolThe Dock Brief
John Kidwell, Professor of Law, University of WisconsinInherit the Wind
Gerald F. Uelmen, Professor of Law, Santa Clara UniversityInherit the Wind
Nell Minow, Movie Mom's Guide to Family FilmsKramer v. Kramer
David Ray Papke, Marquette UniversityNowhere to Hide: Cape Fear
ABA Journal article, 1992Straight Time
Philip N. Meyer, Professor of Law, Vermont Law SchoolThe Sweet Hereafter
Tony McAdams, Management Department, University of Northern IowaTo Kill a Mockingbird
John Jay Osborn, Jr., University of California, BerkeleyTrue Believer
Carl Selinger, West Virginia UniversityYoung Mr. Lincoln
Norman Rosenberg, Macalester College
Supplemental/Recommended Readings:
James Riordan, Stone: The Controversies, Excesses, and Exploits of a Radical Filmmaker (New York: Hyperion, 1995) [Oliver Stone directed "Midnight Express," "Scarface," "Salvador," "Platoon," "Wall Street," "Talk Radio," "Born on the Fourth of July," "The Doors," "JFK," "Heaven and Earth," and "Natural Born Killers." Stone is an interesting man, made all the more so by Riordan's solid, and finely crafted biography.] [Oliver Stone: A Bibliography of Materials]
