Business Law Essay Assignment
Write an essay on the legal aspects of the movie, My Cousin
Vinny. The essay should be typed, at least 2 pages in length,
12 pt, with one in margins. Do not summarize the
movie. Discuss the legal procedures that were correct
and/or misleading in the movie. The objective of this paper
is to review what you can learn from a comedy interpretation
of the law.
Plot Summary
Bill Gambini and Stanley Rothenstein are two friends from New
York University who just received scholarships to UCLA. They
decide to drive through the South. Once they arrive in Alabama,
they stop at a local convenience store to pick up a few snacks.
But, no sooner than they leave the store, they are arrested. They
had thought that they were arrested for shoplifting, but they
were arrested for murder and robbery. Worse, they are facing
execution for this crime. Bill and Stan do not have enough money
for a lawyer, so the good news is that Bill has a lawyer in his
family, his cousin, Vincent Laguardia Gambini. The bad news is
that Vinny is an inexperienced lawyer who has not been at a trial.
So, Vinny has to defend his clients and battle an uncompromising
judge, some tough locals, and even his fiancée, Mona Lisa Vito,
who just does not know when to shut up, to prove his clients'
innocence. But he will soon realize that he is going to need help.
- Written by John Wiggins
Examples of some things about the movie you may wish to
consider.
"I never knew that . . .
. . . evidence was so important in proving a case in court."
. . . judges were so involved in trials. I thought that juries did all
the work."
. . . eyewitnesses could be mistaken."
. . . experts could testify about important information."
. . . that judges got to decide if a witness could testify or not."
. . . that courtroom rules were so important in trials."
. . . that police can make mistakes."
. . . that an innocent person could come so close to being proven
guilty in court."
Reference material
Monday, March 12, 2012
My Cousin Vinny: a story about legal
education
The Abnormal Use blog is celebrating the twentieth
anniversary of the release of the movie My Cousin
Vinny by publishing a series of comments and
interviews and also by sponsoring a multi-blog
discussion on the movie. Go here to get more
information.
When my students ask me to recommend movies, I
give them a list I have prepared over the years in
which I have organized the titles under certain main
“themes.” No one is surprised to see My Cousin
Vinny on the list, but some are surprised I have listed
it under the theme of “legal education.” So, I thought
I’d use my contribution to the Abnormal Use blog’s
celebration to explain why.
One reason I place My Cousin Vinny under the theme
of legal education is that it provides so much material
you can use in the classroom. For example, you can
use the movie to discuss criminal procedure,
courtroom decorum, professional responsibility,
unethical behavior, the role of the judge in a trial,
efficient cross-examination, the role of expert
witnesses and effective trial advocacy. Go here, here
and here for more on this.
But the reference to legal education goes deeper. I
think you can use the movie to discuss the most
common topic of debate within legal education
itself. Interestingly, however, in My Cousin Vinny,
the issue is turned on its head.
After Vinny’s girlfriend Mona Lisa bails him out for a
second time after having been found in contempt, she
criticizes his performance in court and tells him it is
pretty clear he does not know what he is doing. She
then utters one of my favorite lines in the movie:
“Don’t they teach you that in law school?” Vinny’s
response is just as classic: “NO! They teach you
Contracts...! Obviously, the implication is that in law
school they teach "law" not "how to practice law".
There are many ironic twists to this short
exchange. First, as to those “things” that his girlfriend
was referring to, we do teach you that in law
school! Vinny may not have learned them - or may
have forgotten them - but we do teach them! But,
Vinny is right that there are many things you need to
know to practice law effectively that we don’t teach in
law school.
The reason I say the movie turns the issue on its head
is that Vinny is terrible at the things we do teach in
law school, but very good at the things we don’t.
Although Vinny is certainly no role model when it
comes to knowledge of the law, legal analysis and
ethical behavior, law students could learn from him as
to how to use legal thinking in the complexity of
actual law practice. Vinny needed to learn legal
analysis, that which law schools are best equipped to
teach, while many of today’s graduates need Vinny’s
inherent ability to interview clients, to gather facts, to
prepare a theory of a case, to negotiate, to know when
to ask a question and when to remain quiet, to cross
examine a witness forcefully (but with charm) in order
to expose the weaknesses in their testimony and so
on.
To be successful, like Vinny, all law graduates need to
develop both their analytical knowledge and their
practical skills. And, also like Vinny, they need to
learn to accept the fact they need help. Like Vinny,
they can not do it all alone. Were it not for his
girlfriend, Vinny’s attempt to practice law would have
ended in a disaster and, possibly, in disbarment. We
can all learn from that lesson too.
Thus, in the end, what My Cousin Vinny teaches us
about legal education is that law schools can and
should complement the focus on legal analysis with an
introduction to practice skills, but also that to expect
law schools to make all students ready to practice law
by themselves right after graduation after only three
years of studies is a bit naive. As stressed in the final
report of an ABA Task Force on legal education back
in 1992, both the academic institutions and the
practicing bar need to understand that they have
complementary duties toward the development of
skills in new graduates.
Posted by Professor Alberto Bernabe at 7:59 PM
MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2012
Lessons Learned from
Vincent L. Gambini
Aside from being a downright hilarious movie, My Cousin Vinny offers
some interesting lessons for aspiring trial attorneys. Some were
intentional, some not, but either way, there’s some good stuff. So,
without further ado, here are six lessons learned from Vinny:
Lesson 1 – Pick Your Battles
Scene: Vinny doesn’t ask any questions at the preliminary
hearing. His client, Stan, angrily asks, “Why didn’t you ask them any
questions? Maybe if you’d put up some kind of a fight, you could have
gotten the case thrown out!” Vinny calmly responds, “Hey, Stan,
you’re in Ala-f*&%in’-bama. You come from New York. You killed a
good ol’ boy. There is no way this is not going to trial!”
Lesson: Sometimes, as an attorney, you need to know when to pick
your battles. Of course, by this point in the movie, Vinny didn’t have
all the great exculpatory evidence he acquired later. However, Vinny
is probably right that there was no way the case would be resolved
without a trial. It may have been a smart move to play it close to the
vest and not reveal too much of his trial strategy.
Lesson 2 – No Argument in the Opening Statement
Scene: The prosecutor, Jim Trotter, delivers a textbook opening
statement – a fine recitation of the prosecution’s version of the facts
combined with a clever attempt to massage the jury’s collective
ego. Then, Vinny stands and delivers his own rather brief opening
statement: “Uh . . . everything that guy just said is bullsh*t. Thank
you.”
Lesson: You’ve been dying to deliver this same opening statement for
years, haven’t you? It’s punchy; it cuts right to the chase. But alas,
such a retort is an improper argument. Perhaps Vinny should have
saved that approach for his closing argument.
Lesson 3 – Match Your Negotiation Strategy to Your Opponent
Scene: Vinny finds out his girlfriend got stiffed on a game of pool with
some yokel. He flies down to the pool hall to collect, and the yokel
asks, “How ‘bout I just kick your ass?” Vinny retorts, “Oh, a counteroffer. This is a tough decision here. Get my ass kicked or collect
$200? Well, here’s my counter-offer: What if I were just to kick the
ever loving sh!t out of you? . . . If I was to kick the sh!t out of you, do
I get the money?”
Lesson: So much for that “Getting to YES” model where everybody
wins. Vinny invokes the old school tradition in his negotiations.
Sometimes, that works. It’s all about knowing your opponent. Some
are unreasonable. There’s no getting to “yes” without cracking skulls
and forcing them to into agreement. Vinny’s method succeeded, and
he eventually collected that $200.
Lesson 4 – Do Some Digging
Scene: There’s a long montage where Vinny performs his own
investigation into the case. He has his girlfriend take some
photographs along the way. Vinny is clearly annoyed when she’s
trying to show him the pictures in the middle of trial. He starts
ranting, “Where’d you shoot this, from up in a tree? What’s this over
here? It’s dog sh!t… That’s great! Dog sh%t, what a clue! . . . I
should’ve asked you along time ago for these pictures.” But then he
realizes there’s a picture of the tire tracks, which really is the case
cracker.
Lesson: Most of the time, the facts will make or break your case. As
an attorney, you can’t always wait for the facts and evidence to come
to you. Even when you think you’ve got everything you need, keep
digging. Get out there and visit the accident scene, personally inspect
the physical evidence, and talk to everyone you think knows anything
about the case. You never know what you are going to find if you
keep digging. It sure paid off for Vinny in his trial, and some day, that
same diligence may pay off for you in one of your cases.
Lesson 5 – Be Collegial with Fellow Attorneys
Scene: At one point in the movie, Vinny and the prosecutor engage in
friendly discussion about their entry into the legal profession. Later in
the film, the prosecutor takes Vinny on a hunting trip, lets him borrow
his cabin, and even congratulates him after Vinny’s victory over him at
trial.
Lesson: It’s a given that you should be a zealous advocate for your
client. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be civil, or even friendly, with
opposing counsel. At the end of the day, you are both just doing your
job. As everyone knows, one’s profession is more enjoyable when
you’re working with friendly and respectful people. Two attorneys
should be able to duke it out in the courtroom and then grab a drink
together after the trial concludes.
Lesson 6 – Stay Calm
Scene: As Vinny’s defense of his clients begins to unravel, he asks
himself, “How the f*&k did I get into this sh!t?” Luckily, Vinny keeps it
together and eventually earns his clients their freedom.
Lesson: For many attorneys, your first trial will feel just like this movie
(although hopefully, it won’t be as bad in reality). You’ll have things
that will go way off course, and there will probably be a point where
you feel like you’re in way over your head. You may even start asking
yourself “Am I cut out for this?” or “How did I get into this?” Don’t
despair. Stay calm and press on. By your second or third trial, things
will seem much better.
These are just a few of the lessons to be learned from My Cousin
Vinny. The next time you watch the movie, find a legal pad and take
notes. There are many other lessons, such as proper courtroom attire,
enunciation, candor toward the court, and the importance of
procedural rules. It’s almost a law school course in and of itself.
(To see a full index of our My Cousin Vinny twentieth anniversary
coverage, please see here.).
POSTED BY ROB GREEN
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http://abnormaluse.com/2012/03/lessons-learnedfrom-vincent-l-gambini.html#sthash.DfK2yrlY.dpuf
Monday, March 12, 2012
An Appreciation of My Cousin Vinny - Twenty Years Later
We were delighted when Jim Dedman of the Abnormal Use blog
asked us to help celebrate the twentieth anniversary of My
Cousin Vinny. We cannot resist smiling when we think of that
movie. 1992 was a big year for some of us - marriage, changing
jobs, and buying a house in LA just before the SoCal real estate
market was about to take a very long, very ugly downhill run. It
was our last year before big-time family responsibilities. Life
seemed less serious than it does now. We filled our life with silly
things, including silly movies. We had very low expectations for
My Cousin Vinny before the lights went down. Most legal
movies are maddeningly simplistic, even stupid. Moreover, it's
not as if Joe Pesci was considered a strong movie lead - a great
second banana, sure (Raging Bull), but he seemed a pure
character (or caricature) actor. We had pretty much forgotten
Ralph Macchio from Karate Kid. And who the heck was Marisa
Tomei?
Well, we were sure going to find out. While there have been
stories/rumors belittling Tomei's Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actress, the fact is that she is superb in every way as
Vinny's long-suffering fiance, Mona Lisa Vito. ("My biological
clock is ticking like this! [stomping on the porch]") Tomei's career
since has had some quiet times, but she was wonderful in a
Seinfeld cameo, and then came back to remind us of her talents
in The Wrestler. The fact is that every performance in My
Cousin Vinny is spot-on perfect. Fred Gwynne is most famous
for playingHerman Munster, but he will also forever be the
ultimate nay-saying Judge Chamberlain Haller in My Cousin
Vinny. (“What is a yute?”) It was Gwynne’s last role before he
died later that year of pancreatic cancer. At one point in the film
you can espy Judge Haller’s Yale diploma. In reality, Gwynne was
a Harvard man. Lane Smith plays District Attorney Jim Trotter
and is splendidly aggressive, effective, and, ultimately, fairminded. Most important, Pesci was brilliant and brave and
blustery and profane as Vinny LaGuardia Gambini (that name
being a nice little mash-up of NYC political and criminal history).
Maybe our low expectations made us like the movie even more.
We have a friend who says her favorite movie this year was The
Help. She saw it on cable, well after it had been pooh-poohed by
many cinema and cultural critics. But she simply liked the story
and the acting. By contrast, she had paid bigger bucks for movienights-out to see The Descendants and The Artist, and found
them underwhelming. So maybe My Cousin Vinny gets
something of a free ride by being the little movie that could.
But we think there's more to it than that. If you compare My
Cousin Vinny against the other movies in 1992 that earned
Oscars, such as Scent of a Woman, Unforgiven, Aladdin, The
Player, and Howard's End -- well, which would you rather
watch this Friday night? My Cousin Vinny holds up well. There
have occasionally been hints of a sequel. As we found out in a
couple of posts a couple of weeks ago, sequels misfire more
often than not. While we wouldn't mind spending more time with
Vinny and Mona Lisa, we tremble at the prospect of some
opportunistic piece of dreck ruining them.
We are also fond of the Alabama setting for My Cousin Vinny.
By sheer happenstance, we have had a lot of experience with
cases in Alabama and working with Alabama lawyers. Again,
maybe it's just happenstance, but our experiences have
invariably been good and pleasurable. All the Alabama lawyers
we've dealt with have been smart, hard-working, and
personable. They have been polite and creative and funny. Once,
a Birmingham lawyer helped us explore famous legal history by
taking us to Ollie's Barbecue, which was the subject of a famous
civil rights case. See Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294
(1964). Sure enough it was (we don't think it exists anymore)
close to an interstate highway, which was part of the Supreme
Court's commerce clause analysis. Plus, the pulled pork was
delectable, especially doused with the vinegary sauce. (If there's
one thing we love more than the law it's good BBQ. If we ever
write about The Firm, expect a long reverie on great Memphis
BBQ joints like Corky's and The Rendezvous. And when are our
Shook friends going to take us to Arthur Bryant's, or that BBQ
place at a gas station?)
Further, the most famous fictional lawyer-hero in American
history is from Alabama. Actually, make that hero, period, not
just lawyer-hero. The American Film Institute conducted a poll
and ranked Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird as the
number one movie hero ever, ahead of James Bond and Indiana
Jones. While Atticus Finch is fictional, he was based on Harper
Lee's real-life lawyer dad. When we were a hiring partner, the
Georgia.)
We have taught some classes in trial advocacy and have
sometimes found it useful to present film clips. Showing is better
than telling. But there aren't many useful film clips from actual
trials. So we turn to movies and tv. Those made-up trials aren't
realistic. There is necessarily a lot of compression in movies and
tv. Document reviews and seven-hour depositions are blissfully
absent. Opening statements are three minutes, not three hours,
long. And, lo and behold, they always seem better than real life.
Here's the surprise: My Cousin Vinny offers more useful
examples of effective trial advocacy than just about any other
film. Start with the prosecutor's opening statement. It is really
short and really effective. Lane Smith tells the story of the
robbery in simple, concrete terms, and emphasizes the unique
appearance of the getaway car. He varies his pace and
modulation. He raises his voice only when describing the shots
ringing out. He tells a story without wasting a moment. When we
prosecuted cases, we were taught to refer to "the defendants,"
and never to dignify them with their names. But the DA in My
Cousin Vinny repeatedly mentions the names of the defendants,
Rothenstein and Gambini, as if reminding the jury of the
defendants' otherness. If you compare the prosecutor's opening
statement with that from another 1992 film, A Few Good Men,
you'll probably prefer the Alabama prosecutor to the slick military
prosecutor played by Kevin Bacon.
Our favorite object-lessons from My Cousin Vinny involve
Vinny's cross-examinations of the three prosecution eyewitnesses. The first cross-examination, of Mr. Tipton, is the only
one that gets combative. Sometimes it is okay to bully a witness.
Vinny shows that the witness did not have the time to observe
the comingsUniversity of Alabama Law School sent us a special
edition of To Kill a Mockingbird. We treasure it still. So, yeah,
we like Alabama a lot. We get the feeling that Vinny ended up
liking it a lot, too. (All that being said, we hear the movie was
shot in and goings at the Sac-O-Suds. It all comes down to how
long it takes to make grits from scratch. (Vinny: “Oh, you like
grits? I like grits too. How do you like your grits? Regular,
creamy, or al dente?”) Earlier in the movie, Vinny got into a
conversation with a local about how to make grits. Perhaps you
can chalk it up to coincidence. Only in the movies, right? Maybe
not. When you are at trial, you need to immerse yourself in the
facts of the case, all sorts of facts. You need to visit the scene
and you need to be open to all sorts of things. You never know
what will become important. Sometimes just showing a witness
that you know all sorts of things makes them worry you know
other truths, and makes them compliant. Vinny plays on Mr.
Tipton’s pride in his grits preparation, and then undermines his
testimony with well-earned ridicule (“Do the laws of physics
somehow cease to operate in your kitchen?”).
Our favorite cross-examination is the second one, of Mr. Crane.
Vinny slices and dices an eyewitness by showing that his view
was necessarily obscured. The beauty of the cross-examination is
how Vinny lingers over his good points. Instead, of merely
challenging the witness by saying in one ham-handed swoop that
the witness could not have had a good view through a dirty
window and past trees and bushes, Vinny brings out each
obstruction gradually. He makes the witness count the trees and
bushes. Then he repeats these good facts slowly and elegantly,
laying out photographs one by one:"You could positively identify
the defendants for a moment of two seconds looking through this
dirty window, this crud-covered screen, these trees with all those
leaves, and I don’t know how many bushes [makes Mr. Crane
count them, even correcting him]?" That is a technique available
to every trial lawyer: find your good points and emphasize them
through repetition and slowing things down.
In the third cross examination, of Mrs. Constance Riley, Vinny
shows that an old lady's eyesight was inadequate fomatter of
good luck. But watch how nice Vinny is to the witness. (Vinny:
“What do you think now, dear?" Mrs. Riley: “I'm thinking of
getting thicker glasses.”) Sometimes you do better with a light
hand than with bullying.
You can learn a lot from My Cousin Vinny, and it's an enjoyable
education. Do not underrate it because it is a comedy. We
remember how police officer friends of ours used to tell us all the
time that the Barney Miller sitcom was way more realistic than
any cops-and-robbers-shoot-em-up about what law enforcement
people actually do on a day-to-day basis. In the August 2008
edition of the ABA Journal, My Cousin Vinny was ranked as
the third greatest legal movie, after To Kill a Mockingbird and
Twelve Angry Men. It’s hard to argue with that.
When we teach trial advocacy and use clips from My Cousin
Vinny, we often contrast it with older depictions of trials that
aren't nearly as realistic or useful. When we were kids, our image
of lawyers came from the old tv show, Perry Mason. If we say
the name "Perry Mason" to the Drug and Device Law Daughter,
we get a blank look. It's hard for us to imagine this, but she has
no idea who that is. For our generation, Perry Mason made us
think that a cross-examination was not effective unless it turned
the witness into a blubbering puddle, confessing to murder. Most
lawyers have never had what some of us still call a "Perry Mason
moment."
Perry Mason and My Cousin Vinny seem as different as night
and day. But not everything about Perry Mason was hokum.
The legal discussions are usually correct. And the judges in the
old tv series aren't too different in demeanor from what we
encounter in an average courtroom. A couple of actors rotated
playing the judge in Perry Mason episodes. Our favorite was a
sort of tough judge, who glared a lot and often shut down
prosecutor Hamilton Burger's objections. The actor was S. John
Launer, who kept busyr her to identify the defendants. Nothing
special here -- it's mostly aas an actor, mostly in smaller parts.
He was in I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Jailhouse Rock,
Marnie, and other crucial bits of mid-century American culture.
You might not ever have heard of S. John Launer until today. But
he did good, honorable work. He also had a son who was bitten
by the entertainment bug. His son was Dale Launer. Dale Launer
wrote screenplays. One of those screenplays was Dirty Rotten
Scoundrels, starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin.
Another was My Cousin Vinny.
Posted by Steve McConnell at 5:00 PM