Fresh, Fun Law! Get Your Entertaining Law Here!
posted by Dave Hoffman
For some time, I’ve been interested in the use of primary legal sources- the bones of law – as products for sale by media outlets. Examples range from judicial opinions to special prosecutors reports, and from autopsy reports, to trial transcripts. In each category, media outlets and bloggers have taken information that (for lawyers) serves instrumental purposes and commodified it. The process inevitably, I think, changes how the public reacts to legal authority, and how legal authorities write and think about law.
Youtube has accelerated the trend. There are dozens of deposition videos on youtube now, ranging from the famous Jamail deposition, to more classic (and small-scale) fights like the one after the jump in this post. The bottom line is: does dissemination of material like this serve any socially useful purpose? I am skeptical that it shames lawyers, or clients, into better behavior (indeed, it might encourage them). I think it unlikely that it teaches the public important facts about the legal process. It’s pure spectacle.
March 27, 2007 at 1:05 pm
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