Legal Eagle

I just discovered this person on You Tube, member name is Legal Eagle (real first name is Devin) who is a real life lawyer, and has been doing videos discussing the accuracies (or mistakes) TV shows or movies make when featuring real legal matters.

He already has many videos up, but this video is a good starting point, where he discusses the infamous series finale to Seinfeld.

Edited by Brandon on Sep 7th 2019 at 7:09:10 AM

The Seinfeld finale may be the only broadcast where the supernatural interpretation is less surreal.

Is that the fan theory that Jerry & Co. died in the plane crash, and the trial was actually them being judged for their sins?

I love Legal Eagle. Big fan of his videos.

Special mention to his analysis of My Cousin Vinny, which convinced me to go out and watch that movie.

A show about laws in fiction, hosted by an actual lawyer?

Goddamn, why haven't I subscribed to this channel already? I am already watching doctors, accountants, and engineers' channels.

Though because of his background in American law some episodes are hit-and-miss, I found - like when he was trying to analyse Tyrion's trial in Game of Thrones.

You can't really apply American law to a feudal court trial, especially not when it's an explicit case of Kangaroo Court. :/

The same was the case with the Ace Attorney episode, given that it's based on Japanese law.

Having said that, I've been fond of his channel for some time.

Yeah, he had a lot of trouble with Ace Attorney for that reason. Ace Attorney, to be fair, is a bit of a Kangaroo Court. But it's a Japanese Kangaroo Court. Japanese law is premised on the presumption of guilt, where an attorney has the burden of proving innocence. Whereas American law is premised on the presumption of innocence, and a prosecutor has the burden of proving guilt.

It's a very fundamental difference baked into the foundation of the court, and it really messed with his ability to connect to the work. In Japanese law, it's not uncommon for prosecutors to have few if any losses in court, and it's even considered a mark of shame to have one. General "common-sense" wisdom in the Japanese legal system is that if the case wasn't ironclad, the prosecutor never would have pushed it to court in the first place, so it must be open-shut if we're actually in court deliberating it.

There are, of course, a great deal of problems with the presumption of guilt and with the connection of personal honor to convictions. So Legal Eagle's Ace Attorney video is still interesting, since we get to watch his brain melt about it.

So here's a video about what would happen if the whole raid Area 51 did happen.

TLDR: The Military and Police will try to stop you from entering non-lethally but they will use deadly force as a last resort if you refuse back down. And your still stupid enough to raid the base, you better hope a bullet kills you since anyone who survives will be arrested to sentenced to federal prison.

I feel like that's what any rational person would say, yeah.

The Area 51 raid is premised on the idea that the military doesn't have enough guns and/or bullets to handle a Zerg Rush of civilians. Which tells you that the people who came up with it got their military knowledge from watching zombie movies rather than talking to actual military professionals like Legal Eagle did.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 9th 2019 at 8:18:42 AM

No, the entire premise is that it's stupid. Literally, it got started as a joke. On purpose.

Yeah the thing with Ace Attorney, in addition to the fiction thing, it also has the based on Japanese courts thing, and the technically set in a future(well future for the time 2016) dystopia thing, which complicates legal analysis beyond the obvious (confetti does not come from the ceiling when you get a "not guilty" verdict, in real courts). It would be interesting to be analyzed by Japanese lawyers. I think I want to check this guy out though. This seems like my kind of thing.

And yet some people were seriously considering it and the military actually had to brief people about the possibility, if I recall correctly, wasting everyone's time.

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Sep 15th 2019 at 12:21:14 PM

We all know the real reason why Area 51 raid never actually happened.

You don't mess with US military, man.

Edited by dRoy on Sep 15th 2019 at 9:13:05 PM

I love this channel and am happy that we have a thread for it.

All those folks raiding Area 51 are planning to trek through the desert, I presume? It won't be a terribly effective mob once they arrive.

Edited by Fighteer on Sep 17th 2019 at 10:48:26 AM

I wonder how long it took the original poster of the meme to realize that there were people seriously considering the idea.

I'd like to see him cover the "sue me for what?" ending of Rocky 5.

I never thought he could be "sued", but surely he could press some kind of charges.

I'd also like for him to cover The Fugitive. Mainly the CPD angle.

Oh dear god discovering this is going to be an absolute disaster for me this semester.

Youtube comments have well objected to the crimes attributed to Batman/Bruce Wayne committed in the penthouse, as it is his home and therefore neither public nor does he have an obligation to retreat.

Sentences are: Joker - 12,000 years + Life; Batman - 60 million years

The sum total of all other crimes committed during the film pales in comparison to Batman's mass wiretapping of the entire populace of Gotham.

Edited by Fighteer on Sep 20th 2019 at 9:04:09 AM

Yeah, I always thought that was the kind of crime scale that would make you a full-blown enemy of the state.

Jonathan Nolan took the whole concept of mass-wiretapping and turned it into an actual TV series in the form of Person of Interest. The main characters constantly remind themselves that what they are doing will place them in #1 blacklist in CIA and NSA combined.

Edited by dRoy on Sep 20th 2019 at 9:59:39 PM

Not to mention the main actor of that series Jim Cavizel was basically a Christian Bale expy.

Also John Nolan, who played Greer (and is the Nolan bros’ uncle), was also that one Wayne Enterprises board member who stayed loyal to Bruce in all the films. The one who wasn’t Morgan Freeman, that is.

Come to think of it I’d love to see Legal Eagle rip apart the Kangaroo Court that Vigilance put on at the end of season 3.

Edited by TheAirman on Sep 20th 2019 at 4:26:43 AM

I just saw this: The World's First Space Crime? IN SPACE! (Real Law Review)

I've heard of this incident but haven't seen an in-depth exploration of it. I'm excited to watch the video when I have the chance (it's in my queue). Also, dat thumbnail...

Edited by Fighteer on Sep 20th 2019 at 6:43:30 AM