Hi I'm in law school studying to be a police officer; ( I'm in France so the laws arent the same) I have seen a few lawyer tv shows and here are my thoughts on them

-the stories are realistic, but reality is even crazier: I once helped one of my teachers on this case where another teacher or my university was being accused for the murder of his wife who had ties to the local mob (I'm pretty sure it was the lover who did it though)

-they dont show enough paperwork, its a never ending avalanche, how do they even have time for other things?

- they all know the law too well, you cant just memorize all of it, even an experienced lawyer needs time and reaserch before going to court to defend case

- pick your lawyer wisely there are terribly incompetent ones around

-Because of theese series people know the american law better, there are many cases people ask us to sue the police because they entered in their house without a warrant: we are not in america, and youll get a lawyer and your phone call when the police agrees to it dammit

Have a nice day ! :)

Has a Movie or TV show portrayed your occupation? How did you feel about it?

(1) I was a Security Guard for several years and it is always quite funny to see how this job is portrayed in Movies/TV--as it can be quite accurate, at times, though overgeneralized.

That is, Security Guard's are depicted as having no interest in the "job", there is really nothing to do, watching TV in a room of security monitors, or asleep entirely--which, at times, is correct. The type of shift one gets varies significantly, though if one gets an overnight shift, they tend to be independent with nobody around and this is in fact essentially what it is like (particularly for some Guards that take advantage of the system to the highest they can get away with). I've known Guards that work all day at the County Prison, and then are scheduled for overnight shifts as Security Guards (their second job) where they essentially sleep the whole night, go home for a few hours or so and then back to work at the Prison.

My first shift as a Security Guard I worked a High School Football game as the owner/boss was "training" me. A fight broke out on the field, I reached and began to swing open the gate to get out onto the field, when the owner/supervisor stopped me by saying "Woooooo woo wo...What are you doing?". I replied, "Arent we supposed to help the referees break it up?" He returned (shaking his head), "No, no, no.....we don't do anything like that here. Just hang back, relax, let the referees worry about that." Lol. I knew then it was going to be an easy job.

Now, other times you actually do have to step up and do things, so the TV portrayal is about half correct; say 50/50.

(2) Not an occupation, but I am a math student and after having extensive contact with Professors and peers, I must say that the movie "Good Will Hunting" quite accurately portrayed the Professors, Graduate students, & Undergraduate students dynamics rather well.