For a Decent Summer Legal Show, Check Out Suits

            Suits, the new USA summer show about a guy passing himself off as a lawyer, had me worried at the beginning. The very first scene was a real lawyer lying to a client to get a deal closed. That’s a huge, disbarrable no-no. The writers redeemed themselves when the characters discussed how interested the Bar would be in that incident. Two characters threatened each other with mutually assured destruction if one reported the other. I was so happy. Maybe I’m easily amused.

            Then they had a sexual harassment case as our hero’s first case, and I cringed. Shows about my area of practice are always the most difficult for me to watch because they get so much wrong. But Suits did a really nice job. Sure, they took some license, but not too much. They got the concept of quid pro quo sexual harassment right. And then they showed what happens far too often in the real world. You see, the Supreme Court says sexual harassment victims have to report the harassment to Human Resources and give them a chance to fix it. If they don’t do it, they lose their right to bring a case.

            Here, the victim reported it. Sure enough, two months later, she was fired for alleged performance problems. Do you have any idea how many times I hear the same story in real life? Try about once a week. Again, I was unduly happy.

            They got big firm life down to a tee – the first year associates being treated like slaves, frowning on them leaving before 9 p.m., the bickering among partners, the competition, and the cutthroat atmosphere.

            I don’t usually comment on the actual writing, but I have to here because I really enjoyed this show. The characters were fun, dialogue snappy and the plot interesting. I’ve said before that I tend to watch all the USA shows, and this will apparently be no exception. Hopefully the writers will keep up the good work.