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canyonwalkerIn season 2 of Better Call Saul, Jimmy— that's Saul, pre-name change— gets a cushy job at the prestigious law firm Davis & Main. It's even more prestigious than HHM. Jimmy gets perks like a Mercedes-Benz company car and a swank office decorated with fine art and a custom desk. And he gets all that not by scamming his way in but by earning it through hard work.
Jimmy uncovered a retirement home fraud case in season 1. On his brother's advice he brought it to HHM because it was too big for the two of them to work alone. Jimmy expected HHM would hire him as lead attorney on the case, but instead his brother, Chuck, once again thwarted him from getting hired at HHM. Revealing just how much of a dick move that was, HHM later turns to D&M for assistance on the case, and D&M reaches out to Jimmy to hire him because he built such rapport with his elderly clients. So it's kind of sweet revenge for Jimmy that he gets hired at D&M after Chuck blocked him (yet again) from HHM.
Anyway, in the first part of season 2 Jimmy is put in charge of client outreach. The fraud case is a class-action thing, and the firms need to find as many members of the class as they can. Jimmy's great with talking to prospective clients— the elderly residents at care homes in this chain that operates multiple retirement communities across several states— but the retirement home company is making it hard for lawyers to connect with its residents.
Jimmy gets the idea to go around the roadblocks the company creates against sending mailers or trying to visit in-person and instead reach residents through a well-placed TV commercial. His assistant— yes, he gets a dedicated paralegal assistant at this cushy job—shows him a past TV ad D&M ran. It's one of those frankly terrible lawyerly TV ads you've seen if you've ever watched daytime TV. A stentorian voice-over reads block text that scrolls over a swirling color background.
This isn't the exact text from the TV show. It's a slight tweak I made to the text of an actual ad for mesothelioma lawyers. D&M's fictional ad was very similar. Either way, it's as if the memorable opening crawl of the original Star Wars movie were written by, well, lawyers.
Worse, Jimmy's assistant recounts how the partners agonized for days over the swirling color background. It had to be just right: right shapes, right color, right speed. Of course, that's absurd trivia and is part of what makes their commercial awful; but the whole firm seems to regard it with the reverence of biblical scripture.
Jimmy goes back to his team of UNM film students and creates a more personalized commercial. It's a bit schlocky but not obtusely alarmist like the classic lawyer TV ads. Jimmy, doing the voice-over himself, speaks in approachable language while the camera zooms in on an actual elder client of his (though not one who's a member of the class action suit).
Jimmy buys one airing for his ad. It's on a local TV station at the first commercial break in an afternoon rerun of Murder, She Wrote— which Jimmy knows enjoys high viewership among his target clientele. Jimmy even primes the bullpen of paralegals and other assistants for a deluge of incoming calls.... And the phones start ringing off the hooks! For a cost of under $1k for paying the film students and buying one ad airing, Jimmy has successfully signed up dozens of new clients.
When managing partner Cliff Davis of D&M learns about the ad, he is pissed. Jimmy is hauled in to a meeting with Cliff and two other senior partners the next morning. They are outraged about the ad. It's not up to their "standards". What those standards are, though, they doen't say. Except they specifically finds fault with Jimmy doing the voice-over himself. The other partners want Jimmy fired over this, but Cliff tells Jimmy he has one last chance.
What's amusing to me about the lawyers reading Jimmy the riot act over his ad is how they wring their hands and clutch their pearls over how much damage Jimmy has done to the firm's reputation. Damage the lawyers' reputation? Of all the widely perceived awful things that lawyers do to earn such a low perception in the minds of the public, they think this, some stupidly benign TV ad, is the problem. That's the problem right there! These lawyers have no clue why people hate lawyers.
Jimmy uncovered a retirement home fraud case in season 1. On his brother's advice he brought it to HHM because it was too big for the two of them to work alone. Jimmy expected HHM would hire him as lead attorney on the case, but instead his brother, Chuck, once again thwarted him from getting hired at HHM. Revealing just how much of a dick move that was, HHM later turns to D&M for assistance on the case, and D&M reaches out to Jimmy to hire him because he built such rapport with his elderly clients. So it's kind of sweet revenge for Jimmy that he gets hired at D&M after Chuck blocked him (yet again) from HHM.
Anyway, in the first part of season 2 Jimmy is put in charge of client outreach. The fraud case is a class-action thing, and the firms need to find as many members of the class as they can. Jimmy's great with talking to prospective clients— the elderly residents at care homes in this chain that operates multiple retirement communities across several states— but the retirement home company is making it hard for lawyers to connect with its residents.
Jimmy gets the idea to go around the roadblocks the company creates against sending mailers or trying to visit in-person and instead reach residents through a well-placed TV commercial. His assistant— yes, he gets a dedicated paralegal assistant at this cushy job—shows him a past TV ad D&M ran. It's one of those frankly terrible lawyerly TV ads you've seen if you've ever watched daytime TV. A stentorian voice-over reads block text that scrolls over a swirling color background.
ATTENTION: IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH MESOTHELIOMA YOU MAY TO BE ENTITLED TO FINANCIAL COMPENSATION. MESOTHELIOMA IS A RARE CANCER LINKED TO ASBESTOS EXPOSURE. EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS IN THE NAVY, SHIPYARDS, MILLS, HEATING, CONSTRUCTION OR THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES MAY PUT YOU AT RISK. PLEASE DON'T WAIT, CALL THE LAW OFFICES OF DEWEY, CHEATHAM & HOWE AT 1-800-4-SUCKERS TODAY FOR A FREE LEGAL CONSULTATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION PACKET. MESOTHELIOMA PATIENTS CALL NOW! 1-800-4-SUCKERS.
This isn't the exact text from the TV show. It's a slight tweak I made to the text of an actual ad for mesothelioma lawyers. D&M's fictional ad was very similar. Either way, it's as if the memorable opening crawl of the original Star Wars movie were written by, well, lawyers.
Worse, Jimmy's assistant recounts how the partners agonized for days over the swirling color background. It had to be just right: right shapes, right color, right speed. Of course, that's absurd trivia and is part of what makes their commercial awful; but the whole firm seems to regard it with the reverence of biblical scripture.
Jimmy goes back to his team of UNM film students and creates a more personalized commercial. It's a bit schlocky but not obtusely alarmist like the classic lawyer TV ads. Jimmy, doing the voice-over himself, speaks in approachable language while the camera zooms in on an actual elder client of his (though not one who's a member of the class action suit).
Jimmy buys one airing for his ad. It's on a local TV station at the first commercial break in an afternoon rerun of Murder, She Wrote— which Jimmy knows enjoys high viewership among his target clientele. Jimmy even primes the bullpen of paralegals and other assistants for a deluge of incoming calls.... And the phones start ringing off the hooks! For a cost of under $1k for paying the film students and buying one ad airing, Jimmy has successfully signed up dozens of new clients.
When managing partner Cliff Davis of D&M learns about the ad, he is pissed. Jimmy is hauled in to a meeting with Cliff and two other senior partners the next morning. They are outraged about the ad. It's not up to their "standards". What those standards are, though, they doen't say. Except they specifically finds fault with Jimmy doing the voice-over himself. The other partners want Jimmy fired over this, but Cliff tells Jimmy he has one last chance.
What's amusing to me about the lawyers reading Jimmy the riot act over his ad is how they wring their hands and clutch their pearls over how much damage Jimmy has done to the firm's reputation. Damage the lawyers' reputation? Of all the widely perceived awful things that lawyers do to earn such a low perception in the minds of the public, they think this, some stupidly benign TV ad, is the problem. That's the problem right there! These lawyers have no clue why people hate lawyers.
