I love L.A… on location filming my new show for Amazon.
The Day I Met Donald Trump….
I was in New York City for the television upfront presentation. NBC had picked up my one and only comedy and was touting it, along with the rest of its schedule, which included Trump’s television series. I was standing with our show’s star, waiting for our turn to walk the red carpet. Trump was standing behind us, a large man with the body of a Dutch farmer or college football lineman gone to fat. He grabbed our star by the shoulder. “You’re a winner,” Trump said to the star. “I’m a winner, too. And there aren’t many of us left.” Trump shook our hands and then managed to slip ahead and walk the carpet before us. Neither the star nor I said a word to him. I recall his hand was warm, plump and soft; a pampered hand. As to whether it was small or not, I cannot say. As for his hair, it was ochre and grey, the color of a woodland creature’s winter pelt. The color of his skin was salmon. Our show was canceled. Trump’s show remains on the air. It did not occur to me that I was meeting the future Republican nominee for President.
Bullies with Badges
Prosecuting a bad cop is the hardest work a lawyer can do, as Lizzie Scott learns in my debut novel, “Deadly Force: A Lizzie Scott Novel” (available April 7 from Ankerwycke). Pre-order it here.
Police work is tough. It requires the physical stamina of the toughest blue-collar jobs and mental acuity of the highest white-collar professions. The cop on the beat has to be tougher and quicker than any threat he confronts. He also has to know the law as well as a lawyer, human nature as well as a shrink, and his community as well as a sociologist. I’ve worked with the police as a prosecutor, covered them as a reporter, and relied on them as a citizen. Nobody admires the police more than I do.
Which is why, on the rare occasion when one of them goes bad—or starts off that way—it offends me. Democracy can survive a lot: bad politicians, stupid judges, a jejune media. But a bad cop is fatal. He destroys the law and justice system upon which the entirety of our nation is founded.
Americans have a healthy respect for the police. Which is why convincing 12 of them to convict a bad one is almost impossible. Police officers are by definition law-abiding, brave, and honest. That’s why prosecutors hate prosecuting police officers. They are hard cases to win, but they are even harder cases to bring. The practice in the US Attorney’s Office when I was there was to leave it to the DOJ Civil Rights Division or handle it as the last case you did in the office. Because a lot of police never trusted a prosecutor after she went after one of their own.
Here’s just one sad example of the politics of police prosecution:
The Best Book Review of My Life!
Jan Breslauer Book Review of Lawyers, Liars, and the Art of Storytelling
I received the Best Book Review of My Life!
Here is a snippet:
Shapiro is offering a way for lawyers to get back in touch with stories and humor (not jokes — he doesn’t want you to tell jokes, and especially not lawyer jokes). He models liberal use of self-deprecating wit and the artful quip. My personal favorite is Chapter 9, footnote 6: “Even if the author is my wife, Betsy Borns-Shapiro (the ‘Shapiro’ is silent).”
Please go read the full review HERE!
Kevin Costner In Talks To Star In David E. Kelley’s Amazon Drama Pilot ‘Trial’
Nellie Andreeva over at Deadline.com shared this:
“In what would be a big coup for Amazon” (shameless plug link), “I hear the streaming service is talking to Kevin Costner for the lead in one of its pilots. I’ve learned that the Oscar winner is in negotiations to star in Trial, the Amazon Studios drama from The Practice, Ally McBeal and Picket Fences creator David E. Kelley. With him on board, the project would get a 10-episode straight-to-series order. David Semel, who has directed the pilots for such series as Heroes, Person Of Interest, Madam Secretary, and most recently, CBS’ upcoming Code Black and Amazon’s The Man In The High Castle, is expected to direct.”