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By: Mark R. Malek

A new television show has come out that has made it into my top 5.  Of course, this goes behind my all time favorite show – Pardon The Interruption on ESPN.  The show is so good that I actually have a t-shirt.  Thanks to Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon for the great shows.

The show that I am referring to is Harry’s Law.  Have you figured out why I like it yet?  No?  The show is about a patent attorney (Kathy Bates) that has become so stressed out by the rigorous practice of patent law that she leaves her big cushy job and decides to take up practicing general law in a shoe store in the ghetto (she calls it the ghetto on the show – her words, not mine).  During the show she has made references to leaving her job where she was paid $600,000.  If anyone can catch the name of that firm for me, I’d appreciate an interview.

I get a kick out of the show for a number of reasons.  Of course, the whole patent attorney bit just kills me.  Never in my lifetime did I think that it was possible for a primetime show to be centered on a patent attorney.  In fact, patent attorneys are generally so boring that one of my law professors actually told me one time “patent attorneys are those people that do not have enough charisma to practice tax law!”  Now that’s a boring group.  Just think about it – how boring do you have to be to go to engineering school, and then go to law school and decide on a profession that puts you in front of a computer writing horribly long and very boring documents all day long?  I’m the exception, but outside of me, it’s a pretty boring group!

The other part that makes me giggle about the show is the many references to “the ghetto.”  I graduated from the University of Dayton and there was a “neighborhood” on campus of several houses owned by the university where the students lived.  You know where I’m going with this one…it was called “The Ghetto.”

I know this post does not deliver any kind of breaking intellectual property news, but I was watching a recorded episode tonight and I just felt like writing about it.  If you are looking for something new to watch, give Harry’s Law a try and let me know what you think.