Interesting article. The stuff on Japanese law was fascinating - that's a whole different world right there. I also agreed entirely on her take on PW himself - I love that guy.
As for my take - When I worked at a criminal law firm what really struck me was just how underprepared you often were - just like Mr. Nick himself. You have so many clients on free legal aid and most of the cases are so petty and small that often times you'd be lucky to put in an hour or two's research into each of them. You'd go through about 5/6 in a morning in court on a Thursday morning and again on a Friday, and these could be things you'd only just had land on your desk on Tuesday for clients you then interviewed on Wednesday. I mean, the cases themselves would only take 15 minutes to hear in court, if that. Small stuff. Sometimes you'd be handed a case by a colleague in court on the day of the trial and given a minor overview and told to work it, I kid you not. You might even have to ask the judge to put the case back in the list while you furiously read the file right there in court and then introduce yourself to the client right before they take the stand. It's a bit insane, to be honest, but the amount of cases dictates that it must be so.
The balancing factor is that criminal law is so simple that these petty cases often don't need even that amount of time to prepare (one or two hours, that is). And once you know the ins and outs of the vast majority of offences you're likely to see in a District or Circuit Court (drug offences, assault, etc) then it takes even less. The basic statutory provisions you rely on to get people off for each offence stay the same, the checks you do as to police procedure during arrest and detention stay the same, and the even info the client gives you in your interview at your office or under the courthouse tends to stay roughly the same, because people get in the same trouble again and again and again.
Then, on the other hand, a murder, rape or something similar (anything on indictment that could lead to 6+ months of jail, really) is a whole different ballgame and can potentially take years of work, where you sit down and research arcane points of law or comb through records handed over by telecoms companies in the most tedious manner for days in a row. Sad thing is that in the legal system I work in I would never be allowed to argue in front of a judge in a major case like this because our system essentially mandates specialist legal speakers to do that job for us once you reach the High Court. (Barristers.) That may change, but there's huge resistance to it among Barristers.
One thing that rung really true with Phoenix was the necessity of thinking on your feet in front of the judge while your heart is pounding. Public speaking is bad enough, but with someone's freedom on the line (no matter how temporarily) and in front of fellow lawyers from other firms (some of whom you may have been in law school with) and possibly your own boss you can't help but get that horrible tightness in your stomach as your argument gets derailed by a judge who just wants to focus on one little thing you don't see as crucial or a policeman who literally refuses to read out the evidence as it appears in their deposition or some other stupid bullshit.
One thing that Phoenix Wright doesn't get across is that the police typically HATE defence attorneys. We ruin their cases, drag them into court on a whim so they can wait for 6 hours to say 3 sentences when they could be doing proper work, allow people they are convinced are 'guilty' to go free... They're not fans. I doubt the Gumshoe / PW relationship would be that strong in real life, especially after Gumshoe gets humiliated on stand time and time again. (That part rings true, the part where they're still friends doesn't.)
And the biggest thing that grates with me about PW is how much investigation they do outside of court. This is not lawyers' work, and it tends to take up more and more time in each game. I get that it's fun, but it just bears no relation to the job description at all. He should be called 'Phoenix Wright - Detective, Solicitor, Barrister and Babysitter' because that's essentially what he is. Even worse is when PW knows the victim or is involved in the crime - this is the worst, because it's something that just never happens to a real lawyer and is a lazy way to spark an emotional connection with the fictional client. Meeting your client for the first time and piecing the facts together is the very basics of being a defence attorney, and this is lost when PW is put at the scene of the crime when it happens. Again, I guess most people wouldn't have a problem with this stuff.
Anyway, I didn't do the criminal law gig for very long, was heavily supervised, and have no intention of ever doing it again but it was a hell of an experience while it lasted. Far more interesting than drafting Rental Agency Agreements and Collateral Charges etc, but also more stressful and lower paying. Frankly the whole thing only made me enjoy PW and its wacky legal system more. It's a great series.
It's not supposed to do any such thing. It's meant to entertain you and make you laugh, and it does a great job.
