【Episode 37 – If the Case from *Extraordinary Attorney Woo* Happened in America (1)】
Monday was the day we had Lawyering class.
Fortunately, the subway arrived on time, so I got to school early, and as if we had promised, Sein and Dong-uk hyung had also come early that day.
“Hey, Heon. Want to get coffee?”
“You got here early. Yes, are you buying, hyung?”
“Of course.”
“Then I’ll have a cappuccino. Thank you. Sein, you got here early too?”
“Yeah. I went to bed early yesterday, so I woke up early.”
There were still about twenty minutes left before class started.
With coffees in hand, we grabbed a corner of the Golden Lounge.
“Thanks. I really enjoyed the game with the tickets you gave me yesterday.”
“Tickets? Ah, the basketball game? That’s good.”
“The Knicks won 88-76, and since the home team won, the atmosphere was definitely great. I really enjoyed it.”
“Heon really likes basketball. So who did you go with?”
I went with Eleanor.
There wasn’t really any reason to hide it, but if it reached Michael’s ears, there was a high chance it would get weirdly blown out of proportion for no reason.
“I have a friend who likes basketball, so I went with that friend. What did you do this weekend, hyung?”
“Me? I took my father-in-law and mother-in-law sightseeing in the city. We went to the Statue of Liberty, Times Square… It was a bit chilly, but they liked it.”
“You must have been bored, oppa. You’ve already been to all those places.”
Sein, who had been listening, joined the conversation.
“No, it was nice. I haven’t lived here that long either. But driving in New York was really hard.”
“You rented a car?”
“Yeah. I thought it would be hard for them to get around by public transportation, so I rented a car, but…”
“It’s really congested, right?”
“It’s congested, and parking is so expensive too. And people just cross wherever however they want. Seoul is better for driving. After trying it, I understood why New Yorkers love taxis so much. So I told Go-eun that when she goes around with my father-in-law and mother-in-law without me, she should just take taxis. That seemed better.”
“I see.”
“So, Sein, what about you? What did you do this weekend?”
“I just went to church in the morning, came home, and watched a drama.”
“A drama?”
Monday mornings were always like this.
We waited for class talking about what we did over the weekend.
The conversation naturally shifted from Dong-uk hyung’s in-law travel stories to drama talk.
“What’s fun these days? Come to think of it, Go-eun seems to be watching that drama with Song Joong-ki these days.”
“*Nice Guy*?”
“Yeah, that one. Wow—Song Joong-ki is handsome. Even a man would fall for him.”
“He’s handsome, right?”
“Yeah, he is. So what did you watch?”
“I watched an American drama.”
“An American drama? Which one? If there’s something fun, let me know. My wife has been going crazy saying she’s bored these days.”
“*Suits*.”
“*Suits*? That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
“They say it’s about infighting between lawyers at a New York law firm, or something like that. Anyway, Season 2 is airing, and it’s pretty good.”
“Is it fun?”
“It’s a bit unrealistic, but it’s charming. It makes you keep watching.”
“The male leads are handsome, huh?”
“That’s right. Hehe.”
“I should check it out. Honestly, I have a hard time watching movies or dramas with lawyers as protagonists. If it’s set in America, I can watch it okay thinking, ‘Ah, so that’s how America is,’ but if it’s set in Korea, it’s just too unrealistic…”
“So now you won’t be able to enjoy the American ones either?”
“Ah, is that so? Hahaha. I should watch a lot before then. Back when I was preparing for the bar exam, I really enjoyed watching *Boston Legal*. Is *Suits* like that?”
*Boston Legal* is an American legal drama that aired from 2004 to 2008, set at a highly skilled law firm based in Boston.
Though it wasn’t a massive hit when it aired, it was a critically acclaimed work nominated for Emmy Awards twenty-six times, including for Outstanding Drama Series.
Like most legal dramas, *Boston Legal* tells the story of an eccentric protagonist solving difficult cases using unusual methods, and it was a drama worth watching for the chemistry between the protagonist and the various other eccentrics who appear.
“*Suits* seems a bit lighter than *Boston Legal*.”
“Sein, you watched *Boston Legal* too? That’s pretty old.”
“Yes. Only Season 2 has aired so far, so it’s a bit hard to compare, but I think the protagonist in *Suits* is more charming. The episode cases seem more charming in *Boston Legal*.”
“Wow—you’re a real maniac.”
“Well, I just watched it… since there’s no one to teach me how an American law firm works… hehe.”
“You learned about law firms from TV? Hahaha. Ah, but a protagonist more charming than Alan Shore? Now I’m suddenly curious.”
Alan Shore is the protagonist attorney of *Boston Legal*, who does not hesitate to use unethical means such as bribery, threats, and hacking for a good cause.
He is a peculiar character who suffers from night blindness and a fear of clowns, living in a hotel because he hates houses. He has a colorful(?) past in which having a relationship with his mother’s friend at age fourteen was nothing more than a joke.
The actor James Spade, who specialized in playing “geniuses dripping with perversion,” portrayed him and won that year’s Emmy Award for Best Actor.
“My favorite legal drama was *Boston Legal*. I should check out *Suits* too.”
“Watch it. It’s fun.”
“Okay. I’ll give you my thoughts after watching.”
“Hey, Heon. What have you been looking at so seriously since earlier?”
Sein asked.
“Huh?”
“I’m asking what you’re looking at so intensely.”
“Ah, an email.”
Until just moments ago, I had been listening to the story too.
However, while checking if any new emails had arrived in the morning, I had briefly gotten caught up in reading an email from Pro Bono Director Kyle Peyton.
“Do you happen to have one?”
“What?”
“A favorite legal drama or something?”
“Yeah, Woo Young-woo.”
“Woo Young-woo? What’s that? Was there a drama like that?”
Oh no—
It was 2012.
While reading Kyle Peyton’s email, I had answered without thinking, and the title of a drama that aired in 2022 had slipped out.
“Huh?”
“What’s Woo Young-woo?”
“There is. A very excellent lawyer I know.”
“What? Hey, what is this all of a sudden? We’re talking about dramas.”
“I know. Hehe. We were talking about Alan Shore and it just suddenly came to mind.”
“Heon, you watched it too? *Boston Legal*.”
I had. When I was hospitalized to donate a kidney to my father, I had a lot of time, and one of the things I did then was binge-watching *Boston Legal*.
“Yes, I watched it.”
“As expected, everyone watches the masterpieces. Someday… oops! It’s already this late. Alright, let’s stop chatting and go to class?”
“Oh my, it’s already 8:55. But why Kyle Peyton? Is it related to a pro bono case?”
“Yeah, he says if you have time later, instead of coming to the school office, go directly to Attorney Duncan’s office.”
“That criminal case attorney’s office?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t have research work this afternoon, so shall we go after our Crim Law class? Hyung, do you have time?”
“I’m free.”
“Then should we ask Michael and go today if he says it’s okay?”
“Let’s do that.”
***
Fortunately, Michael was free too, and as promised, after Sein’s and my criminal law lecture, the four of us found Attorney Denny Duncan’s office on West 37th Street.
“Welcome. Ah… there are four of you.”
Attorney Denny Duncan looked slightly flustered.
There wasn’t enough seating in his office for the four of us.
“What to do…”
“The two of us can just stand. Please don’t mind us.”
“Are you sure that’s okay?”
He wasn’t the only one flustered.
A small office with a musty smell,
An old desk with coffee stains,
Documents piled up here and there throughout the office.
Sein, Dong-uk hyung, Michael, and I were all bewildered. To hide our awkwardness, we smiled even brighter.
“Yes, it’s fine.”
When Michael and I answered, he thanked us for understanding, then shouted to the secretary outside to bring in Mrs. Go’s file.
Then, surprisingly, the secretary didn’t even enter but shouted from outside to wait a moment.
“Sorry. If I had known you were coming today, I would have prepared in advance.”
“Ah, no.”
How many students applying to law school imagine an environment like this when they apply?
Probably none.
He was renting a single room in a shared office used by various solo practitioners, and he shared the secretary and office equipment with the other office attorneys.
“Here it is, Denny.”
Only after about ten minutes did the secretary appear with the requested file.
“Thanks, Donna. Ah, and please double-check that I reserved the conference room for five o’clock.”
“Oh, Attorney Lewis said he was using that earlier.”
“What do you mean? I reserved it first.”
“I don’t know. Tell him yourself.”
It was literally a mess. He had been about to scrunch up his face like the Hulk but relaxed when he saw us.
“Sorry. It’s chaotic, isn’t it?”
“It’s fine.”
“Ah, but the timing works out. Mrs. Go’s daughter is supposed to come by later; would you like to meet her together?”
Our first criminal case began that chaotically.
If the Case from *Extraordinary Attorney Woo* Happened in America (2)
I had liked legal dramas.
Was it a kind of longing? Or perhaps the pathetic hobby of a law student who couldn’t become a lawyer?
Whatever it was, my heart would flutter on one side whenever I watched a story with a lawyer as the protagonist.
Ah, of course it still does.
“The defendant struck her husband’s head with an iron?”
I was startled. Because it was so similar to a case that had come up in the best legal drama of my life.