Asimow on Jewish Lawyers in American Popular Culture @santaclaralaw @VaSE_VSLS

Michael Asimow, Santa Clara Law School, has published Jewish Lawyers in American Popular Culture at 21 Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal 1 (2022). Here is the abstract.

Popular culture serves as a mirror that reflects the attitudes and beliefs of those who consume it. This article considers the way that Jewish lawyers are represented in American movies and television. These representations reflect a number of stereotypes, many of which are quite negative. Jewish lawyers tend to be smarter than other lawyers, but not in a good way. They are cunning, manipulative, greedy and unethical. They are also physically unattractive and personally unpleasant. These negative presentations reflect the long history of discrimination against Jewish lawyers lasting from the 1880s to the 1960s and of latent anti-Semitic attitudes toward Jewish lawyers held by the general public. A minority of Jewish lawyers in popular culture are about the same as other lawyers and a few are presented in a very positive manner. These positive representations may reflect the commitment of many American Jews to social justice and to the concept of tikkun olam (repair of the world).

Download the article from SSRN at the link.