Recently in Pop Culture Lawyers Category

If there is a silver lining in the insane, disturbing, and inexcusable rant of Taylor Chapman, a woman purportedly denied a receipt at a Dunkin' Donuts, it's this: you'll almost certainly never face her in court. As a lawyer.

Yep. The woman behind "Taylor Chapman Dunkin Donuts Rant," is, according to The Smoking Gun, working towards her "JD in Law." (Complete redundancy. Someone please call Bryan Garner.) And where might she be studying? We have no idea. For some reason, all of her social media profiles have gone dark. However, she did earn her Business & Marketing degree at Nova Southeastern University. Her alma mater is surely proud of that connection now.

If you haven't seen the video, you can watch it below. Just be forewarned, it's eight minutes of obnoxious, entitled, racist, and possibly bath salt-inspired ranting over a forgotten receipt. It is not terribly safe for work, so be forewarned:

Move over Black's, there's a new dictionary in court and it's free. Urban Dictionary, an online slang dictionary, is a source that some lawyers and judges are relying on in court to define the latest in urban vocab.

Words like "iron," "catfishing," "dap," and "grenade" are just some of the words defined using Urban Dictionary in courts last year. Should attorneys should be "cited" for this new resource? It's online, free, and ... reliable? Um, the jury is still out.

Why is it that the shady attorneys make the most compelling television characters?

Lawyers get a bad rap, but most of us follow the rules. We honor our ethical obligations. We want to do the right thing. But when we see a delightfully unethical attorney on the screen, we can’t look away.

Here are three of our favorites from TV shows of the past (and almost past). If you aren’t yet acquainted with this trio, snuggle up on your sofa and queue up your Netflix for some legal drama marathons.

"Arrested Development" is the second-most-brilliant television show ever made. Though no one watched for the three years when it originally aired, it developed a cult following through web-streaming on Hulu and Netflix. And now, it's being resurrected with 15 new episodes that will air exclusively on Netflix beginning May 26.

If you're one of the show's many zealous fans, then you've come to know and love the zany attorneys who have graced the screen with the wackadoodle Bluth family. All of them commit some kind of professional infraction during the course of the series, but who's the least ethical lawyer on "Arrested Development"? Here are your options:

If you're a district attorney, and you employ an illegal alien who is accused of raping a child, you can expect at least a little flack from the media.

If you're that district attorney and the progeny of the greatest pop culture judge of our generation, you can expect a backlash. Putnam County District Attorney Adam Levy -- also known as Judge Judy's son -- is learning that lesson first-hand.

Lindsay Lohan is kind of like Voldemort He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named: She's been known to wreak havoc, and those who publicly utter her name tend to regret it.

Three years ago, LiLo sued E-Trade, demanding $100 million for pain and suffering after the DIY-stock brokerage referred to a boyfriend-stealing, "milkaholic" baby named Lindsay in a Super Bowl ad, the New York Post reports. In 2011, Lohan sued rapper Pitbull for name-dropping her in "Give Me Everything."

Now the lawyer behind both of her right of publicity law suits, Stephanie Ovadia, is facing some legal troubles of her own, Billboard reports.

The lawyer/tipster who set off the Ohio State University football scandal that resulted in Jim Tressel's ouster and the team's current probation has been suspended from practicing law for a year.

Christopher Cicero made headlines a couple years ago when he reportedly tipped off then-coach Tressel that his players were trading team merchandise for tattoos, reports the Dayton Daily News.

However, by tipping off the coach, Cicero violated two provisions of Ohio's Rules of Professional Conduct, the state's Supreme Court has ruled.

President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, both Harvard Law grads, are set to face off in their first debate Wednesday. But they aren't the only lawyers looking for votes this fall.

From coast to coast, dozens of J.D.s are seeking public office. While lawyers-turned-lawmakers aren't a new phenomenon, there's actually been a decline in lawyer-legislators in some states, as a recent article in Virginia Lawyers Weekly pointed out.

Of course, lawyer-candidates aren't just limited to legislative races. Judges and district attorneys are also up for election in many jurisdictions. Here are just a few notable races with lawyers on the ballot:

A few weeks ago, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made a stunning turn and joined the four liberal members of the Court in upholding Obamacare.

Now CBS reporter Jan Crawford is reporting that Roberts made a last second turnaround. According to a source for Salon's Paul Campos, not only was Roberts prepared to vote with his conservative colleagues, but that he in fact penned both the majority opinion and the dissent.

What makes these leaks about Roberts' indecision so interesting is that Supreme Court leaks are usually rare. Typically, no one but the justices themselves and their clerks have any idea what goes on before the decision. And they tend to be very close-lipped about the mechanizations.

So how did the John Roberts' indecision leak?

Mitt Romney has something that neither of the two most recent presidents can lay claim to. It's not the thick hair or the smiling family; it's the pedigree. Mitt Romney is one of the small group of individuals that hold a JD/MBA from Harvard University.

But the real question here becomes: Is anyone jealous?

Harvard's JD/MBA program does have an impressive list of graduates and only about a dozen people complete the program every year according to The New York Times. Certainly it's hard to get into and it requires a high level of dedication. But JD/MBA programs also have a dirty little secret.