How many lawyers went to law school because they were inspired by a TV or movie lawyer? I bet the number is not zero. Most of the time, you ask a lawyer why she went into the profession, she'll probably rattle off a list: earning potential, prestige, intellectual challenge, the opportunity to help others, etc. And all those are probably true. But let's face it, we live in a pop-culture saturated world and most of us would be lying if we denied being inspired, on some level, by what we saw on screen. I myself was unduly influenced by A Few Good Men. Now I probably would have become a lawyer anyway, but I can't deny that movie was the final push I needed to sign up for the LSAT. I even tried to become a JAG at one point because of it and fortunately (or unfortunately) the U.S. Navy saw right through me.

Despite what you see on screen, however, being a lawyer is not an exciting job. Sure there are exciting moments; there are few highs like arguing in front of a jury, for example, or closing down your adversary with a well-placed argument. But even my law practice, which everyone thinks must be thrilling because I deal with artists and entertainers, usually isn't. It's mostly contracts and business filings. For a majority of lawyers, life isn't like it is on Law and Order or The Good Wife, or Suits. It's just another time-consuming office job. You have to get your enthusiasm wherever you can find it.

Hail Caesar!, the Coen Brothers' 2016 tribute to the 1950's Hollywood studio system, gets that. One of the subplots of the movie finds hero and studio fixer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) trying to figure out how to hide from the public the fact that actress DeeAnna Moran (Scarlet Johansson), an Esther Williams-type, is pregnant with a married director's child. To do that, he goes to Sid Siegelstein (Geoffrey Cantor), studio counsel to discuss an unorthodox solution:

Mannix: Sid. We have to work something out for DeeAnna Moran.
Siegelstein: She get married again?
Mannix: No, that's the problem. Having a child, not married.
Siegelstein: Tough. No father...
Mannix: Well, of course there is one, somewhere. . .
Siegelstein: But who knows.
Mannix: Exactly. So, is there any way, I'm just spitballing here, any way she could adopt her own child?
Siegelstein: Interesting. As a single... she disappears for a while, reappears.
Mannix: Uh-huh.
Siegelstein: And she wants to share her blessings, adopt a child.
Mannix: Sure, she's always...
Siegelstein: ...yearned to be a mother.
Mannix: That's it.
Siegelstein: Well I don't see why not. Nothing in California statute prohibits adoption by one's own parent. This is new ground. Technically, she'd have to give up the baby to a third party.... Joe Silverman [a surety bonds agent played by Jonah Hill who factors into the movie later].
Mannix: Joe Silverman. Exactly. He's the foster father, for a few days. She hands the kid to Joe, he hands it back.
Siegelstein: I'll do some research.
Mannix: Alright.
Siegelstein: This is exciting.

“This is exciting" gets me every time, not only because it's hilarious and delivered by Cantor with that perfect wry half-serious Coen tone, but because it's so true. A couple years ago, a producer I was working with wanted to film some exterior shots with a drone but he didn't know what legal hoops he had to jump through to make sure he wasn’t liable. Since drone law is so new, I certainly didn't know what to tell him. So I had to do some research and it was, no joke, truly thrilling! Not because drone law itself was particularly fun or interesting. It was exciting because I got to do something different while adding a new base of knowledge to my repertoire.

I still love being a lawyer, and there are definitely days where it feels dramatic and fascinating. But my life is not Law and Order and I am not living a daily recreation of A Few Good Men. I am more like Sid in Hail Caesar! finding excitement in my job wherever I can. I bet most of us lawyers are.

[If you’re a lawyer and your work is truly exciting, please feel free to tell me why I’m wrong in the comments below.]