ULTIMATE DOCS COMPETITION

A LAWYER WALKS INTO A BAR…

USA, 2007, 89 min., English


Director: Eric Chaikin
Producer: Tasha Oldham
Cinematography: Stephanie Martin
Editing: Deborah Barkow
Production Company: Camel's Back Films
Print Source:
Tasha Oldham
8569 Pickford St.
Los Angeles, Ca 90035
Tel: 310 254 5754
Fax: 310 652 4002
Email: Tashaao@aol.com
www.alawyerwalksintoabar.com


A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar…

The California Bar exam is the hardest legal exam in the country with a 39% pass rate. At least two governors, an L.A. mayor and the dean of the Stanford Law School have failed – some numerous times. Yet every year thousands of recent grads approach this right of passage that separates lawyers from the rest of us. In this engaging documentary from Word Wars director Eric Chaikin, we meet six California law school graduates from different walks of life studying for the test – a mother who can’t take time away from studying to visit her sick son in the hospital, an over-confident bombshell who spends as much time clubbing as she does taking practice tests and a man who has taken and failed the test over 40 times - as well as industry vets , luminaries, politicians, comedians and celebrity lawyers - such as Robert Shapiro, Nancy Green and Joe Jamail - who shed light on the back-breaking test that has little to do with actually practicing law.

Eric Chaikin
Prior to directing "A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar…", Eric Chaikin directed and produced the Emmy-nominated Word Wars: Tiles and Tribulations on the Scrabble Circuit which premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, aired as part of the Discovery/Times Channel's "Screening Room" series, and had a successful theatrical run. He has a background in acting and recreational linguistics (wordplay) and in a prior life designed graphical analytics systems for stock traders as a Vice President at Reuters Instinet. He currently enjoys the view from his Topanga, CA home with his fiancee Marni.

Filmography:
A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar… (2007)
Word Wars (2004)

SUNDAY, APRIL 1 AT 1:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 AT 4:00 PM./THE WILMETTE THEATRE