History Main / ArmyOfLawyers

* A [[http://www.endbudgetgridlock.com/Websites/stopthebudgetgames/Images/P25_BriefcaseArmy.mp3 recent radio commercial]] prior to the 2010 November elections in California warned voters that Proposition 25 was being fought by politicians and their "briefcase army" (with appropriate marching sound effects in the background).

[[caption-width-right:350:[[SoundOff Hut SUE three four, hut SUE three four]]!]]

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* An early ''WebOriginal/BastardOperatorFromHell'' story from the mid-1990s involves a DreamSequence in which the [[Franchise/StarTrek USS Enterprise]] is attacked by a literal army of Borg-like Microsoft attorneys and can only be saved by Simon the BOFH (who defeats them by [[TakeThat installing Microsoft Windows on their ship]]).

* TruthInTelevision for the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants "Hot Coffee" lawsuit]]. A 79-year-old woman named Stella Liebeck was sitting in her grandson's car with a cup of coffee from McDonald's placed between her legs as there was no cupholder. The coffee spilled, and because it was served at ''near boiling'' (which was standard practice at the time for McDonald's) and got absorbed into Ms. Liebeck's sweatpants, left her with ''horrific third-degree burns'' on her legs and genitals. (She was not the first person this had happened to, either, and the surgeon who treated her said it was one of the ''worst'' cases he'd ever seen.) She didn't even ''want'' to go to court: she attempted to settle out of court to pay for her medical expenses, but McDonald's only gave her a few hundred dollars (not nearly enough to cover those medical bills). She even admitted that she could have been more careful (and when the case finally ''did'' go to court, the jury found her to be 20% liable). The jury ruled in her favor, and McDonald's was to pay her one day's worth of total coffee sales. (Ultimately, she settled with them for less than that.) They also stopped serving their coffee at such high temperatures and cupholders became standard in most US-made cars. But McDonald's ultimately came out of this the winners: even though they paid Ms. Liebeck a large sum of money for her trouble, they used their corporate lawyers and spin-doctors to depict her to the general public as an idiot who didn't understand that coffee is hot, or someone faking injuries to file a FrivolousLawsuit.

* TruthInTelevision for the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants "Hot Coffee" lawsuit]]. An 82-year-old woman named Stella Liebeck was sitting in her grandson's car with a cup of coffee from McDonald's placed between her legs as there was no cupholder. The coffee spilled, and because it was served at ''near boiling'' (which was standard practice at the time for McDonald's) and got absorbed into Ms. Liebeck's sweatpants, left her with ''horrific third-degree burns'' on her legs and genitals. (She was not the first person this had happened to, either, and the surgeon who treated her said it was one of the ''worst'' cases he'd ever seen.) She didn't even ''want'' to go to court: she attempted to settle out of court to pay for her medical expenses, but McDonald's only gave her a few hundred dollars (not nearly enough to cover those medical bills). She even admitted that she could have been more careful (and when the case finally ''did'' go to court, the jury found her to be 20% liable). The jury ruled in her favor, and McDonald's was to pay her one day's worth of total coffee sales. (Ultimately, she settled with them for less than that.) They also stopped serving their coffee at such high temperatures and cupholders became standard in most US-made cars. But McDonald's ultimately came out of this the winners: even though they paid Ms. Liebeck a large sum of money for her trouble, they used their corporate lawyers and spin-doctors to depict her to the general public as an idiot who didn't understand that coffee is hot, or someone faking injuries to file a FrivolousLawsuit.

* TruthInTelevision in a more literal way: the US Army has the Judge Advocate General's department, its own legal corps; up until reorganisation in the 1990's, the British Army had its own Royal Army Legal Department (now subsumed into the Royal Logistic Corps). In both cases - if not an army of lawyers in uniform, then certainly at least a batallion.

* One episode of ''Series/TheDefenders'' (the 2010 series with lawyers, not [[Series/TheDefenders2017 the upcoming Netflix miniseries]]) has one episode's bad guys use their army of lawyers as a blatant show of force. There are so many of them that when they sit down at their ridiculously long table they need two row of chairs.

* One episode of ''Series/TheDefenders'' (the 2010 series with lawyers, not [[ComicBook/TheDefenders that comic book series]]) has one episode's bad guys use their ArmyOfLawyers as a blatant show of force. There are so many of them that when they sit down at their ridiculously long table they need two row of chairs.

-->-- '''Koga Shuto''', ''Film/DoubleDragon''

* Thief's Ninja Lawyers in ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater''.

* In ''NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation'', Clark's boss is introduced with a team of yes-men marching lockstep behind him (with foley marching sound effects).
* In JohnGrisham's ''TheRainmaker'', NaiveNewcomer attorney Rudy Baylor has an OhCrap moment when he meets the [[DavidVersusGoliath opposing legal team]].

* Both the plaintiff and the big tobacco company have one of these in JohnGrisham's ''The Runaway Jury''.

* One episode of ''The Defenders'' (the 2010 series with lawyers, not [[ComicBook/TheDefenders that comic book series]]) has one episode's bad guys use their ArmyOfLawyers as a blatant show of force. There are so many of them that when they sit down at their ridiculously long table they need two row of chairs.

* The military actually has an "army of lawyers," in the form of Judge Advocate General Corps, which is literally the army of army (or, navy or air force) lawyers.

* Creator/{{IBM}}'s lawyers [[http://www.boiledbeans.net/2008/03/27/yet-another-bluish-question/ have been compared]] to the ''Nazgûl'' (of [[Literature/LordOfTheRings LoTR]] fame).

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* The law firm of Wolfram & Hart from ''Series/{{Angel}}''. On a few occasions, Angel couldn't finger someone for murder because, as a vampire with no surname or social security card, he couldn't testify to it in a court of law.

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* Creator/{{IBM}}'s lawyers [[http://www.boiledbeans.net/2008/03/27/yet-another-bluish-question/ have been compared]] to the ''Nazgûl'' (of [[Literature/LordOfTheRings LoTR]] fame).

* Humorous example: A famous entry in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doo_Dah_Parade Doo Dah parade]] in Pasadena, California was the Synchronized Briefcase Drill Team, with 16 men & women in three-piece suits performing precision marching routines with attaché cases. (See page photo.)

* [[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/12/prince_pirates/ "Prince sends ArmyOfLawyers to take on Pirate Bay"]]
* [[http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/06/bowen-army-of-l.html "Bowen: ArmyOfLawyers at the ready if Prop 14 passes"]]

* TruthInTelevision for civil litigation. If the defendant is the one with money, they ''will'' amass a small army for depositions for the purpose of scaring the defendant and over-burdening the plaintiff's counsel. Discrimination cases are especially contentious, as the institution will want to settle without admitting fault and the plaintiff wants recognition of harm, so sending "ten guys in black suits" to the first deposition is a ''great'' way to coerce a settlement. [[SarcasmMode Hypothetically, anyway.]]

* Parodied in one FarSide comic, where an explorer at the edge of an island jungle is confronted with a group of men in suits with briefcases.

* ''RedAlert3Paradox'': Employed by the [[CyberPunk Cyberpunkish]] [[TheMafia Mediterranean]] [[TheSyndicate Syndicate]], and equipped with suitcases that let them telekinetically hold you in place.

* One of the more common responses of Scientology to any media/public criticisms of them, as evidenced by the existence of the ChurchOfHappyology trope.

** The episode "The Joy of Sect" had the [[ChurchOfHappyology Movementarians]] call out their lawyers (in the style of some firemen) when they've realised that Marge managed to break her family out.

* One of the more common responses of Scientology to criticism of them, as evidenced by the ChurchOfHappyology trope.

* Humorous example: A famous entry in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doo_Dah_Parade Doo Dah parade]] in Pasadena, California was the Synchronized Briefcase Drill Team, with 16 men & women in three-piece suits performing precision marching routines with attaché cases.