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Author: crazysamaritan

Jun 2nd 2013 at 3:29:53 PM

Two possible tropes.  One laconic, starting description, and example for each.  Note that the two examples do not belong under the same trope, because one isn't a joke, and the other isn't a law firm.

* "Law firms in fiction have at least two names" - In RealLife, law firms are named after some of the senior members of the firm.  Because of that, fictional versions make the audience assume that the firm has at least as many characters as names.  In {{Fiction}}, this can either be taken seriously, or PlayedForLaughs as the creator makes jokes out of each name, or all the names put together.  The name always appears in list form, never as "The law offices of Southern San Diego".
** In Series/{{Suits}}, the main character goes to work for a firm named Pearson Hardman, lawyers so famous, they don't even need to state their business is a law firm.
* "Business with a PunnyName" - PunnyNames aren't limited to just characters, especially when you can string several names together to create both a business name ''and'' a joke.  The TropeCodifier is "Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe".  Which can be read several ways ("Do we cheat them?  And how!" or "How do we cheat them?").  You'll find this is often used with law offices, because of the tendency to name the firm after people in the office.
** Webcomic/GeneralProtectionFault - The main characters are employed by [[StraightMan Dwayne Duncan]] as a computer company named GPF Software.  The joke is that a General Protection Fault was [[http://www.gpf-comics.com/archive/1998/11/04 "the most dreaded of Microsoft Windows' error messages, from which you can only recover by a complete system shutdown".]]