Power of Attorney

Aug. 31, 2000 -- Can the same attorney who helped Dr. Jack Kevorkian so many times also help you recover lost sums of money from an ex-spouse or estranged lover?

Thanks to the new FOX syndicated TV show, Power of Attorney, that can happen. Now attorneys such as Kevorkian’s longtime counsel, Geoffrey Fieger, O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden and famed defense lawyer F. Lee Baily can take on small claims issues on national TV.

The cases involve small-claims court sums of money, which amounts to $10,000 or less. Participants on the show sign a contract that names him as an unappealable arbitrator, meaning that if a plaintiff loses, he waives the right to a trial. But if the plaintiff wins, the pay-out is issued by FOX.

Taking a nod from the latest in reality TV, producers will show real attorneys arguing real cases before a real judge. Not even the peering cameras of Court TV allow viewers to witness arguments in the judge’s chambers.

“Finally, I can really be myself,” Fieger said in a recent telephone interview. “Most that can happen is that they can put me in a cardboard jail [for contempt.]”

An Opportunity to Teach?

“I wanted an opportunity to teach the American people about the least understood part of American government, the Judiciary,” said Andrew P. Napolitano, the judge on Power of Attorney, and a former Bergen County Superior Court Judge. Aside from his gig on the show, he’s an attorney with the firm Sills, Cummis, Tishman, Epstein, and Gross, in Newark, N.J., where he focuses on commercial litigation issues.

“This is absolutely the most realistic courtroom show on TV,” he said. “It’s the only one with lawyers. No judge could get away with what Judge Judy does, and how she treats [people involved with the case.]”

Needless to say, Napolitano uses his position not only as a mediator, but also as a person who can moralize, even just a little. He recalls one case where a 12 year old boy was suing his father after not receiving a promised $20 per “A” on his report card.

”It was so obvious that the mother was putting the kid up to it,” he said. “The parents were divorced, and I reamed the mother for it? I gave a lecture to the mother on the psychological dangers of using a child as a pawn to strike out against her divorced spouse.”

Big Egos — And Fairness

For one thing, Napolitano understands how to deal with all of the attorneys, their litigation styles, and their big egos all at once.

“You deal with the big egos with fairness,” said Napolitano.

Fieger, an acclaimed litigator, decided to offer his representation of the show for two reasons: The show’s producers were able to work around his schedule, and that the show offered him a chance to really cut loose. Plus, he feels that the show offers him a chance for him to showcase what he considers his signature style, allowing him, with very little preparation, and a compact period of time on the show, try to think quickly, and make quips, he says.

Most of all, he believes that all of the attorneys take the job very seriously, making the show much more interesting.

“Most courts aren’t as nice [as the set],” he said. “There’s judge’s chambers, a lobby, a court reporter, a deputy? there’s everything.”

There’s even Chamber Cam, which Fieger says is done “totally straight,” where attorneys can go in and discuss the cases at hand outside of the courtroom, where viewers have a shot to see what goes on “behind the scenes.”

Of course, in real life, the chances of getting someone like F. Lee Baily or Geoffrey Fieger are pretty slim. But with his typical courtroom bravado, Fieger says his clients on the show should take advantage of the opportunity

“They should be damn happy,” Fieger said. “There’s only one of me around.”