Think Nina Totenberg meets Law & Order (the 2nd half) meets Undisclosed
May 10, 2018 2:59 PM   Subscribe

I'm looking for a legal/lawyer procedural podcast, maybe not unlike Undisclosed*, but not limited to guilty-but-innocent, social justice, or otherwise sensational cases.

They can include that, but what I'm looking for is the layman's explanation of the minutia and nuance of interpretations of the law, especially around edge-cases where precedent might not apply. The more detailed the better. They can be historical or contemporary (or even speculative, e.g. space law). It could be academic lectures, but what I really am looking for are real-life examples, and best-case scenario would be to examine specific cases from start to finish. Any length is fine, and I wouldn't blink at a 40 hour long exposition of a single case, so long as the details can maintain that level of interest. I also don't want a lot of non-relevant or playful chitchat, but some is ok. Does this exist?

*I actually forgot about this podcast until now, and I only listened to the first season, so obviously I'll try out season 2 and after.
posted by Pig Tail Orchestra to Law & Government (8 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Have you listened to Opening Arguments? There is a degree of chatting, and they are generally focused on law that is relevant to current events (so right now, it's often dictated by the vagaries of the Trump administration), but they have great in depth discussions of contemporary cases and things like precedent. They also have a deep archive.
posted by ChuraChura at 3:58 PM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]


Best answer: "What Trump can Teach Us About Constitutional Law," aka "Trump Con Law" is a podcast from Radiotopia in which Roman Mars (host of "99 Percent Invisible,") and his neighbor, Con Law Professor Elizabeth Joh (UC Davis), use Trump's tweets and such as a jumping-off point for informative, usually historical, explanations of Constitutional Law, in particular the history of relevant SCOTUS cases and such.

Along the same lines is the WNYC's Radiolab spinoff "More Perfect," which is explicitly a podcast about the Supreme Court, it's greatest cases and the consequences they have today. It often includes a lot of SCOTUS audio recordings, interviews with participants in the case, and such.

I haven't heard "Undisclosed," so I can't tell you how similar or different it is, but it sounds like all 3 of these may be barking up the same tree.
posted by Sunburnt at 4:29 PM on May 10, 2018


Response by poster: To clarify, I'm looking for analysis of trail cases with any disposition, not really one off analyses of say, how some action by the Trump administration is not constitutional, though relevant SCOTUS cases would fit, if they covered them from start to finish. Thanks.
posted by Pig Tail Orchestra at 5:01 PM on May 10, 2018


Best answer: “We the People” podcast from the National Constitution Center has hour long discussion of issues generally framed around upcoming court cases. Episodes are usually an hour so far from exhaustive but informative and civil exchange of views

The other good one is “oyez”. The actual recordings of Supreme Court oral arguments. No explanation on the podcast but with a little googling it is pretty clear
posted by limagringo at 6:21 PM on May 10, 2018


Based on your followup comment, "More Perfect" I mentioned previously is the better fit. It follows a particular Supreme Court case, one which has had broad consequences. "Trump Con Law" ranges outside of the Judicial Branch and probably isn't as good a fit, at least not consistently.

Oyez, mentioned above, is the source of the recordings used by "More Perfect," and their site is terrific; along with audio recordings, there's a transcript (which advances with the recording). I didn't know they had a podcast.
posted by Sunburnt at 10:48 AM on May 11, 2018


Best answer: Given the scant replies, I'll toss in these suggestions, even though neither totally fits the bill you've described:

Getting Off is hosted by two criminal defense attorneys, and does some interesting, detailed analysis of various criminal case strategies and outcomes. They also have "policy" episodes where they talk about aspects of law not related to a particular case. They do spend good chunks of time on "chitchat", but it's usually on their impressions of evidence in cases or particular points of law.

Ken White's Make No Law covers the "background of important First Amendment cases". Single host, definitely not chitchat, and episodes are somewhat brief (30-40 minutes) given the subject matter, but well produced and interesting.
posted by Tentacle of Trust at 11:01 AM on May 11, 2018


Response by poster: I listened to the first episode of More Perfect, and I really enjoyed it. Thanks for all the great suggestions, I'll give each one of them a trial (HA!) listen. Thanks all!
posted by Pig Tail Orchestra at 8:01 AM on May 12, 2018


Breakdown by Bill Rankin, legal affairs writer for The Atlanta Journal Constitution, covers one case per season and definitely has the layman-explores-legal-nuances angle. It usually follows a trial in Georgia from start to finish (though I remember one season doing a deeper dive into a perpetrator's history beyond the most recent case) and contains interviews with lawyers, jury members, witnesses/victims, and other people involved.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:45 PM on May 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


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