So the pilot who can't even afford her own lawyer hired Bull to win her case? Or did the airline pay for Bull even though they would rather settle and had hired a lawyer especially for that purpose?
Hiring Bull and his team would probably start at 1 million dollars, a service for the ultra-rich only, wich made sense in E01. But a broke airline pilot?
This aspect of the show, that, for me, defies the usual "suspension of belief" has been discussed. Several viewers have made suggestions for alternate funding that make sense and would make the entire show more palatable. But we have been called "haters" and any rational point we make in any discussion, whether pro or con, has been dismissed. So, you are now on the "hater" hit list for just notincing and attempting to discuss this.
So in the background there's obviously other people who work there. In my mind, there are multiple clients and we're just seeing one in detail. I would then assume that those people are working on the cases for clients that are paying for the services. See, I think there's multiple equivalents to the team we see every week and Dr. Bull (off screen of course) works with them also, and THEY pay the bills.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. LOL
As for the hater comments, even BEFORE the show started the board had quite a few haters on it. That's tiresome. I don't think a thread like this should bring out hater accusations in it. I haven't seen anything disrespectful and it's been a good discussion.
It's the "this show sucks and I hate MW and I hate Dr. Phil" type of posts that get old for me. I think...good for you, now go away but of course they have the right to say what they want. I don't have to particularly like it and I should be able to call someone a hater if someone is incessantly negative and is looking for attention. So it goes both ways, IMO.
Let's face it, some people are haters and they do post to get a reaction. Then they cry about it when people call them out. If I dislike a show, I don't post on the show's boards to let the world know. Fans of a show don't care about that, and I have better things to do. But that's life on the internet, I guess. You sometimes have to wade through the crapola to get to get to the good stuff.
They can work pro bono. Lots of firms can do that while probably over-charging very wealthy clients.
shareWho, with the exception of that one aged rocker, we haven't seen.
And yet they hold gangbuster parties after each and every case that they win? Wouldn't they have a stable of clients that they working on, with no real time for a continual flow of fully catered parties with an open bar?
Two, the show's first client was also clearly very well off to the point that they could afford a former USAG as defense. So right there, they've had two paying clients to balance two pro bonos. The show will probably continue to mix in both types of clients throughout the season.
shareAlso, do you know how television shows work? Like in real life, doctors have many more than 1-2 patients a day and cops work dozens of cases at a time, but tv shows try to keep the storylines streamlined and interesting.
shareYes, I know how television works, and thanks for proving my point that there are many clients and dozens of cases at one time in a "stable" for lack of a better word. My exact point. They wouldn't be having a party after every case.
Just have the team shake hands with the client and be on their way to the next case, not have fully catered affairs where they can just hang around chit chatting and playing guitar.
Ugh, the parties might not be for every case...just the big ones that demand the most time, dedication and resources of the team. Or, the parties could be a regularly scheduled event that happens to coincide with case schedules. It doesn't matter, because the event is just a minimally consequential tool for the writers to create closure and represent a warm work environment.
shareLOL
shareI don't know lots of firms that work pro bono, but law offices take pro bono cases because they are good publicity and a huge tax write off. High level law offices have clients paying six figure amounts annually to keep the firm on retainer so a lawyer will be available immediately when or if the client needs one. So, while not charging the pro bono client for billable hours, the law firm still has an alternate source of income.
This is the problem that needs to be addressed. Bull has no obvious alternate source of income, yet the firm expends multiple man hours and resources on cases with no financial return. Running a business that way is fiscally irresponsible, and yet we are supposed to believe this is a very successful firm.
I know people want to like this show and I don't mean to make people feel defensive for enjoying it. But I'm beginning to wonder if it's actually possible that people don't understand the simple bottom line of a spread sheet: the income *has* to equal the output. Some people may run their lives on credit card debt and fumes, but a successful business can NOT. Bull's company really must have an alternat source of income, and I wish they would address that, but I suspect they never will. Pity. It means the difference between a pretty good show and an unwatchable show.
I am beginning to wonder if it is actually possible that people don't realize how much money goes into a high dollar criminal defense or civil trial and how much money legal teams make from them. For example patent suits among tech firms often include requests for damages that run into the hundreds of millions to a billion. Look up Apple vs. Samsung for reference. Or AMD versus Intel where Intel spent over $110M in legal fees. That is a huge chunk of change that surely went to pay for more than one law firms and jury consultants bottom line.
Given that it is more than probable that those of us who like the show understand the concept of a bottom line just fine but we also understand just how much money is thrown around in these high dollar trials. Money that Bull gets some piece of given the show taken great pains to not only tell us but show us that TAC is among the best in the business and in high demand because of that (see the phones blowing up shortly after the crash in episode 2).
Because of all of that we also understand that Bull's core business is providing him with the income he needs to pay the rent, pay salaries, do pro bono work, etc i.e. no alternate source of income needed.
Or to put it into your terms. Bottom line of a balance (not spread) sheet: income from high value clients/trials - (salaries + operating expenses + capital expenses + pro bono work + etc).
I don't know why this is an issue. We've seen all of 3 episodes of the show. You can't know everything right away. I don't really care about the accounting or finances of the company. I suppose you could Google Dr Phil's company to get some insight into how a real consultant firm works but I'm not sure why it matters particularly.
share