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Please Don't Go to Law School Because You Liked Gabriel Macht in 'Suits'

By Dustin Rowles | News | January 30, 2025 |

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Header Image Source: USA Network

I read in PEOPLE this morning—in what must have been the umpteenth excuse to promote his new alcohol brand—that Gabriel Macht has been apologizing to Suits fans who went to law school because of the show.

“There are so many kids that have gone to law school because of the show—because they think it’s fast-moving, there’s family, there’s loyalties, it’s cool, it’s slick. People are witty. There’s a lot of drama, all this kind of stuff,” he told PEOPLE. “When people come up to me and they’re like, ‘I went to law school because of you,’ I always apologize profusely.”

First of all, I barely believe this. Suits is the least believable legal show ever—except for How To Get Away with Murder, which seemed to have done zero research into what being a first-year law student is actually like. There’s way too much studying to have time to solve murders! Also, first-year students don’t know shit about the law. But at least that show had the excuse of being set in law school. Suits, on the other hand, was written by Aaron Korsh, a former business student and Wall Street guy. They don’t even practice law in that show! They just make vague threats based on information we never see contained within manila folders.

That said, I was personally inspired to go to law school because of The Practice. But real law school was nothing like that either. Criminal law is mostly about mens rea and actus reus, and the only two classes that remotely resemble legal dramas are criminal procedure and evidence—second and third-year courses that are treated as afterthoughts. Also, no one in law school actually wants to be a public defender. They all want $150,000 starting salaries at big law firms, where — honestly, I still don’t know what they do beyond billing hours. All my friends ended up at big firms, and all they ever talked about was how many hours they billed, never what they actually did, although if I asked who their clients were, it was usually, like, Phillip Morris and Wal-Mart. Maybe they actually do just pass manila folders back and forth and bill their time in 15-minute increments.

The lofty ideals of justice you see in John Grisham books and on Law & Order barely exist. Choosing to be a public defender or even a prosecutor is basically like taking out $100,000 in loans to become a high school teacher. There are some independently wealthy folks who end up in those positions, and aspiring politicians, but a large percentage of government lawyers are people who can’t afford a nice suit and end up with 47 clients a week and earn what comes out to something like $8 an hour, and they spend half their day on the subway. They’re basically blue-collar workers, and they are the best. Remember Jimmy from The Practice? That guy was believable.

The point is: Don’t go to law school because of a TV show. But if you are thinking about going, do read Scott Turow’s One L. And also his legal thrillers, because they’re the best if you’re into courtroom dramas. They spend most of their time in a courtroom, and even though it’s mostly evidence law, they’re surprisingly compelling. (I just finished Presumed Guilt, the third in the Presumed Innocent series, and it’s terrific.)

Anyway, just watch The Pitt and go to medical school instead. Noah Wyle was on Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast this morning, talking about how a lot of people went into medicine or nursing because of E.R.—only for many of them to leave the field during COVID. Apparently, a show like The Pitt is needed to inspire people to go back.