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AMC's "Breaking Bad" left the television airwaves in 2013 with shockwaves that would reverberate for years to come. The series that saw Walter White turn from mild-mannered chemistry teacher to world-famous drug lord was intense, thought-provoking, and violent.
In the prequel series, "Better Call Saul," viewers learn about the incredible transformation of Jimmy McGill, the man who would turn into Saul Goodman, the persona who laundered Walter White's drug money. The series will finish with its sixth and final season in 2022. Throughout the series, everyone has been intrigued by just how realistic Jimmy's law practices are.
The cost to get a felony expunged can be arduous, but the protagonist makes it look easy in this show. We'll look at some of the most iconic moments from Jimmy's resume to determine whether he's actually a good lawyer.
Would he be effective in the real world, or is the character played by Bob Odenkirk just a slimy scam artist? The gray area where Jimmy operates from makes it a hard question to answer.
Jimmy Drops Huell's Charges to a Misdemeanor
Jimmy McGill has a bodyguard named Huell who helps him in a pinch throughout both the spin-off and original TV series. When Huell sees Jimmy talking to a police officer one time, he mistakes the officer as a threat to Jimmy.
Huell hits the officer over the head with a sandwich, garnering an assault charge. He is at risk of going to go to jail for at least four years before Jimmy gets to work with one of his signature schemes. Jimmy plays on Huell's criminal background, one of the sticking points with the judges of the courts.
Most of the time, it is impossible to get a felony expunged from your record unless you have a clean background otherwise. Jimmy starts writing fake letters and phoning in false calls from supposed acquaintances of Huell's to the courts demonstrating that Huell is a first-class citizen in his hometown in Louisiana.
After seeing the hundreds of positive remarks and supportive messages from his upbringing, the judge deems Huell a positive force in his community. This is enough to expunge the felony and mark it down to a misdemeanor.
Using False Evidence
The problem with this scenario is that Jimmy didn't do anything as an actual lawyer to clear his client of wrongdoing. In fact, he couldn't even practice law at the time of the trial. He had been on probation and waiting to apply to get his law degree back after getting in trouble with the law himself.
His girlfriend, Kim Wexler, was the attorney who argued on behalf of Huell. One could argue that she did a good job of claiming that Huell's record was clean, but that was only after using false evidence. It is a common practice for criminal attorneys to dig into their clients' good deeds to knock down a felony to a misdemeanor. Getting off on good behavior is common.
The fraud and deception used in the process by Jimmy and Kim make it hard to say they were actually good attorneys. They got the job done but committed their own crimes in the process. This is a common trend throughout the show for Jimmy McGill.
Representing Badger in 'Breaking Bad'
Badger is one of Walter White's drug dealers in the second season of the parent show. After getting caught dealing meth, the police offer Badger a deal. He will work as an informant, attempting to lead the authorities to the whereabouts of Walter White.
Jimmy McGill, working under his pseudonym Saul Goodman, uses his vast knowledge of other criminals to ask one of his former clients to step in and take the hit for Walter. The plan works, getting both Badger and Walter off free at the moment. The plotline takes a bit of liberty in depicting the intelligence of the police who are on the case.
It's hard to know whether using a stand-in is realistic, but many people have gone to prison over the years because of this exact circumstance. A wrongly identified criminal has put many innocent people in prison. Just on ethics alone, this is very wrong and even illegal.
This is obviously not a sign that Jimmy is a good lawyer. Once again, he proves his worth as an ingenious con artist who has every trick up his sleeve. Taking the informant deal was the right thing to do, so we can give Jimmy credit for that decision. Everything beyond that was purely creative scheming. The desired results came exactly as planned, though.
Jimmy and the 3 Teenage Perverts
This instance is one of the only times in either show we get to see Jimmy actually go into a courtroom and defend a client in front of the judge and jury. No schemes, no extravagant lies, just presenting the facts of the case.
He is in a tough spot as a public defender here. The three teenage boys he is defending are in trouble for sexually engaging with a severed human head. Jimmy uses some slick reasoning that argues his clients are immature and don't know any better. This doesn't work when the video evidence is shown to the jury. His clients are convicted for the crime in full.
It's hard to criticize Jimmy in this example. He tried his best to defend his clients' motivations. The concrete evidence that was presented to the jury was too much for Jimmy to overcome. He was in a losing position right from the start.
Jimmy Defends Against Tuco Salamanca
In the second episode of the spin-off series, Jimmy finds himself in the desert with his life in the hands of crazed drug dealer Tuco Salamanca. Tuco is known for rash and violent decisions, and he wants to kill Jimmy and two teenagers who tried to scheme his grandmother out of money.
Using the same logic he would in an actual courtroom, Jimmy is able to negotiate his own sentence to an acquittal. He gets his two con artist partners' punishment knocked down from execution to just a broken leg each. How did he do so? By arguing the punishment should fit the crime.
This is not an actual court of law, obviously, but it is an impressive display of argumentation from Jimmy. In fact, one could argue that no other lawyer would be savvy enough to get himself and his clients free from a psychopath on the spot. His understanding of how to manipulate his opponent until victory is near is basically unfathomable because of how unstable Tuco is.
The Verdict on Jimmy McGill
The reason why Jimmy McGill is such an interesting character is that he does things that are completely unorthodox, but almost always win in the end. He has to break the rules to get what he wants, but he knows everything there is to know about the law.
Because he is simultaneously a criminal and a lawyer, he can play both sides of the case to perfection. He can get inside the mind of his legal opponent, and he understands how his criminal clients tick.
This makes him a great legal mind, but not necessarily a great attorney. In real life, people sometimes wonder about hiring an attorney during an insurance claim, and portrayals of lawyers as untrustworthy or incompetent could affect that choice.
Jimmy is exactly what Jesse Pinkman describes him as in his first appearance in the "Breaking Bad" universe. "When the going gets tough, you don't want a criminal lawyer, you want a crim-i-nal lawyer."
Shawn Laib writes and researches for the legal advice site, FreeAdvice.com. He wants to help people understand how they can learn about the law by watching their favorite television programs.
