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Keepin' It Real: Reality TV Star Lawyers (Part Two)

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published July 16, 2007

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With the instant success of reality TV, producers have aimed to cast the most eclectic and dynamic combinations of people in order to maximize the odds of drama erupting. Feeding into the stereotypical intellectual and cold persona that the media has created for lawyers, reality TV shows usually cast at least one attorney or legal professional, hoping that the unique individual will bring a new perspective to the mix of TV-worthy characters.

But who are these lawyers? Are they really the brainy, bitchy, and fearless people reality TV has made them out to be?


Despite the preconceived notions that casting and the public may have about lawyers, these up-and-coming professionals have their own motives for participating on such shows—motives that range from raising awareness about controversial issues and promoting organizations they support to living out their fantasies to just enjoying the thrill of the game and 15-minute fame.

When the professional-friendly NBC reality show The Apprentice aired in 2004, America's top corporate hopefuls flocked to the $250,000 chance to run one of Donald Trump's companies. "The ultimate job interview" drew not only a considerable number of sales and businesspeople but also quite a few attorneys.

Bren Olswanger, a former real estate closing attorney with a strong background in real estate sales and current prosecutor for the Hewgley Law Firm in Memphis, was sold on auditioning for the show after hearing a radio commercial for it. He knew that his smarts and background in real estate just might win him the position of "The Apprentice." The following Saturday, Olswanger auditioned; he was later cast for the third season of the show, which aired in early 2005.

Although he is no stranger to the spotlight, having participated in plays and musicals throughout his life, Olswanger had second thoughts about the show soon after he landed it. He found out that he was not going to be able to take a leave of absence from his position as assistant attorney general in Memphis and wondered if it was safe to leave his job for the show. After a serious conversation with his father about it, who said, "Are you crazy?! You're a lawyer; you can do anything," he quit and packed his bags for New York.

When the Southern-born Olswanger arrived in the Big Apple, he was in awe.

"I'd never been back East. I remember when I caught my first glimpse of the skyscrapers when we flew in. New York was a total culture shock for me," he said. "I remember thinking, 'Wow, this is not like Memphis.'"

For a competitor who had neither financial nor entrepreneurial experience, Olswanger did well on the show, sticking it out for 13 of the 16 episodes before being fired by Trump.

"I had good interpersonal skills, and I'm a hard worker, but I'm not a risk taker. It's an issue that I've always had to deal with," he said. "It was a positive experience, but I'll never do it again."

"Eighteen people, type-A personalities, no sleep, free booze, stress—that's good TV," he added.

Olswanger is not planning to go back to reality TV, but he has used his appearance to his advantage in his career. He ran for the office of judge in his county shortly after the show aired. Even though Olswanger did not win the race, he brought in 25,000 votes as the third-place candidate. The opportunity also ignited many new business relationships.

Marisa Demato, a securities attorney from Lerach, Coughlin, Stoia, Geller, Rudman & Robbins, wanted to appear on The Apprentice to get exposure and create a recognizable name for herself; she planned to develop a reputation that would enable her to pursue a political career.

As an undergraduate and while in law school, Demato was always interested in the political side of law. When The Apprentice first came out, Demato was most impressed with how the show compared to other contemporary reality shows.

"When I would watch the show, I would always have really good, creative ideas," she said.

One night, after watching an episode of the show, Demato saw a commercial for the show's casting call and jumped at the opportunity.

"I thought that it would give me a national platform and bring some attention to the issues and things that are important to me. Knowing that I want to run for political office sometime in the future, I thought, 'I've got law, I understand politics,' but I wasn't a business major," she said. "If you can diversify your own resume and make yourself more aware of other issues, it can only help you."

After getting cast for the show's sixth season, Demato, aware that only one person would ultimately be chosen, prepared and researched so that she could do her best—not necessarily "claw" her way to the top. However, her law degree and background were of no use to her on the show.

"Whatever education or professional background you come onto the show with you can pretty much throw out the door unless you have some business and marketing background," she said.

Demato was fired on the fourth episode of the show, but she did not walk away with any harsh feelings.

"I'm still really close with many of the people from the show," she said. "But the drama you see on the show is real. The drama that unfolds is a product of the environment. You've got 18 bright, articulate, competitive type-A individuals."

Since appearing on the show, Demato has made an effort to utilize her voice in the spotlight.

"I have a strong desire to get involved with charitable organizations and help raise awareness on healthcare issues. If my participation on the show can raise money for cancer research, children's hospitals, or diabetes, I am happy with doing that in addition to practicing law," she said.

In the next two years, Demato plans to help campaign for the Democratic Party for the 2008 election, and then she hopes to run for a local government position. Ultimately, she hopes to get to the House of Representatives someday.

Probably one of the most notorious and hyped reality TV shows thus far has been Survivor. As mental and physical strength and endurance play key roles in the contestants' successes, many lawyers have been trying their luck on this show for years.

Yul Kwon, the show's first Asian-American Sole Survivor, as well as the show's first lawyer Sole Survivor, took home the winning title and the prize of $1 million on the 13th season of the show: Survivor: Cook Islands. He and his fellow Asian-American-lawyer teammate and now-friend Becky Lee went on the show to represent their ethnicity positively in the media and raise concern for the social and welfare issues they support.

After his college roommate, Evan Chen, died from leukemia when he was a sophomore in college, Kwon, a computer science major at Stanford University, experienced a jolting reality check.

"I decided that I wanted to do something with a direct impact. I wanted to be engaged in the real world, something concerning law and order," he said.

Kwon, who went on to graduate from Yale Law School in 2000, was recommended to Survivor casting by one of his friends. The reserved attorney from Northern California was contacted by the show and after auditioning landed a spot on the 13th season, which was well known for being the first season to divide players into teams by race.

"My life is a compilation of different stories. It seemed like it would be an interesting life experience," he said.

Kwon was also sold on doing the show because of the lack of representation Asian-Americans have had on television in the past.

"There are not a lot of people on TV who look like me. There's an absence of minorities, especially Asian-Americans, in the mainstream media. When the show landed in my lap, I saw it as a great chance to change the stereotypes," Kwon said.

With no food, methods of cleaning himself, or comforts of home, Kwon was still able to beat all the odds on the show. Looking back on the experience, which depended on human dynamics and social strategy, he realized that the whole experience was parallel to the corporate world.

"It was really a good fit for all of my experiences," he said. "As a lawyer, you have to be persuasive with rational arguments; a lawyer's closing argument is just like the final comment that each player says at the tribal council on the show. All of my strands came together when it came to building coalitions, working toward a common goal, and strategizing."

Very early on in the show, Kwon met Lee, who coincidently was also a Korean lawyer with a similar background, and quickly formed an alliance and friendship with her.

"We thought, 'Why can't we help each other?'" Lee said. "A lot of communities break apart because of individualism. We wanted to show that you can work together, so we stuck together."

Even before she graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Lee was immersed in giving back to her community, specifically helping abused and sheltered women. She was heavily involved in working with women who were on death row for killing their abusers, assisting mail-order brides from Asian countries where women know no English, and training and educating judges and lawyers on domestic violence matters.

When casting for Survivor located Lee on MySpace, she decided that the show might be a good place for her to speak out on the issue of domestic violence and her passion for women's rights.

"I wanted to try to use the show as a springboard," she said.

Outside of the grueling, high-intensity game, Kwon, Lee, and their fellow players were able to share some fun times together and even grow closer—well, maybe a little too close sometimes.

"A lot of people talk about hooking up on Survivor. I should have hooked up. I would be so freezing that I couldn't stop shaking," Kwon said.

One exceptionally cold night, one of Kwon's larger teammates, Jonathan Penner, took some pity on him.

"Jonathan said, 'If you're cold, you can put your hands in my armpits,'" Kwon said. And he wasted no time taking Penner up on his offer, since the armpits and the groin area are the warmest places on humans, and he was definitely not going for the latter option.

"It was a little slice of heaven," Kwon said.

As what she calls a "high-maintenance" person, Lee admits that not seeing her face for 39 days has made her a more grounded person.

"Before we would shoot, we would look at each other's faces and say, 'Do I have a booger?'" she said. "It was the first time in my life where I was able to be vulnerable. I had to just let it all go. That was huge for me."

Reality TV, like many have said, is a double-edged sword, according to Kwon.

"I was cast as the overachieving Asian, but even if you are typecast on reality TV, you don't have to conform to those stereotypes," he said.

Lee also felt like she was stereotyped in the show's portrayal of her.

"I hated my edits. They wanted to show me as the quiet girl—they never showed me talking," she said. "On the show, when I fought with Cao Boi (a fellow player), they would show him asking me a question and then cut to me staring at a tree with the birds chirping, even though I really had answered him."

Since the show, Kwon has been bombarded by media attention, and he has been able to use his fame for a good cause.

"Now I have the megaphone to use my 15 minutes of fame to get people to listen to me. I'm trying to transfer the exposure to something positive," said Kwon.

Since he won Survivor, Kwon has done various interviews and has spoken for many charities. Never losing sight of the impact that his best friend's death from leukemia had on him, Kwon has donated $50,000 to the Asian American Bone Marrow Foundation.

Lee has also achieved her goals of speaking out against domestic abuse and for women's rights and helping the Korean community by using her $75,000 in prize money to provide scholarships and grants for Korean organizations and to start her own nonprofit organization. Each organization that wishes to compete for one of Lee's three grants must submit a summary of its proposed programs so that Lee can choose where to use the money. Her nonprofit, the Becky Lee Women's Support Fund, is finally taking shape as she "learns as she goes along."
  1. Legal Jobs
  2. Legal Articles
  3. Attorney
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  6. Keepin' It Real: Reality TV Star Lawyers (Part Two)

published July 16, 2007

( 66 votes, average: 4.2 out of 5)
What do you think about this article? Rate it using the stars above and let us know what you think in the comments below.

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