CCE Goes Hollywood With Spotlight And The Jinx

Many have watched Spotlight—the Oscar winner for Best Movie—or HBO series The Jinx, about accused murderer Robert Durst, son of real estate mogul Seymour Durst. The Council for Court Excellence, as part of its Bench Bar Media Dialogue, brought a panel to the beautiful Motion Picture Association of America DC office to talk about the behind-the-scenes legal aspects of these popular productions.

Inside the MPAA office's movie theater, we snapped CCE Board Director Laura Handman of Davis Wright moderating a panel with:

• US District Court for the District of Columbia Senior Judge Gladys Kessler
• WaPo executive editor Marty Baron, whose previous role as the Boston Globe editor who helped uncover the Catholic Archdiocese child molestation scandal and coverup was portrayed in Spotlight by Liev Schreiber
• Davis Wright partner Victor Kovner, who was legal adviser to The Jinx filmmakers
• Lawyer and film industry vet Sig Libowitz, who wrote and produced The Response, a courtroom drama based on actual transcripts of the Guantanamo Bay Combatant Status Review Tribunals.

"There are stories we have to pursue," Marty said, and the more powerful the organization, the greater the obligation. Court records were critical in bringing the scandal to light. Without these documents, they would simply have had allegations. "Reading these documents, it was absolutely appalling, the behavior of the Church."

Before the panel, we photographed Victor with Laura, who co-chairs the firm's appellate practice, and Davis Wright associate Lisa Zycherman. Victor and Laura have known each other since they worked on a political campaign together as teens and have been partners at Davis Wright for nearly 30 years.

Victor's known for his work repping broadcast and print media clients on communication law; he vetted The Jinx and has repped filmmakers and producers on numerous projects, including Oscar-winning documentary Citizen Four.

Why did Robert Durst want to participate in The Jinx, which ended up leading to his arrest? (Durst is awaiting trial for the alleged murder of his friend Susan Berman in California. The Jinx filmmaker Andrew Jarecki will be a witness in the trial.) Durst had admired Jarecki's previous docudrama (on which Victor had also advised) All Good Things, inspired by the story of Durst's wife's disappearance, and felt that Jarecki could tell his story in a sympathetic manner, says Victor.

Against Durst's lawyers' wishes, Durst spent more than 20 hours speaking with Jarecki over three interviews in 2010, and another in 2012. After the last interview, he forgot to remove a hot mic while in the bathroom and seemingly confessed to the murders, saying, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course." (Durst was arrested the day before the finale aired.) Victor pointed out that in a previous interview, Durst had forgotten to remove his mic, but his lawyer noticed and pulled it off; at the final interview, his lawyer wasn't present.

Though the bathroom confession was taped in April 2012, it wasn't discovered until two years later. The filmmakers decided to turn the inculpatory evidence over to law enforcement.

From clips of The Jinx played during the panel, Judge Kessler said that she didn't think the defense would have much to argue with—as Durst was there willingly, under no pressure, and despite his lawyers' warning him against it.

Kessler has presided over high-profile cases including US v. Philip Morris USA, the notorious DC Madame case (in which she released the Madame's phone records), and Abu Wa'EL (Jihad) Dhiab v. Barack H. Obama.

After Sig Libowitz talked about his inspiration for a drama based on Guantanamo Bay Combatant Status Review Tribunals transcripts (which he eventually screened at the Pentagon for 250 officers and generals), Kessler discussed the Guantanamo cases that came before the US District Court.

It was a very difficult time for all Federal judges, she said; they were doing their best to create brand-new procedures for dealing with the motions that came before them. Judges don't usually build law, she told the packed theater, so it was a very difficult time. They talked to each other a lot. One judge prepared a set of proposed procedures and that was a very useful document to direct their thinking, Kessler said.

American lawyers "did themselves proud during this time," said Kessler, as small and large firms signed up to represent Guantanamo Bay detainees pro bono. Though the judges attempted to try cases as soon as possible because there were hundreds of people still in Guantanamo, "Many of us still have live Guantanamo Bay cases. I certainly do."

Here is MPAA CEO and former US Sen. Chris Dodd with special assistant to the chairman Casey Becker. In his introductory remarks, the Dodd-Frank author said that he became MPAA chairman exactly five years ago to the day. (The first thing he did, he joked, was overturn longtime MPAA president Jack Valenti's ban on popcorn in the office's theater.)

Sen. Dodd added that the panel demonstrates that film and TV aren't just entertainment: they also provide education and uncover issues.