As speculation grew over the weekend that the Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer will finally allow cameras into UK courts, if only to a limited degree, Americans have shown once again that they are obsessed by courtroom dramas.

A recent trip undertaken by Obiter to New York found that some six of the 30 channels available on the hotel television one afternoon had 'People's Court'-type programmes.


Last week meanwhile saw the debut on NBC of 'The Law Firm', a reality show produced by David E Kelley of 'Ally McBeal' and 'LA Law' fame.


The programme features 12 lawyers competing to win the $250,000 (£141,000) first prize by trying actual cases involving real plaintiffs and defendants in front of judges and juries. The 12 associates are overseen by the firm's managing partner, Roy Black, who decides at the end of each episode which unlucky entrant will be told: 'The verdict is in, and you're out.'


Happily, it would appear that the contestants are conforming to type. A review by the Hollywood Reporter suggests that the lawyers are 'for those who find aspiring entrepreneurs [in 'The Apprentice'] too likeable', adding that the 'dozen well-scrubbed, avaricious competitors play their roles as wilful, cutthroat barristers just fine.'


According to the Boston Globe, there is all the arguing you would expect in a reality TV show and then some. 'It all has the tabloid air of "Judge Judy" about it, with the added feature of having the lawyers bicker with one another, and the judges bicker with the lawyers, and Black bicker with the lawyers about the judges,' the paper wrote. 'And the bickering isn't namby-pamby when you've got 12 lawyers in the house. These guys don't give up easily.'


So will this format follow 'The Apprentice' and make it across the Atlantic?