Harnessing the drudgery of life at the bottom of the legal food chain to launch an alternative career
From Lock Stock to Snatch, Legal Cheek has always felt that there is something missing from gritty British gangster flicks: paralegals.
Legal Practice Course (LPC) grad-turned-film producer Omar Ismail has used his time at the legal coalface working as a paralegal as inspiration for his film entitled ‘A Reasonably Good Bloke’. It sees gun-wielding paralegals come face-to-face with gangsters …
The film tells the story of a struggling paralegal named Jackie, who is played by relatively unknown actor Miles Le Versha. Jackie is dismissed from his job for gross misconduct and hatches a plan to secure his own client base by associating with various criminals.
The film’s trailer — which was released earlier this week — shows Jackie and a colleague getting dragged into the murky underworld of criminal activity. Set in South London and shot in black and white, the dark comedy thriller gives a subtle nod to the struggles faced by those currently working in criminal law.
Now managing director of Crixton Films, Ismail — who did his undergraduate degree in mathematics at UCL — quit the legal scene last year to pursue his dream career in film production. Having originally studied for his Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) at BPP in 2007 he then embarked on the LPC at the then College of Law in 2009, gaining a distinction.
Yesterday Legal Cheek caught up with him. He told us:
“My inspiration perhaps comes from the fact that I used to work in a law firm as a paralegal myself. I have therefore experienced some of the growing difficulties experienced by some very hardworking paralegals who are trying to obtain training contracts, and who have to possibly do long stints of unpaid work before being employed.”
Critics might argue that Ismali has opted for one of the few careers out there even more difficult to succeed in than criminal law. But judging by the impressive ‘A Reasonably Good Bloke’ trailer, he is at least in with a shot.
The former paralegal plans to enter his production into various film festivals over the coming week before releasing it to the general public later this year.
Watch the trailer in full below:
A Reasonably Good Bloke: Official Trailer from Crixton Films Ltd. on Vimeo.