How accurate is Legally Blonde?

By far the best known portrayal of studying Law in fiction is Legally Blonde. And today it's been given a special twenty-fifth anniversary re-release (hence why I'm doing this post rather earlier than planned.)

Based on a novel by Amanda Brown, it stars Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victor Garber and Jennifer Coolidge:

Or there's the trailer for the anniversary re-release:

Does it bear any resemblance to my study of Law? To be honest very little. Regardless of how well it represents the US law school experience (or whether the portrayal of the murder case bears any resemblance to any legal reality), it's set at an in-person full-time law school in the United States. Almost everything is different from a distance learning part-time university here and going through every difference would be tedious. But there are a few bits in it that felt familiar such as the large amount of reading. Or there's the moment where Elle struggles to get a book from the top shelf, a common experience in the library I mostly use. And a computer is essential for both our studies even if it took Elle time to realise this.

There is almost an entire subgenre of YouTube videos of US lawyers and educators assessing Legally Blonde for its accuracy so perhaps it's best to just present one of those from Learn Law Better:

But however accurate it is, Legally Blonde has become part of law student culture globally, with many a law student marking references to it that most others instantly recognise. So it's good to be familiar with it.

And what about Legally Blonde 2? Well it's set after law school so not relevant here. And frankly it's one of those sequels the world could have done without. And I haven't seen the musical or Legally Blondes (the trailer for that is... urgh) or the new prequel TV series.