Interviews

We continue our interview with Bill Chais, co-creator of Franklin & Bash. So far, Bill has worked as a writer and producer on many successful shows and is finally getting a much-deserved opportunity to show viewers his vision of a law firm buddy dramedy.

Read on for what it feels like to actually sell something in the room, what sold the networks on Mark Paul Gosselar, and the secret to a successful career.

(Check out part 1 before you read on.)

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You’ve probably seen those new promos for Franklin & Bash on TNT—with Zach Morris and the guy from Clueless in a hot tub wearing suits—and wondered what those guys are doing on a TNT, the network whose slogan is “we know drama.” Well, Bill Chais succeeded in his lifelong quest to bring bromance to your television. Along with his co-creator and good buddy, Kevin Falls, Bill Chais brings us a show that was pitched as “Superbad” at a law firm. Though he actually hates the term bromance, Bill has always been fascinated by the concept, and counts Cheech and Chong, Bill and Ted, and the Apatow movies as his inspiration for being a writer.

Keep Reading ⇒

Ed. note: If you haven’t heard of the Lifetime television series Drop Dead Diva, you probably assume it’s like every epic Lifetime movie you’ve ever (accidentally) seen: Rambling, sappy and a showcase of predatory men. Until last week, we thought the same thing—then we actually watched the show’s first season.

Credited as one of 2009’s best new series, Drop Dead Diva is about “Jane,” a brilliant, plus-size and recently deceased attorney who is revived at the hospital and given a second chance at life. Only problem is that her soul was accidentally replaced with Deb’s, a shallow wannabe model who died around the same time. Forced to deal with being Deb on the inside and Jane on the outside, she tries to carry on Jane’s old life without letting anyone in on her little secret.

That might sound campy—and to an extent, that’s intentional—but in reality, it’s actually a well-written, comedic legal show. Think equal parts Ally McBeal, L.A. Law, The Practice…and Glee. Got that?

The vision behind the show is Stanford Law grad Josh Berman’s, who you wouldn’t expect to have created such a show looking at his sterling resume. In addition to his trinity of graduate degrees (by age 26, he earned a master’s in history, an MBA and a JD), Berman is an accomplished television producer best known for his work on gritty crime dramas.

Forgoing law after graduation, Berman kicked off his career as a writer on a then-unknown CBS series called CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as a story editor the show’s first season. Six years of massive popularity, two Emmy nominations and five People’s Choice Awards later, he exited the show as an Executive Producer to develop his own series for Twentieth Century Fox.

Which is how he ended up helming Drop Dead Diva at Lifetime in the first place. Originally written for Fox, the scrip was dropped during the writers strike of ’07 and later picked up by the female-centric network.

Since Drop Dead Diva premieres its second season on Sunday, June 6th at 9/8c, we interviewed Mr. Berman to find out why he ditched law, how he broke into Hollywood and what the hell is going through the mind of man who casts Paula Abdul as a trial judge.]

Thanks for taking the time, Josh. Let’s start at the beginning with where you’re from and where you went to law school.

I grew up here in Encino, California. I went to Princeton for undergrad, and after a year in Australia studying as a Fulbright scholar, I got my business and law degrees through the MBA/JD program at Stanford, graduating in ‘96.

Did you ever practice law?

I was a Summer Associate at Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Hastings in L.A.

When did you decide that you wanted to be a writer?

I didn’t know if I’d ever practice. I come from a family of “get your education first and worry about what you’re going to do later.” I found law school really fun and challenging—my mind was always in overdrive—but my briefs looked more like short stories than briefs. I realized I’m more of a storyteller. I’d sit in my law school classes, and I’d turn every case I was listening to into a story in my head. When I stated Drop Dead Diva, I already had a notebook of cases that I used as inspirations for stories.

I had no social life in grad school and was constantly writing scripts at night. At that point, I thought I wanted to be a feature writer. I’d written a bunch of scripts, and one animated project got optioned. It was great experience, though none of them ever got made.

What did you do after graduation?

One week later, I started as an executive in the creative department at NBC, and I never looked back.

So you never had that moment where you started as a lawyer only to think, “I’ve got to get the f**k out of here.”

Ironically, none of my friends from law school are still practicing law. Maybe I was just in that boat earlier than everyone else.

I think that being a lawyer—especially at Big Firm—can put you in a box. And if you’re creative, you’ll need to find another outlet. So, like with most of my friends, what you need to do is find a way to turn your hobby into a career. I always though of writing as a hobby, and I worked at it. Most of my friends who went from law school to a Big Firm eventually left and went to startups.

It’s definitely hard to make a jump when you’re on that partnership track and the money’s coming in. I’m glad I did it early.

So you said your first job out of Stanford was as an executive at NBC. How’d you land that job?

Because I was a MBA/JD, I had three summers. And one summer I split up by working the first half at Paul Hastings and the second half in the NBC research department. While I was there, I wrote a ratings project called “Hot Switches,” which analyzed how many viewers you’d lose if you went to commercials at the end of a 10:00 program before going into the 11:00 news verses going straight from a program into the news.

After I submitted it, the network president, who at the time was Warren Littlefield, wanted to meet with me to go over the project. He was impressed by how I analyzed it and asked me what I wanted to do when I finished school. So I said I wanted to be in the creative depart.

Had you worked in or with the creative department at all at that point?

No, I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew I wanted to do it. And he offered me a position in the room and reconfirmed it my final year of law school.

So what was the job exactly?

I started as a manager at NBC Studios and was in charge of Saturday-night dramas—one of which, at the time, was Profiler. I loved it, but after a while, I decided I wanted to make the leap over to writing, so I wrote parody of David E. Kelley’s Ally McBeal called Allyn McBeal. We shot it on the Profiler set for a couple thousand dollars. [Video below.] It started making the rounds in Hollywood and picked up a lot of attention. Based on that, NBC offered me a writing deal.

“Allyn McBeal” by Josh Berman. Interview continued below video.

Is that when you got a job writing on CSI?

Ironically, my first show was an NBC show called M.Y.O.B., and then I got CSI.

You were hired to write for CSI the first season before the series premiered, right? How’d you get that job?

Right. I wrote a spec script of The Practice to showcase my legal knowledge, and it happened to be structured like CSI [the pilot], which was a coincidence. The executive producers loved the script, and I was there for six years.

You started off on the show as a staff writer?

They gave me the courtesy of beginning as a Story Editor instead of Staff.

So in six years, after bypassing Staff Writer altogether, you went from Executive Story Editor of an unknown series to Executive Producer of the number-one show in America? That’s like shooting through the ranks at Skadden or Cravath to partner in no time flat. How’d that happen?

Being in the right place at the right time. The best thing for my career was that when CBS picked up the show, the network didn’t think it was going to be a hit, so there was no money budgeted for writers. I got to write six scripts the first season and had a lot of extra opportunities because they didn’t have many writers around.

Was the show a hit right out of the box, or was it a slow build of popularity?

It was an instant success that kept getting bigger and bigger. We aired on Friday nights, and they told us if we could just keep 75% of The Fugitive’s ratings [the show that originally preceded CSI] the first year we’d be set. And we beat it the first episode.

Do you ever feel you had a hand in changing the judicial process? Do you feel at all responsible for the whole “CSI Effect” where people say that because so many people watch the show, juries erroneously believe they know everything about forensic science and investigation?

I definitely think juries expect the prosecution to have more evidence now. That’s the negative. The positive is that juries understand forensics a lot better and are more open to believing it. I feel lucky and so proud of my work on CSI.

You’re currently in production on season two of Drop Dead Diva [which Berman created and writes for as an executive producer]. Where did you come up with the idea for this show? Where you trying to think of an interesting take on a legal show, or were you in love with the plus-sized/soul-swapping concept and then thought to set it in the world of law?

What came first for me was the character of “Jane” [played by Brooke Elliott], who is a skinny supermodel who died and came back to life in plus-size lawyer’s body with a great brain. My grandma was most influential in creating Jane. She was always a little bigger in size, but she always carried herself like a supermodel. Her name was Deb, which is why I named the model that in the show. I used the high-concept notion to get where I wanted with Jane.

And beauty in all shapes and sizes is something I really wanted to explore—and how better to explore it than with a legal backdrop? All of the cases at the core are some aspect of human identity and speak to who we are as people and the human condition.

Given that a lot of the shows you’ve worked on, like CSI, Killer Instinct, Bones and Vanished, were more crime-based, is it strange for you to now be doing a series about true inner beauty?

In life, we get pegged by the last job we do. I don’t consider myself to be a dark person. I don’t consider myself a dark writer, but that’s what people think [based on my credits.] When I pitched Diva, people where like, “You want to write what??” You’re only as good as your last project.

It’s worth noting, however, that the show is not on such female-centric networks as Lifetime in other countries. We actually have a pretty split fan base. We have a lot of male fans, and this show speaks to everyone, including men.

So, model Deb’s soul finds its way into attorney Jane’s body, yet Jane retains all of her old legal prowess. Meaning, you have a character with all of the emotions of a physically beautiful model combined with the brains and sensibilities of a plus-size academic. Do you think the prissy, diva-like aspects of Deb give Jane a better advantage as a lawyer than she had before?

I actually do. It dimensional-izes her. I think in law, you win if you can constantly throw your opponents off their game. Opposing counsel knows how to argue with an archetype like Jane—an overweight, overworked lawyer with no social life—but now they’re up against all the brains of Jane combined with the take-no-prisoners attitude of Deb, and it throws opposing counsel off their game.

At the very top of this Sunday’s premiere episode [which airs Sunday, June 6th at 9/8c on Lifetime], there’s a big, choreographed song-and-dance number featuring “Judge Paula Abdul” who presides over a mall food court. Where the hell did her character come from? [Paula Abdul first appeared in season one—see video below.]

We wanted something to represent Jane’s subconscious. So we thought hard about who out there is a real diva—and I mean that in the best possible way. I wanted someone who was not judgmental and had a heart of gold, and she was the perfect one. When we approached her, she watched the very first episode and said yes on the spot.

Interview continued below clip of Judge Paula Abdul from season one.

In addition to “Judge Paula Abdul,” Sunday’s first episode of the second season is sort of a love letter to law. The theme is about returning to the ideals that bring people into the profession in first place: Wanting to help, lawyers being the bearers of truth, etc… Yet you add an interesting twist with a situation in which laws actually prevent Jane from doing the right thing. On what level do you think the legal system suppresses a lawyer’s ability to do right?

I think every society needs rules, and sometimes the rules and principles don’t reach the conclusions their meant to reach in terms of fairness and justice. That’s hopefully why we have judges that will assess the laws of society with enough wiggle room to get a fair and just verdict.

Why would lawyers like watching Drop Dead Diva?

I think lawyers will enjoy how we take real stories and turn them into entertainment. There is also a fantasy element of the show. “I wish the law worked that way.” Lawyers have come up to me and said, “We haven’t enjoyed a legal show that much since Ally McBeal.” And I take that as a real compliment.

Is there any part of you that wishes you would have practiced law at some point?

I love the law. I think it’s my road not taken, but I’m probably a better storyteller than I would’ve been a lawyer. My imagination gets in the way of the rules.

Tomorrow I’m interviewing actor Josh Stamberg who plays “Parker,” the managing partner of the show’s law firm. Do you consider his character to be a Bitter Lawyer?

I don’t think Parker’s bitter because he loves his job. The law firm is his legacy. He’s the dad. He’s the man. He gets excited about cases. We dress him the most colorful of all the characters. He’s the peacock—likes to strut.

Finally, what’s your advice for lawyers who are, say, bitter and think they have what it takes to jump ship and turn their hobby into a sustainable career?

Go for it! If not now, when? If you love being a lawyer, then that’s fantastic and good for you. But if you have a passion for another career, why are you waiting? Now, if you have bills to pay, I understand your hesitation in leaving a good job, so my advice is to work on your hobby at nights, but think of it as an extension of your day job.

A preview of season 2 of Drop Dead Diva, which premieres Sunday, June 6 on Lifetime.

[Ed. Note: In our piece last week on the “Top Five Sports Agents who are Lawyers,” we mentioned Darren Heitner. Darren is the founder and managing editor of SportsAgentBlog.com, a popular, well-recognized blog. And while checking it out, we couldn't help but notice that he's a pretty busy guy.

In addition to running one the leading publications in its industry, at 25 years old, Darren is also an entrepreneur who started his own agency that represents a roster of young, up-and-coming clients. Additionally, he's also currently a 3L at the University of Florida-Gainsville. So, we wanted to find out how he juggles it all—and ask him for more insight into the intriguing world of representing athletes (and campus co-ed models).]

What’s your story? How did you get into the sports agent field?

I had an internship at a prestigious sports and talent agency in Atlanta, Georgia between my sophomore and junior year of college [at the University of Florida]. Upon completion of that internship, I decided to start what is now SportsAgentBlog.com. It was created on the last day of the calendar in 2005.

I graduated from the University of Florida with a Political Science degree, but after a few months on campus, I realized that Politics would not be in my immediate future. Still interested in learning law, I enrolled at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where I will graduate from in about a month.

I started my agency, Dynasty Athlete Representation, LLC, with one of my original contributors in April 2007, after he basically convinced me by saying something along the lines of, “Why not?”

What made you decide to start SportsAgentBlog.com? Who is your audience?

I started it because I wanted something that would keep me up-to-date on everything in the industry that I no longer was able to experience right in front of my face (no longer being an intern at the sports and talent agency in Atlanta).

I was fortunate enough to land some interviews with a few of the biggest names in the sports agent industry, and with the help of a few backlinks here and there from sites like Deadspin and ESPN, our following grew and grew. Today, if you ask a sports agent if they have ever heard of SportsAgentBlog.com and he/she says no, that person is lying to your face.

You’re in law school now—are you on law review?

While I was Valedictorian of my class in undergrad, I have nowhere close to the grades in law school that would put me onto Law Review. (I have good grades, though. I don’t want people to get the idea that I’m a slacker!) And truthfully, I would not have the time to appropriate to Law Review and do a good job at my duties in the organization. I never tried to write-on.

How is having a law degree going to change things for you?

I will be able to put Darren Heitner, Esquire on my business cards.

On a serious note, it will allow me to expand my offerings to my current clients and also explore other areas of the law that interest me. While in law school, I have had the benefit of taking some of the things I learned and applying them directly into my negotiations and contracts.

After hopefully passing the Bar, I will be able to offer legal advice while holding myself out as a lawyer, but I can also do things that I cannot do now, such as offer the service of doing my clients’ estate planning.

What’s a typical day for you?

There is nothing typical about any day, but I divulge some of the constants in each day. I am a firm believer that a big, healthy breakfast is the most important way to start every day. I will eat either a 12-eggwhite omelet or oatmeal mixed with whey protein powder. I also drink at least 80 ounces of water per day. You can call me a health freak, but in order for me to function at 100% day-in and day-out, I have to treat my body like a temple.

While eating breakfast, I will plug into my RSS feed reader and get caught up on as much sports and tech news (I am a tech nerd) as possible. I also check my Twitter lists throughout the day to see if there is any breaking news that I need to be aware of.

This semester, I only have classes Monday-Wednesday, but I take advantage of the down time in have in class to stay up to date with what’s going on in the world. I have even brokered deals for my clients while in class (don’t tell my profs!).

I make sure to get in at least an hour workout everyday, and it oftentimes lasts a full two hours. Besides working out, occasionally watching a TV show at night and going out some nights to have fun with friends, I am usually working on the business. But I really don’t consider it work. I’d probably do it for fun even if it didn’t bring in a steady income.

Be honest, how do you really balance a small company and law school plus a popular blog?

And still sleep 8 hours every night? And very rarely stress out? I tell people that my best skill is time management.

But the key part goes back to what I said earlier: I truly enjoy what I do. For me, doing work for my clients is like what playing the FIFA Soccer video game by EA Sports is for others. I can spend hours doing research, reading terms of contracts, talking to managers, etc. and not even realize time going by.

Do I read news articles while in class? Do I sometimes write a blog post while someone else is being pinned by the Socratic method? Sure. But my buddies next to me are busy starting at their Facebook News Feeds.

Why start your own shingle right away instead of picking up some experience first by working for bigger players in the game?

That’s a great question. It has absolutely nothing to do with ego. Instead, I really did not want to wait at least three years of law school before I would get my feet wet and then make close to nothing working for a big agency. I also would much rather work for myself.

Has it been a challenge? Was it extremely hard to convince my first clients to sign with me? Is it still harder for me to sign clients than an agency that represents Peyton Manning and Derek Jeter? Sure, but I love the challenge, and I welcome going head-to-head with anyone in the industry.

You’re story sort of sounds like a guy named Drew Rosenhaus. Young, tenacious, going out on his own… Is he an idol or a role model?

Drew Rosenhaus is someone that I respect, but I do not think that our stories have much similarity at all beyond the fact that we both started our businesses at a young age. Drew’s focus is football. My current focus is baseball and basketball, but truthfully, that could change at any time if a smart business opportunity comes my way.

I also would like to do something with my law degree and plan to sit for the Florida Bar. Drew never felt the need to pass a state Bar. I will say that I admire Drew’s drive and his willingness to do practically anything for his clients. There is a reason why so many football players sign with his agency. He is a very hard worker, and it has paid off according to his bank account.

What’s been your best moment so far?

We were advising Steve Bralver going into last year’s MLB Draft. He had a tremendous career at Emory University, but unfortunately was looked over by every team in each round of a 50 round draft. Bryan Swalley (Steve’s primary agent at Dynasty) and I never stopped trying to find Steve a job.

We set up tryouts for Steve all across the country, but no team would take a chance on him. Eventually, a team did sign him, and Steve led the team to the league’s Championship game. His team won the title, and Steve was named MVP in the game.

Who’s the hottest agent right now to keep an eye on? What current athlete do you think has tons of potential and is really going to be a breakout star?

Everyone knows who Scott Boras and Drew Rosenhaus are. Most people have also heard of Tom Condon and Arn Tellem. A name that a lot of people will hear in the next few months is Gary Wichard. He is representing the following players who have a good shot at being selected in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft: Jimmy Clausen, Arrelious Benn, Taylor Mays, C.J. Spiller and Everson Griffen.

I’ll plug one of my own clients who should be making headlines in Major League Baseball in the near future. Pete Parise is a relief pitcher in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Last season, he was named Relief Pitcher of the Year for the Cardinals Triple A organization and just finished a remarkable effort for Puerto Rico in the Winter Caribbean Series. As of responding to these questions, Parise is tied for the lead in saves in Major League Baseball Spring Training.

You’re a talent agent too. Right now, your client roster looks like a good number of bowlers [HERE] and handful of sexy college co-eds [HERE]. How is working in both departments possible? Ever booked a blond model on a bowling tour?

So now you see why I don’t really enjoy the title of “sports agent.” I started doing some work for a few University of Florida models as a favor to some friends. At the time, I was a lead representative in Florida for Playboy Enterprises, and I made quite a few connections to very attractive ladies at UF. It has been a joy to find the girls additional work, negotiate the terms of some of their contracts, and provide advice to them as they continue to grow as models.

Danielle Wolfe is currently in Miami taking acting classes, as she has a strong desire to become a very talented actress.

We thoroughly enjoy working with the bowlers, as well. Fortunately for us, there was little to no competition in that space, and we saw bowling as a sport that gets solid ratings on ESPN and has a lot of room to grow with better marketing tactics.

We have never booked a blond model on the PBA Tour, although maybe that’s something we should pitch to the PBA execs.

Where do you expect to be in 10 years? In 20?

Either Miami, Florida or in the White House. Perhaps in 20-years the possibility of a Jewish President will exist. Who am I kidding? I probably have too many skeletons in my closet for that.

What’s your advice for any lawyer out there who thinks they want to become a sports agent?

Never forget that you are a lawyer and are bound by the rules of professional conduct. I believe that a larger percentage of athletes will choose attorney agents as time goes on. Make sure that you do everything in your power to bring success to your clients, but never forget your ethical duties to the profession of law.

If you don’t know Corri Fetman by name, you might know her by sight. Tall, blonde, and a lot up top, she is most widely known as the lawyer who posed for Playboy in February 2008. But Fetman’s road to infamy began in May 2007, when controversy exploded over a series billboards she posted around Chicago, which advertised her family law firm with a picture of her in sexy lingerie next to the tagline, “Life’s Short. Get a Divorce.”

She was again making headlines last year. This time in a legal dustup over a regular column called “The Lawyer of Love” that she used to pen for Playboy.com following her pictorial debut. Lawsuits were filed by both parties and can be read about here and here.

More than anything, this DePaul College of Law grad (and member of Law Review) is known for bringing a little sex appeal to the legal profession. Thank God! She knows how to use provocativeness to bring in business, and her outspoken style gets lawyers in Chicago and around the Web talking about topics like infidelity and S&M—from a legal perspective, of course.

We recently caught up with Fetman to chat about her Playboy experience, her law practice, how those ads originated, her “Love Lawyer” blog and her latest endeavor—body building.]

Do you still practice law?

Yes, I work 6-7 days per week. I am the President of Corri Fetman & Associates, Ltd. I wear a lot of different hats. Besides being the managing partner of the firm and a practicing lawyer, I am also responsible for marketing, and I perform rather mundane administrative tasks on a regular basis. Needless to say, I am rather busy.

What’s a typical day like for you?

There is no such thing as a “typical day” for me. The divorce profession is constantly filled with emergencies and changes of strategy, so my days are never as I plan them. But if I had to say “typical,” it would be as follows:

5:30 AM: Cardio or Weight Training
7:30 AM: Office
9:30 AM-12:00 PM: Court

The remainder of the day is drafting pleadings, agreements and letters, having conference calls with clients, sitting in meetings, assisting associate lawyers and preparing for trial.

In the evening, I’m training with my trainer, IFBB Pro Chuck Sanow, at USA Gym in Bridgeview, Illinois, or I am attending networking functions or working late.

You first gained notoriety with your racy billboards (below) in Chicago that featured the tagline “Life’s short. Get a divorce.” What was the inspiration behind those ads? How much did those ads boost your business?

Interview continued below image.

Business was very slow at the beginning of 2007. I became concerned and decided it was time to advertise more effectively. I constantly think about advertising, and I decided that I wanted to do something bold, creative and different. I believe law firm advertising is boring and virtually all the same—a bunch of lawyers sitting in the library in suits. My firm has a reputation for being aggressive, creative, ballsy, non-judgmental and knowledgeable. I wanted the ad campaign to feature these traits.

One of my favorite sayings is “Life’s Short.” The purpose of the ad campaign was to deliver a positive message. Namely, a person should be able to take stock of their life, have personal integrity and not be judged for not wanting to stay in an unhappy marriage. The ad campaign was also about making personal choices, which would lead to happiness. It is about living your best life since life is so very short. The ad was meant to take the stigma away from divorce. Instead of looking as divorce as a negative factor, why not view it as a positive new chapter with the glass being full?

Of course, the ad was not meant to trivialize divorce. Rather the ad was meant to be thought provoking and demonstrate that taking control of your life and living your best life can be a positive choice.

I also wanted the ad to show my sense of humor, which is also appreciated by our clients when going through such a tough time. That is how the photo/fantasy idea was derived. I searched through stock photos, but they were not hot enough. So, I called upon my personal trainer, Chuck Sanow, to do a photo shoot for the male. I then posed for the female photos.

Your most recent billboards are just as provocative, but they feature more of an S&M and leather look with the tagline “Take control. Get a Divorce.” What was the inspiration there?

Interview continued below image.

The third ad campaign—“Take Control. Get a Divorce.”—features a bondage theme, with a dominatrix (me) and a master (Chuck) in the photos. It was launched in January of 2008. The ad was meant to portray another positive tagline, but with a double entendre composition—the dominatrix and master theme.

Speaking of S&M, an escort we once interviewed [HERE] told us that interest in S&M is quite common among lawyers? Do you think that’s true? If so, why?

I think taboo sex is more prevalent than most people want to recognize or speak about in general. Perhaps S&M is common among lawyers because lawyers are such control and power freaks. It is just one more venue besides the courtroom for lawyers to exercise domination or submission.

A while back, we ran a piece on whether breast implants would help a female lawyer’s career. [“The Real Story on Fake Boobs”] We probably should’ve called you for a quote. But maybe it’s not too late. Do you think implants are a good career move?

Absolutely. I believe cosmetic surgery is a personal choice. Anything that makes people feel better about themselves or enhances self confidence is a great career and personal move. The better you feel about yourself, the better you will perform in your profession.

You’re clearly not afraid to use your sex appeal to your advantage. What do you think of criticisms that doing so isn’t consistent with the legal profession?

I question why this is an issue. Anyone who has a problem with sex appeal has insecurities and other latent self-esteem issues that are affecting their judgment. A secure person who is happy would not be affected by the use of sex appeal and would welcome another approach to the boring stereotypes of the legal practice. That is the very reason Baskin Robbins made many different flavors of ice cream—it is called variety.

So, you’re a body builder. How did that come about? What do you think your best feature is when it comes to bodybuilding? What needs the most work?

I would hardly call myself a bodybuilder. I have always loved weight training and fitness. I started training with IFBB Pro Chuck Sanow in 2006, and he is truly an inspiration to the profession, the most incredible trainer and a wonderful human. He trained me for my Playboy and billboard photo shoots and totally transformed my body.

I am constantly pushing myself and desire to be better and more physically fit. So, the next logical step was competition. In May 2009, I competed in my first figure bodybuilding competition. I am contemplating another competition this year. I LOVE the training, diet and discipline of preparing for the competition.

My shoulders are my best feature. I am never satisfied with my butt and legs, and it drives Chuck crazy!

Before posing for Playboy in 2008, had you ever posed nude? Any plans to do it again (not necessarily with Playboy)?

I never posed naked prior to the Playboy photo shoot. I never thought about it until the opportunity arose. I was extremely flattered. To be considered in the company of such beautiful women as Marilyn Monroe, Cindy Crawford and Pamela Anderson was the ultimate compliment.

I do not have any plans to pose naked again, but I would consider it if it was tasteful or for a good cause—such as PETA.

After you appeared in Playboy, what was the reaction of the lawyers and judges you know? Did any of them ask you to autograph a copy of the magazine?

The reaction to the Playboy spread was similar to the ad campaign. It gave the lawyers and judges who disliked me one more thing to complain and talk about. However, the majority of lawyers and judges who valued and liked me before the Playboy photos actually applauded my courage and respected me even more.

Yes, some of the judges and lawyers did ask me to autograph copies of my photos and magazines. I was very surprised at the number of lawyers and judges who regularly read my Playboy “Lawyer of Love” advice column. I received a lot of compliments and feedback about the column—even more than the photos, which was very rewarding.

You now write a regular column for ChicagoNow.com. Do you enjoy doing it? What do you like best about being a columnist?

The column is a place where I can be creative, so I enjoy writing it very much. I like to think outside of the box, and the column provides another forum for doing so. I am extremely unpredictable and like to write about controversial topics, so stay tuned and keep reading.

You can buy Corri Fetman merchandise here, or you can check out more about Corri on her firm’s website or over on her Chicago Now “Love Lawyer” blog.

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