Ted Lasso for Trial Lawyers

Abstract

This Article explores six lessons for trial lawyers based on the wit and wisdom of Coach Ted Lasso from his eponymous Apple TV original series of the same name.  According to Apple TV, Ted Lasso is an American “football coach leading a British soccer team.  What he lacks in knowledge, he makes up for with optimism . . . and biscuits.”  Ted Lasso has, so far, won eleven Emmys, including back-to-back Outstanding Comedy Series in 2021 and 2022.  The show’s twenty Emmy nominations in 2021 were the most for the first season of a comedy in Emmy history.  Ted Lasso, which is based on a character created by Jason Sudeikis for a series of NBC Sports television commercials in 2013, has won widespread appeal, at least in part because of its lighthearted comedy and uplifting messages, which were well-received by audiences when the show debuted in August 2020 at the height of the COVID global pandemic.

This Article discusses key lessons that trial lawyers can learn from Ted Lasso.  From “be curious,” to “be yourself,” to “be a goldfish,” trial lawyers have lots to learn from Lasso.  And although Ted Lasso is a fictional show that is often silly, its lessons for real-life trial lawyers are serious.  Using curiosity to your advantage, exercising self-control, and normalizing care for your mental health are Lasso’s pithy, sometimes funny, but often dead right lessons for litigators.