Penn law students say 'Murder' gets away with murder

At the University of Pennsylvania Law School, students in professor Leo Katz's criminal law class are equipped with laptops, coffee, and fat red law books.

Halfway through class, Katz begins to fire off questions on Barber v. Superior Court. Some students stutter and hesitate. Others breeze through. Together, the class debates the legal difference between killing and letting die.

That's a real-life Penn law classroom. A fictional version premiered on Sept. 25, when ABC debuted the series How to Get Away With Murder (Thursdays at 10 p.m.).

Created by Peter Nowalk and executive-produced by Shonda Rhimes, Murder stars Viola Davis as professor Annalise Keating, a stern defense attorney/criminal law professor whose teaching methods involve her first-year students in murder cases - in ways they don't expect.

Like Katz, Keating cold-calls - that is, she fires questions at individual students at random. Not prepared? Too bad. Katz is a lot more approachable than Keating, and the classroom atmosphere isn't as tense as in the show.

Philadelphia is in every scene: a replica of City Hall; houses with a distinctly West Philadelphia look; and even the Philadelphia Dispatch newspaper, eerily similar to The Inquirer.

There's a reason for that. In January, ABC reached out to Sharon Pinkenson, executive director at the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, who helped scout for locations.

"We were thrilled," said Pinkenson. "Just the reputation of Shonda Rhimes was enough to get us excited." ABC sought an Ivy League campus as a setting, with Penn its first choice.

But Penn declined.

"We receive many requests for commercial filming on campus," said Stephen MacCarthy, vice president for university communications at Penn. "We can't accommodate them all and it can be very disruptive."

Pinkenson recommended other campuses with an Ivy League aesthetic such as Bryn Mawr College, Ursinus College, and Media-Providence Friends School. Scenes at Keating's office/home were shot in a West Philly residence near campus.

Few Penn students were aware of any of this.

On a Thursday night, the Makuu: The Black Cultural Center was overflowing with students and talk. The university's Black Student League held a "watch party" for Scandal  and Murder. Scandal grabbed the audience, but at first, Murder wasn't getting the same respect. Not until one of Keating's clients admitted on the stand to a previous murder did interest grow.

"This is the sexier version of Legally Blonde!" a student yelled.

Student viewers questioned Keating's teaching methods - and her sanity. They did say her aggressive teaching style is true to life. "From a Wharton perspective," said sophomore Anthony Pierry, "the hands-on approach she uses is accurate."

Many at the watch party were disappointed to learn that Penn had declined to be the setting, especially in light of the show's popularity. (The second episode garnered 11.76 million viewers, surpassing even Scandal and Grey's Anatomy.) Glen Forster, 22, a first-year law student, said that although it would have been distracting to have cameras and actors on campus, "it would have been cool to brag to my friends."

Penn law students say Murder won't get away that easy. They called it over-the-top and sometimes unrealistic, but still good TV: As first-year law student Kathryn Turner, 27, put it, "It's not law school at all, but it's entertaining."

But Allante Keels, 23, second-year law student, says cold calls are a real part of classroom practice. He says professors push students to think outside the box, much as Keating does. "When you first start," said Keels, "you're kind of tense, and you're a little competitive."

 Students say the first year of law school is as crucial as the show depicts. During this time students choose their study partners and strive for exemplary grades. Your GPA can potentially dictate internships and/or jobs.

"You feel like you're the only one that doesn't know what's going on," said first-year law student Hannah Glass, 22.

Students in Keating's class are willing to do anything to make it into her good graces. Penn students said their school is a lot more collegial.

"As it is right now, all you see is them competing," said Olivia Brisbane, 19, a second-year student. "You see them being cutthroat and pretentious."

The pilot was Philly-based, but the rest of the series was shot on sets in Los Angeles. Landing the whole series in Philly "would have been a tremendous game changer for us," said Pinkenson. She says it would have stimulated both the economy and civic pride.

Murder has gotten off to a fast start, but Keating's students may soon come to terms with a fact of law-school life. "Law school is a marathon," said Keels, "not a sprint."