By Bev Ford
law briefs
When Suffolk Law Dean’s Cabinet Member Eric J. Parker, JD ’86, met his lifelong friend Howard Gordon in grade school years ago, he had no idea they’d one day be discussing crimes together.
Parker, co-founder of law firm Parker Scheer, LLP received a call from Gordon to serve as a behind-the-scenes consultant for his friend’s Fox crime series, Accused.
Each episode of the show tells the story of a crime from the perspective of the defendant. One episode, for example, focuses on a father who planned to kill his son because he believed the boy would become a school shooter.
Parker’s job was to make sure the legal system was presented fairly and accurately.
“I’m always interested in doing something I’ve never done before,” Parker says about working on the show. “It challenges how you look at the world.”
Parker has been close friends with Gordon—known for his work as the showrunner of the Fox action series 24 and the Showtime thriller Homeland—since they were middle school classmates at Harbor Hill Elementary School in Roslyn, New York. “He’s like a brother to me,” Parker says.
Parker helped the show’s writers via video conferences, answering questions on everything from courtroom architecture to the proper way to address a judge. His insight helped correct some potential production errors—for example, sending a defendant through the courtroom’s gallery entrance rather than the door leading from the lock-up during a court appearance. It may seem minor, he says, but one small mistake could require a costly change to the scene’s set design.
Parker never would have been involved in television if he didn’t already have a friend in the industry, he says. Gordon has exposed him to the glamour of Hollywood throughout the years, taking Parker and his wife to the Emmys and the Golden Globes.
Whether or not Accused wins any awards, Parker has already garnered an unexpected prize—the opportunity to witness, firsthand, how a legal thriller comes together from script to screen.
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Photography courtesy of Fox, Eric Parker
winter 2024
When Suffolk Law Dean’s Cabinet Member Eric J. Parker, JD ’86, met his lifelong friend Howard Gordon in grade school years ago, he had no idea they’d one day be discussing crimes together.
Parker, co-founder of law firm Parker Scheer, LLP received a call from Gordon to serve as a behind-the-scenes consultant for his friend’s Fox crime series, Accused.
Each episode of the show tells the story of a crime from the perspective of the defendant. One episode, for example, focuses on a father who planned to kill his son because he believed the boy would become a school shooter.