The Winchester Brothers from Supernatural TV

Welcome to the Halloween spooky season!

Let us tell you about a TV show that Joseph Tully and some of our team love and think you will too: Supernatural.

Here at Tully & Weiss criminal defense, we work really hard, but when we relax, many of us appreciate heroic escapism. As an office we have a tradition to go out to see the Friday matinee debut of Marvel movies together. In our line of work it is nice to see the heroes stand up against corruption and evil and WIN. Supernatural is a live-action fantasy adventure television series that debuted in 2005 on The WB and ran for 15 seasons. The series follows two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, as they drive all over the country to hunt demons, ghosts, monsters and other supernatural beings. You can binge all 327 episodes on Netflix today.

Mariposa County Courthouse built in 1854 and still in use.

In growing his practice, Tully & Weiss' founder, Joseph Tully, made his name as a young lawyer taking cases all over California, driving into small rural towns or seedy big cities late at night after working a long day in the office. He stayed in cheap hotels to cut down on costs for his clients, sometimes hit a dive bar for a drink or two to wind down from the drive. The next morning, it would be a new courtroom facing usually hostile da's and their friendly judges backing them, to battle for Justice for his clients.

Old courthouses have a strong sense of presence, and history, which can make them feel haunted. Like the oldest California courthouse still in use in Mariposa county. Or the old Merced courthouse that people still claim is haunted by a ghost named Everett. It is easy to understand how these buildings can be charged with anger, grief, and vengeance of the souls tried within, and of their victims seeking Justice.

To rest his mind and escape, he would watch Supernatural, “I was always so busy working that I rarely had time for anything. I dedicated myself almost 100% to work. But one of the bits of relaxation I gave myself was watching the TV series “Supernatural” every week. I really liked that show.”

The Drive for Justice

Joseph would be on the road several days a week building the practice and tackling tough cases. Similar to the Winchester brothers logging miles in their adventures. "Sam and Dean drove to out-of-the-way, rural towns or corrupted, dark cities and fought against evil forces. I always used that show to get myself energized for my fight in the courtroom." 

Below Left: the Winchester boys and their trademark mint 1967 Chevrolet Impala named "Baby" with a 327 V8 Engine and a Four Barrel Carburetor.

Below Right: Joseph and his "Baby", a Toyota Prius XW-30 1.8l hybrid lift back that got 48mpg.     

The Winchester Practice of Law

The protection symbol tattoo from Supernatural, and the Tully & Weiss logo

Tully's describes his own battles against dark forces: "Early in my practice, before cellphone videos, people believed cops were always right. According to conventional wisdom, cops never lied. Even suggesting otherwise was met with disbelief, indignation, and outright aggression. More often than not, the prosecutor seemed to care about winning more than justice – pursuing justice wasn't even on their radar – and the judge seemed to be the da's personal backer, their patron if you will.”

Tully adds, “I realized at that time, in order to effect a change, in order to truly start changing the system, it couldn't just be me versus ‘The System.' I had to build a team, just like the Winchesters on Supernatural were a team. Now, I've got great young litigators, Ashley, Alan, Joseph and Nathan and Zuly - all of whom I've trained in my particular defense style which is highly aggressive and is focused on fighting ‘The System' unrelentingly. I also realized that, if we're going to be pointing the finger at corruption, we'd better be highly ethical so that no one can distract from our position by pointing any finger back at us. So, maintaining the highest ethical standards and using ‘good energy' to counter ‘bad energy' is one of our foundations as well.”

At Tully & Weiss, all litigators quickly become familiar with “The Winchester Practice of Law,” a phrase lifted from the Supernatural TV series which stars the “Winchester brothers,” Sam and Dean, which aptly describes the experience of making a long road trek to unfamiliar territory in the darkness of night, sleeping in humble hotel rooms, getting coffee in the morning at the local coffee shop and getting to know the locals and the local culture, before heading into a courtroom to bring the unique Tully & Weiss litigation style to a new courthouse and defend their client to the hilt.

Call us when you are facing your darkest fight, and the Tully team will being our energy, experience, and even silver bullets as needed.