If you’ve ever seen Once Upon A Time in Hollywood – or are chronically online (like me) — you’re familiar with the image of Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo Dicaprio in a violently yellow t-shirt, pointing furiously at an (off-camera) television screen. The image was reenacted by me recently, as I poured over my criminal law reading this week. 

The reason I was furiously pointing at a case from the 1800s? Well, I recognized it. Not from a previous class, but from a podcast I had listened to on my commute to work this summer – ‘Rebuttal,’

As the semester progresses, and students re-familiarize themselves with a day-to-day trek to Newton, or spend increasing amounts of time on the T, going to and from various networking events, it might be tempting to wonder how to break the monotony of Boston transportation, or escape from your thoughts while on the go. If you’re looking for a podcast, may I suggest ‘Rebuttal?’

‘Rebuttal,’ hosted by California attorney Reb Masel, markets itself as a fun, comedic look at interesting and chaotic case law — where Masel outlines a case and provides both context and her thoughts regarding the legal issues at hand. 

The podcast, however, offers much more. Masel does not shy away from the ways in which the legal system has been used to uphold oppression and has failed vulnerable members of society. For example, in the episode ‘The French Fry that Put Kids in Jail’ Masel explained how a D.C. law led to the arrest of a child for eating a french fry in the metro system, and how the writing of the law and D.C.’s enforcement requirements did not call for the same reaction to adults who ate in the metro system. 

The podcast takes an honest look at the law — the good, the bad, the ugly, the distressingly funny (for example, my trust in the TSA has been a bit shaken) — but also explains concepts, such as proximate cause, in ways that are accessible to lay people, 1Ls and experienced attorneys alike. 

Listening to Masel helps humanize cases — and the people within them — in ways that reading endless excerpts from casebooks sometimes don’t. The people within our legal textbooks all have a story, and Masel is fantastic at telling them, and her commentary manages to both ground cases in reality, and inject relatable humor. 

So, if you want a fun way to connect with the law, are hiding from your thoughts on the Boston metro, or are simply looking for a new podcast, ‘Rebuttal’ is the podcast for you.

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Samantha Torre is a 1L student at BC Law. Contact her at torrs@bc.edu.