Michelle Strowhiro Profile picture
May 7, 2023 20 tweets 7 min read Read on X
Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs is the Disney movie version of every 1L class combined.

A #lawtwitter 🪡 🧵:
The movie opens with disparagement. But is it defamation?

Queen: Am I the fairest in the land?

Mirror: Nope. Snow White is fairer.
Cut to Snow White, cleaning the castle & singing. “I’m wishing for the one I love to find me today.”

Here she meets the Prince, who sings back to her.

They shared part of one song together. Clearly, this is true love. (Contractual loophole: foreshadowed.)
Queen calls Huntsman, contracts him to kill SW & bring her heart back in a box. Huntsman accepts.

(Presumably this is in exchange for a salary, but the consideration is unclear.)

He draws a knife on SW, assaulting her. But no battery/murder; he can’t go through with it.
Huntsman tells SW to hide in the woods & she flees. Meanwhile, he brings the heart of a pig back to Queen, fraudulently representing it is SW’s heart, in an attempt to avoid a contractual breach.

(Possible defense for Huntsman: duress. Also, if no consideration, no contract.)
SW meets forest animals, they encourage her to check out a cute little cottage, fraudulently inducing her to break & enter & trespass on the 7 Dwarfs’ property. SW detrimentally relies on the animals’ representation, though I suppose it’s ambiguous since the animals don’t speak.
Once in the house, SW realizes it is occupied by what she thinks are children. She stays anyway. She proceeds to dust & clean. Is this conversion of property?

The animals help: conspiracy?
The 7D’s are away at work, mining for jewels. They head home & see their home has been broken into! They’re afraid! They enter cautiously & nervously.

Is this intentional infliction of emotional distress? If not, is it negligent infliction?
In the fear & chaos of inspecting their home, 6 of the Dwarfs mistake Dopey for the intruder & attack. Assault & battery. But can they raise self-defense as an affirmative defense?

Sneezy comes upon flowers that SW put on the dinner table & sneezes. Another instance of battery?
7Ds discover the intruder is SW. They give her a pass because, well, she’s the fairest in the land. (Don’t tell Queen I said it.)

They enter a contract: SW can live there if SW cooks & cleans, & contingent on SW’s rep that Queen will never find her there. (I hope they got RWI.)
SW immediately unilaterally modifies the contract by making supper contingent on 7Ds washing up. They seem to accept the amendment by compliance.

Grumpy refuses & the 6Ds batter him into compliance.
Queen has a plan: use black magic to create an apple that, once SW takes a bite, will take away SW’s breath & make her sleep forever…

She neglects, for now, to read the footnotes.
Once the apple is made, Queen makes herself look like an old woman. (Query why she couldn’t just make herself fairer?)

She double checks if there’s an apple antidote. Oops, there is: true love’s kiss. But Queen is racing a filing deadline & decides the plan is good enough.
Queen sees SW & makes some more-than-puffery false representations about said apple. SW accepts, makes a wish, & takes a bite. She drops to the floor.

Fraud? Attempted murder? Battery? Take your pick.
Meanwhile, animals tell 7Ds, 7Ds chase Queen up a mountain, Queen attempts to roll large boulder the size of a small boulder onto 7Ds, & (spoiler alert) lightning strikes causing Queen to fall off the mountain to her (presumable?) death.

Lightning commits battery as to Queen?
Contractual loophole exploited: Prince finds the sleeping SW & kisses her, then carries her off to his castle? Or is it a castle in the sky, so… heaven? Does SW die?? It’s a matter of murder vs. attempted murder for Queen (who, for all we know, may have survived the fall).
Snow White squeezes Contracts, Crim, Property, & Torts all into one film.

And it leaves us with a few employment law Qs:
1️⃣Is SW permitted to subcontract her cooking duties?
2️⃣Are the animals employees or contractors?
3️⃣Is Queen entitled to claw back whatever she paid Huntsman?
One lesson every new attorney can learn from the Queen’s big mistake: always read the footnotes & always read the full case, not just the part that you think supports your cause. You never know what “true love’s kiss” caveat may be lurking in the next sentence.
And one big-picture question:

Sure the Queen in Snow White is the classic & obvious villain. But is the *true* villain the patriarchy?

What other legal issues do you see here? /🧵
If you enjoyed this nerdy Disney movie legal analysis, you may also enjoy the Cinderella 🧵 below ✨

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More from @strowhiro

Apr 24
Hello! Employment lawyer here. Yesterday, the FTC voted 3-2 to approve its noncompete final rule. Let's talk a little bit about it. 🧵
First: it's been <24 hours since the FTC approved the rule. It takes effect 120 days after publication. But there are already multiple lawsuits filed attempting to block the rule (US Chamber of Commerce; Ryan LLC). This rule--or this version of it--may never take effect.
That said, let's take a quick look at the substance of the rule.

For reference, a link to the proposed final rule & its supplementary information in all of its 570-page glory can be found linked off of this FTC summary page:

ftc.gov/news-events/ne…
Read 14 tweets
Dec 27, 2023
Anecdotal evidence collected over the last 2 hours suggests that cleaning this toaster oven tray is impossible Image
The Internet suggests that some sort of baking soda & water paste would work on this & I laughed out loud at the suggestion

This pan will require, at the very least, chemicals that will burn the skin
Wow! Lots of strong recs here.

💧Vinegar is a strong choice. I may try that tonight.

🫧Self-cleaning oven could work but that button always scared me too much to try it.

🧽I think no matter what, I will need to invest in a good Brillo.
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May 6, 2023
Happy Saturday! What time is it? Kitchen range with pan and ...
Today’s pancake toppings feature Ghirardelli non-dairy dark chocolate chips, @enjoylifefoods mini chips, & pink sprinkles. Ghirardelli chocolate chipsEnjoy Life mini chipsPink sprinkles
It’s my basic pancake batter recipe again, ie 50/50 Bisquick & unsweetened soy milk. Plus a splash of vanilla & a dash of baking soda. Mix in Blender Bottle and pour. Pancake batter poured from ...
Read 11 tweets
Oct 29, 2022
Cinderella is a movie about contract interpretation, negotiation, & breach.

A #lawtwitter 🪡 🧵:
A Royal invite comes to attend a ball. The invite commands “all eligible maidens” to attend. Cinderella asks to go. Stepmother and sisters reject this ask. Cinderella pushes back on this material issue, noting that she fits the defined term & attendance is mandatory.
Stepmother concedes the point, but amends the invite to make Cinderella’s attendance contingent on completing all chores & dress prep. “I said… ‘if.’” (Greatest line ever.)

Sneaky tactic: she & stepsisters then pile on chores, making performance impossible. Or so they think.
Read 9 tweets
Aug 12, 2022
Calling all #lawtwitter partners!

My colleague & I have been asked to present “What Partners Want Associates to Know” — tips for success in the firm & your personal practice.

We have ideas! But we are only two partners. We’d love to hear your words of wisdom, too! Thoughts?
And calling all #lawtwitter associates!

When we did this presentation in 2021, we asked our associate attendees what questions they have, because one of the things we want associates to know… is what they want to know!

What info would you want covered in this presentation?
And if y’all would like, I’d be happy to do a little 🧵 with the results when ready!

Thank you for your help!
Read 4 tweets
Apr 20, 2022
Hi! My name is Michelle Strowhiro & my last name is half Japanese & completely made up.

A few of you asked about this, so here it is! This is the 🧵 on how my husband @jamiestrowhiro and I merged our last names.
First, to be super clear: the decision on whether to take your spouse's last name, keep your last name, merge the names, hyphenate the names, make up a brand new name, you name it, it's entirely your decision. Whatever you choose, I support you! & I'd love to hear your stories.
For me, honestly, I had never put much thought into it. Growing up, I kind of just assumed that I'd follow the norm and change my name when I got married to match my husband's last name. I didn't think about whether there were other options to consider.
Read 19 tweets

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