Vitale, Davis, Horowitz, Riordan, Schrecter, Schrecter, and Schrecter
Vitale, Davis, Horowitz, Riordan, Schrecter, Schrecter, and Schrecter is the fictional Lawndale law firm where Helen Morgendorffer works. The only other canon characters shown at the firm are partner and Helen's boss, Eric Schrecter, and her legal assistant or secretary, Marianne.
Virtual Lawndale puts the firm's offices within Lawndale, in the southern part of town.
| “ | You can see how hard it would be to squeeze "Morgendorffer" into the letterhead. | „ |
In Canon[edit]
They work on a wide variety of cases. In "Psycho Therapy," Helen mentions that Eric can "[reel] off the tax code", while in "Of Human Bonding, she is working on "The PortaFry class action suit." In It Happened One Nut Helen implies they do criminal cases too. Helen also offers to find Erin Chambers a divorce lawyer at her firm in "Aunt Nauseum".
The firm is a notoriously high-pressure environment. Helen is frequently seen leaving for work before dawn and reading briefs in bed, and at Broodbeat she admits she recites docket numbers in her sleep. According to "Aunt Nauseam", Eric is addicted to prescription amphetamines and has been to rehab at least twice. Poor Marianne is made to do pretty much anything Helen wants, including attending parent-teacher conferences and discussions (from "Esteemsters" on).
In "Psycho Therapy", the entire Morgendorffer family is sent for a weekend retreat to determine whether Helen is "partner material", she is described as "[suffering] from overarching competitive aggression, unhealthy self-involvement, a gross insensitivity to other's needs, and an overriding conviction that she is always right", traits that Eric believes are perfect!
| “ | This willingness of yours to put career ahead of family and home is just the stick-to-itiveness we look for in a partner! | „ |
—Eric, "Psycho Therapy", | ||
They do firm parties and get-togethers, all of which Jake hates as he can't stand the lawyers. The feeling seems mutual, as Helen once had to get five people to promise they'd talk to him. "The Daria Diaries" states they had a Dress-Down Friday in the office for a brief period, and in the face of increasingly skimpy clothes, Helen advised to "get a handle" on the situation before they had "more sexual harassment suits to deal with" (implying there'd already been some).
The firm's ethics are questionable. In "Partner's Complaint," Helen can be heard on her cell phone, saying (presumably to Eric), "No, no, absolutely not! It's unethical, it's immoral, it may well be illegal. I'll have no part of it. [pause] Okay, I'll do it"'; and Daria once notes to Helen that she "[works] 90 hour weeks helping corporations cheat on their taxes." The Daria Diaries has notes by Helen on various cases, all of which are either seedy or ludicrous or both. In one case they were knowingly defending a surgeon who really had fallen asleep during surgery and removed the wrong organ, knew their defence was fake, and Helen advised to settle only after the claimant said she was willing to settle instead of go to court; in another, Concepts in Construction tried to claim that a collapsed scaffolding was an Act of God (prompting Helen to ask "where do we find these clients, anyway?"). "Is It College Yet?" implies they're helping an oil company that's just run a tanker aground.
After the series[edit]
In an interview, Glenn Eichler says Helen will become a partner at the firm after threatening them with a discrimination lawsuit. "Eric won't speak to her for a year afterward. It will be the best year of her career." [1]
In Fanfiction[edit]
The firm has been showed in a number of different lights in fanfiction, from a normal law firm to a vast organization with its hands in any number of semilegal activities. Many stories have featured the fandom character Jim Vitale, an unstoppably immoral senior partner and Magnificent Bastard (and regular bastard).
Turnabout Confusion fleshed out the Riordan as Richard Riordan, a mild-mannered 6o+ year old man who seemed unconnected to illegal activity but was too senior to know what was going on.