Win or Lose. Then Draw

Marc Jacobs, 38, uses experiences from his day job as a partner at Michelman & Robinson in Encino as inspiration for his hobby—drawing comics that lampoon the oddities and unusual aspects of the legal world.  Jacobs is a litigation lawyer.

He gathers ideas by day and puts them in pictures by night, after his two children are in bed. A single illustration can take up to 12 hours to complete.

Jacobs' single-panel comic, "Above the Law," debuted in 2008 in Valley Lawyer, which is published 11 times a year by the San Fernando Valley Bar Association. His fan base grew, and now his humorous take on the legal life appears in some 25 different bar association publications across the country.

He also creates custom cartoons for law firms and sells prints of his panels, as well as other products bearing his humor, through his Web site, marcjacobslaw.com.

"Being a lawyer myself, I understand some of the nuances of what is aggravating, what's funny and what's entertaining about the way the legal system works," he says. "I try hard not to make fun of lawyers. I might draw one about the crazy partner that every firm has, but I stay away from something like a lawyer who chases ambulances."

Jacobs says he has enjoyed drawing since childhood, but didn't do much with it until knee surgery left him bed-ridden in 2001 and he was looking for something other than TV to keep him entertained. He started with some legal comics, and, after his honeymoon later that year, he worked on a series of comics poking fun at life during the wedding planning process, from the engagement to the honeymoon. Jacobs says his wife is his biggest fan, but the series on newlywed life remained under wraps. Which may explain why they're still happily married.

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Marc R. Jacobs