While its original Apple TV run ended in May, “Ted Lasso”—with Jason Sudeikis in the title role as a college football coach, transplanted to lead a struggling English football (our  “soccer”) team—remains  highly popular. 

PLOT-SPOILER ALERT: If you, like Marsha Watson, who as of writing this has not seen “Ted Lasso,” or if you do not wish to learn aspects of the plot: read no further. If you read this before seeing this warning, just be a goldfish. (You will get the reference if you keep reading—but darn it, if you haven’t seen the show and you do keep reading, well, that’s your own fault.)For those with sensitivities, the show’s language is often “salty.” 

Like Ted Lasso, one need not be a longtime football (oops, soccer) expert to enjoy this show. Its cast includes Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca, ex-wife of AFC Richmond’s former owner, who hires Ted secretly to destroy her ex’s beloved team but is captivated by the good in Ted; Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent, grouchy, foul-mouthed and aging team captain who finds he has a second, even third, act; Juno Temple as Keeley Jones, an “influencer” who learns through Rebecca’s mentoring that she can lean in and truly influence others; Nick Mohammed as Nate Shelley, Richmond’s equipment manager, who eventually coaches a rival team; and Phil Dunster as Jamie Tartt, Roy’s younger, self-centered rival as hometown (and Keeley’s) favorite.  

Garnering multiple Emmys and Emmy nominations, “Ted Lasso” is not just a comedy about a sports team, or culture clashes between English players and fans vs. the good-natured Ted and his enigmatic, laconic assistant, Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt). It is often hysterically funny. It holds plenty of dramatic moments and deep truths plus bracing positivity. It can tell us a lot about leadership and the practice of law.

You heard me right: “Ted Lasso” offers lawyers a good deal worth consideration.  The series is highly quotable, not just from Ted’s own pearls of wisdom but also for its other characters’ insights. 

1. Be a goldfish:  After a tough loss, Ted asks the team which animal has the worst memory in the animal kingdom: it is the goldfish. “Be a goldfish” means: shake it off. Let it go, and forget it. Live and fight another day. 

We lawyers have a hard time forgetting; it often runs against our professional training and character. There will always be bad days and hard losses, and while we must learn from them, we don’t want them to psych us out. When this happens, just be a goldfish.

2. “Football is life”:  The motto of Dani Rojas (Cristo Fernandez), it keeps him sunny and energized. It fails him when he accidentally kills Richmond’s mascot, Earl. However, after meeting Dr. Sharon (read on), Dani’s optimism returns. He opines: “Sometimes, football is death. Sometimes, football is just football. But mainly [smiling], football is life.”  

Replace “football” with “law” and I think the observation still holds true. Whatever it is that drives you on, that which gets you up: that is where you derive your essence, your “secret sauce.” For Dani, it is football. For legal happy warriors, it is law. 

3. “I think things come into our lives to help us get from one place to a better one”:  Ted tells this to Dani, to help Dani come to terms with accidentally killing Earl. One need not believe in fate or predestination to know that we must learn and grow from whatever life (and/or the practice of law) pitches our way.  

4. “Doing the right thing is never the wrong thing:”  Ted speaks out to the press after his young team member Sam (Toheeb Jimoh) has spoken against a corrupt corporation that is blighting his homeland in Nigeria; unfortunately, this is also one of Richmond’s sponsors.  Inside us, most lawyers know the honesty and power of this statement. Speaking of truth… 

5. The power of truth:  A crucial character in the show’s arc is Richmond’s team psychiatrist, Dr. Sharon (Sarah Niles). Ted finds that he needs Dr. Sharon’s insights. As he worries about what she might find out about him, Dr. Sharon quotes Gloria Steinem: “The truth will set you free—but, first, it will p**s you off.” (How many times have I thought about having this inscribed on a plaque, for potential clients to read at our initial meeting!)   

6. Mentoring:  “Ted Lasso” includes heartfelt depictions of female friendships and mentoring. When Keeley worries that her need to move on will hurt her mentor Rebecca, Leslie Higgins (Jeremy Swift), Rebecca’s assistant and director of operations, replies: “A good mentor hopes you move on; a great mentor knows you will.” All real leaders and mentors know this to be so.

7. “Believe”:  Inscribed over the coaches’ office, this is what Ted calls the key “missing ingredient”  to any team’s success. Belief in oneself; in one’s teammates; in the mission—it all fits together.  One can be a fearsome player (or lawyer), but if one does not believe in the thing to be done, something vital is missing. 

8.  Higgins’ last word:  Higgins opines to Roy, Nate and Coaches Lasso and Beard, as they discuss growth and change, what can be the series’ epigram:

Human beings are never going to be perfect… The best we can do is to keep asking for help and accepting it when you can. And if you can keep on doing that, you’ll always be moving towards better.

With clients; opposing counsel; partners; colleagues—and in our outside lives—who can ask for more out of our fellow human beings, or ourselves?

“Ted Lasso” aims for a spirit of diversity and inclusiveness, and posits a theory that even the most misplaced, lost or damaged souls can still grow and find a home, a family.  In this, it succeeds, with heart, humor, and wisdom.