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A Geek Lawyer’s Note: On the Mayfair Witches

Here’s the thing about being a lawyer: you can’t really turn it off. Even when I’m watching TV, my brain sneaks in with legal commentary. Case in point—my latest obsession, AMC’s Mayfair Witches (based on Anne Rice’s trilogy). Don’t worry, no spoilers here—except to say the show is addictive, moody, and a little too thought-provoking for someone whose idea of a good time is reading statutes. What grabbed me most wasn’t just the witches, but the history they brush up against: witch trials. These weren’t just about superstition; they were often about power, control, and—believe it or not—early healthcare.

Midwives, healers, and other people experimenting with herbs to ease pain were some of the first “defendants” in what was essentially healthcare law gone medieval. Pain relief during labor, for example, was highly controversial. According to biblical interpretation, women were meant to endure pain in childbirth; so if you weren’t a priest armed with prayers and instead tried to sidestep the divinely prescribed suffering with earthly substances, you risked being branded a witch. Belladonna and ergot—plants with properties similar to modern anesthetics—weren’t breakthroughs; they were “evidence.” Imagine being hauled into court for giving someone Tylenol…. It’s chilling history, but it got me thinking: healthcare has always lived in this push-pull between fear and necessity. Society alternates between revering providers (hello, COVID-era applause) and vilifying them (hello, witch hunts). And through it all, the law is right there—sometimes as protector, sometimes as persecutor.

For me, that connection is personal. I can’t go back and defend the midwives put on trial for daring to help women in pain. But I can stand beside today’s doctors and healthcare professionals, making sure legal battles don’t distract from the real work of healing. That’s why my practice means so much—it’s my way of balancing the scales, even if the courtroom isn’t quite as dramatic as a TV coven.

So yes, my nights are filled with witches and my days with contracts and statutes. Glamorous? Not exactly. But meaningful? Absolutely. And as long as good shows and geeky thoughts keep colliding, I’ll keep sharing them.

From planet earth,
Paola Vergara