the Lujack

[m***@gmail.com]

This question was posted almost 10 years ago so I don't even know if you will get this message. The show must have stolen the term "Lujack" from the Cook County Public Defender's Office (Chicago). The Cook County PD has been using this term far before the Practice even aired. The term originated from the last name of an American football player named Johnny Lujack who was a quarterback. A Lujack is basically when you dump a shitty case off on another PD knowing it is a shitty case and without telling them that it is a shitty case. A shitty case can also mean a difficult client. I believe back in the day that people would make signs with a picture of Johnny Lujack on it and place them on the wall of the Lujacker and in the file of the case being Lujacked. I've see random signs throughout the years.

[f***@gmail.com]

I happened to have a chance to read the script of the episode, "Lawyers,
Reporters and Cockroaches." Rebecca was working on the payroll as Ellenor
entered. Ellenor would like to ask Rebecca if she wanted to take over a B
and E case. There's a word, "Lujack" appearing in the following context.
What is "Lujack"?
Ellenor: Rebecca, it is a trial. There are six year associates across the
street still waiting for their first jury trial Do you have any idea...
Rebecca: I can hear the sweet song of the Lujack. Ellenor: It will be good
experience. Rebecca: I have to finish this payroll crap. Which I was
supposed to have finished by the first of the year. Which I would have
finished, but for a few Lujacks dumped on me with the best of intentions.
I serached the key word, "Lujack" on the net. Is it something to do with a
character of a soap opera? What did Rebecca try to mean by that?
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Before you buy.

As a Chicago prosecutor in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in the early 1970s, I can attest that the term was already in use there then. It meant to dump a lousy or problematic case on somebody else to handle. There were no further connotations. But, of course, you would probably not want to let them know it was a bummer; they would find out soon enough on their own. Yes, Johnny Lujack was a famous football quarterback, the 1947 Heisman Trophy winner from Notre Dame (currently the oldest living Heisman winner), who later played for the Chicago Bears. I always wondered if something in his past was a source of the term. Did he have a habit of dumping off the ball to somebody else when he saw he was about to get clobbered?