Here’s my list of the 10 of the best legal drama TV series according to me. Arranged in order of what I think are the best to the least best. I’m sure that there are more out there! I’ll be doing upcoming posts about some of these shows.
The Best Legal Drama TV Series
Contents
1. How To Get Away With Murder
Viola Davis stars in this crazy, time-hopping legal drama as Annalise Keating in How To Get Away With Murder. She’s a criminal law professor with an active criminal defense law firm, and she hires a bunch of law students that basically solve all sorts of cases. Except, her husband gets killed in the first season. We spend the remainder of the first season to figure out who did it, and later episodes surround other people who get murdered too. Davis delivers a powerhouse performance. The show’s executive producer is Shonda Rhimes so there is a ton of gratuitous sex, sometimes for the purpose of being shocking (and no other reason whatsoever).
Maureen’s Legal Bottom Line
I’ve been to law school. There is no way on God’s green earth that any law student would be able to do what these students do. In fact, the ABA mandates that full-time students cannot work more than 20 hours per week. That’s because law school is $%(Y$%@%* hard. That, and there is a lot of murder. Hello??? Tons of murders are not for crows, okay? So, totally unbelievable. But if you can get over that this wouldn’t ever happen, it’s a great story full of action, twisty turns, and great acting. Viola Davis. Beautiful.
2. Better Call Saul
Better Call Saul is freaking hilarious. It’s the prequel to Breaking Bad about Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), who becomes Walter White’s lawyer. Breaking Bad is Freaking Great but not particularly funny. Saul sweetens this cake. Has a bunch of cameo appearances from Bryan Cranston (Walter White). You can’t really take this series serious.
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Saul gets his degree in some shady shade, maybe an online law school. At the time that this series happened (remember, six years before Breaking Bad), you couldn’t get a law degree that way. I know it’s supposed to be funny, but at least make it somewhat realistic.
3. Goliath
Prime’s very own legal drama TV series Goliath starring Billy Bob Thornton as a very screwed up lawyer Billy McBride. He used to be the named partner of a powerful law firm along with the burned guy (Donald), who is the arch-nemesis and former partner. He is given this case, and it’s to bring down the big bad Goliath. And so it continues in each season.
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Season 2 … is awful. Just simply awful. Makes me want to throw up awful. He dates Marisol Silva (Ana de la Reguera), who turns out to be a psycho. Her brother likes to chop off body parts with anyone who does anything that pisses him off. He gets pissed off a lot. And remember when I said Marisol is a psycho? You can basically skip the entire season and go to the third season. You can’t thank me because you won’t know how awful it actually was.
4. The Good Wife
The Good Wife stars Julianna Margulies (Alicia Florrick), the wife of the Cook County State’s Attorney, Peter. He had a very public and embarrassing sex scandal. She went back to her previous career as an attorney. I vaguely remember that something similar happened in the news when this TV show came out. Three is a spin-off, The Good Fight. FYI, Florrick is good friends with Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU).
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Margulies is a great role. Cliché yet resonates with the female viewership, she struggles with her husband’s humiliating scandal, being the provider after said scandal, and the penalty that women face after leaving the workforce to raise her children.
5. Law & Order: SVU
Law & Order has a ton of different spin-offs. Law & Order: SVU is one of their longest running, if not the longest. It stars the dynamic and gorgeous Captain Olivia Benson. Law & Order is about a New York police department, specializing in special victims, e.g. mainly women who were raped. And the prosecution of the rapists. Just as a side note, Detective Munch was also Detective Munch on a show called Homicide: Life on the Street. As in, the exact same character. I know, freaky.
Maureen’s Legal Bottom Line
The bias for the police and district attorney is real. This show casts them in a positive light, which is not realistic. Shows like this also portray the vast majority of cases that are solved. This is not even remotely true. Most crime does not get solved, and the police are not this good. And, I hate to tell you this, but lots of District Attorneys do not care about serving justice up in a dish cold. They care about their win ratios. In other words, they are like every other litigator.
6. Suits
Suits is a legal drama that follows two guys. One is a lawyer: Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht). One is not but pretends to be: Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams). Mike is basically a loser scam artist, but a brilliant loser scam artist. Mike scams himself as an attorney for the law firm that Harvey is partner. By the way, Meghan Markle … yeah, the Duchess of Sussex, the lady who married Prince Harry … is also in this show. The show basically teaches you that lawyers are all scam artists, and cheating and lying get you ahead.
Maureen’s Legal Bottom Line
Believe it or not, Suits is not unrealistic. Many people practice as “attorneys,” who are neither barred or went to law school. It’s scary that this happens. (By the way, it’s a crime.) But, he would absolutely never be able to scam the LSAT in the manner portrayed. And another attorney wouldn’t be okay with what goes on … never mind an entire law firm. Oh, and by the way. Harvard Law school is not the #1 law school in America. Yale Law is.
7. Boston Legal
Boston Legal has a huge lineup of outstanding actors: James Spader, William Shatner, and Candice Bergen just to name a few. This show is a spin-off of The Practice. The show is basically about law firm life. Despite the great cast, the show only lasted 5 seasons in favor of Grey’s Anatomy. But it had good drama, and it was funny. I love William Shatner.
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Too bad it got cancelled. I’d love to see another show like it. Who would have thought that a bunch of lawyers together would have so much politics???
8. L.A. Law
FYI: Not available on streaming. L.A. Law is an older show. Another law firm legal drama, which dealt with a bunch of hot topic issues such as racial disparity, class disparity, capital punishment, etc. The show had a huge an impact on how American viewed lawyers, and in particular, glamorizes the work.
Maureen’s Legal Bottom Line
Being a lawyer is not glamorous. Most of a lawyer’s work (except prosecutors and politicians) are spent writing things: opinions, law review articles, motions, and briefs. Our second job is advising people not to be idiots. Only a small portion of an attorney’s life is being in front of a jury or on a podium, unless you are a prosecutor or a politician. But, I do agree that most lawyers have big heads.
9. Ally McBeal
FYI: Not available on streaming. Ally McBeal is about Ally McBeal, a quirky, brilliant attorney who is also a hot mess. Although the show is loosely a legal drama, it’s more about the crazy personal lives of Ally, her ex-boyfriend whom she never got over, her ex-boyfriend’s new love interest, and other overworked attorneys are at a made-up law firm in Boston.
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If you want a show with less legal eagle drama, e.g. less courtroom scenes, and more drama drama, then this is a good show for you. Much office romances ensues. The characters are humorous and downright silly. Oh, and my personal fav, Lucy Liu. I love her.
10. Perry Mason
I’m not sure if Perry Mason was the first legal television drama series, but it was pretty much the first. HBO is remaking it! It’s loosely from Erle Stanley Gardner books. Perry Mason is a brilliant criminal defense attorney.
Maureen’s Legal Bottom Line
A classic. If HBO is remaking it, it will have a lot of sex in it.
Any other shows that you would add to this list of the best legal drama TV series? Let me know in the comments!
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