# Movies about lawyers doing lawyery stuff **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 28, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076 "2020-10-28T00:27:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/1 "2020-10-28T00:27:12Z")
Watched ‘Michael Clayton’ last night, loved it, and realized I really enjoy watching lawyer movies where law shit is done. So, what are some good movies about lawyers lawing? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/2 "2020-10-28T00:31:44Z")
Not sure what you kind of movie you’re looking for but [The Verdict i](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Verdict)s one of the best films ever made with an Oscar winning performance by Paul Newman. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/3 "2020-10-28T00:33:05Z")
The Verdict is exactly the sort of movie I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/4 "2020-10-28T00:48:49Z")
_Judgment at Nuremberg_, for a particularly specialised type of lawyering. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/5 "2020-10-28T01:03:46Z")
Missed edit window: cast of Judgment at Nuremberg was quite impressive: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, [Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner, and Montgomery Clift. Another good one is _Judgment in Berlin_, featuring Martin Sheen, Sam Wanamaker and Sean Penn, in one of his earlier roles (his father was the director). ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/6 "2020-10-28T01:22:59Z")
J.I.B. is on Prime and just turned it on, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/7 "2020-10-28T01:36:44Z")
The Tom Hanks one. He get fired for being gay, and dies. What the hell is the name of that? Kramer v. Kramer ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/8 "2020-10-28T01:37:58Z")
I can’t handle the truth! That one, too. No idea what the title is. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/9 "2020-10-28T01:39:35Z")
Philadelphia (Tom Hanks) A Few Good Men (which many claim to be Sorkin’s best work) ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/10 "2020-10-28T01:46:30Z")
Presumed Innocent (Harrison Ford) Primal Fear (Richard Gere) My Cousin Vinny ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/11 "2020-10-28T01:58:30Z")
Don’t forget courtroom TV shows, too. We got hooked on Bull, which spends most of every episode in the courtroom. Reminds me of the show Lie To Me, which I miss, but not as much courtroom time. Oh, All Rise is good, too. I’m not as wild about all those 90s legal dramas, but Boston Legal was fun. And I did like LA Law and The Practice and The Good Wife, if you can put up with the “Prime Time TV” aspects. And, of course Perry Mason is solid. A friend’s tough skateboarder kid and all his friends watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/12 "2020-10-28T02:04:12Z")
What about [The Paper Chase](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070509/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1), about people on the way to becoming lawyers? ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/13 "2020-10-28T02:12:18Z")
If you’re interested in good old fashioned British lawyers, there’s the classic _Rumpole of the Bailey_ TV series and books. 7 TV series from the mid 1970s to the early 90’s. The writer and creator, John Mortimer, was a practising lawyer for decades.   Both funny and serious: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jQ-uX_JqBk8/hqdefault.jpg "law vs justice") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ-uX_JqBk8) > **[Dated or Delightful? 'Rumpole of the Bailey'](https://tellyvisions.org/article/dated-or-delightful-rumpole-bailey)** > > How well do British TV series from the past hold up? Are they classic gems that transcend generations or are they old-fashioned and representative of a particular period in time? Check out our Dated or Delightful series to see how... ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/14 "2020-10-28T02:15:24Z")
Inherit the Wind, a great Spencer Tracy movie about the Scopes Monkey Trial. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/15 "2020-10-28T02:18:23Z")
Erin Brockovich. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/16 "2020-10-28T02:20:52Z")
Reversal of Fortune. I’ve neither seen all of the movies, nor read all of the books, but the Grisham movies and books I’ve experienced have been entertaining. I second Philadelphia – first one I thought of. I don’t really watch law stuff anymore because it bugs me too much now, so I don’t have anything recent to recommend. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/17 "2020-10-28T03:40:37Z")
One of the absolute best is Otto Preminger’s _ **Anatomy of a Murder** _ with Jimmy Stewart, George C Scott, Ben Gazzara, and Lee Remick. Gottfried Reinhardt’s _ **Town without Pity** _ with Kirk Douglas is excellent. So is Robert Mulligan’s _ **To Kill a Mockingbird** _ with Gregory Peck. These are the first three I thought of. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/18 "2020-10-28T06:04:22Z")
Try [Witness for the Prosecution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witness_for_the_Prosecution_(1957_film)). B+W, based on an Agatha Christie play, one of Billy Wilder’s best, with Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton. Liar, Liar - the Jim Carrey movie has some scenes of him lawyering in court. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/19 "2020-10-28T06:55:19Z")
If I may slightly hijack this thread: the movies that are mentioned are _good_ movies about practising law. What I wondered, are there (possilby mediocre) movies that give a good representation of the work that lawyers actually do? For obvious reasons (keeping the audience interested) you mostly only see bits and pieces, such as in The Firm where Tom Cruise is studying up and looking up case law in WestLaw. In a made for TV movie Judicial consent (1994) Bonnie Bedelia is a judge who actually is shown doing research in a law library. Still such scenes may give a realistic idea of what lawyers actuallly do. Such as in A Civil Action where they are negotiating about the amount of damages, and the consequences of result-based fees (IIRC). I also believe there are some examples of witness selection or preparation of a pleading. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076/20 "2020-10-28T10:06:30Z")
#### Breaker Morant A military court martial set in 1901 during the Boer War. Three Australian officers are on trial for shooting prisoners of war and a German missionary. The shooting of the prisoners is not disputed, but they claim, probably correctly, that they were ‘just following orders’. However, it was also an act of personal vengeance.   [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/breaker\_morant](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/breaker_morant) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-about-lawyers-doing-lawyery-stuff/924076.md?page=2)