# Nominations for your favorite TV/Movie attorney? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 16, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356 "2012-06-16T17:48:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/21 "2012-06-17T05:33:10Z")
[Mr James Kavanagh,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavanagh_QC) one of Her Majesty’s Counsels Learned in the law. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/22 "2012-06-17T05:52:50Z")
Scott and Stewart (Claude Dancer and Paul Biegler) were tops in Anatomy of a Murder, as was their judge, a small role by the real lawyer who finally embarrassed Joe McCarthy during his reign of terror. Joesph Welch. A real life legal hero. This is my favorite lawyer movie. As for TV, there can be only he who must comply to She Who Must Be Obeyed. The one and only Horace Rumpole as played by the one and only Leo McKern. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/23 "2012-06-17T06:12:03Z")
Abby Carmichael, as played by Angie Harmon, on _Law & Order_. That bitch is one rockin’ prosecutor!! I’d also nominate Billy Flynn from the Bob Fosse musical _Chicago_. The original Jerry Orbach version, of course; not the pathetic Richard Gere version. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/24 "2012-06-17T06:55:53Z")
You can’t have Denny Crane without Alan Shore. Also from the DEK stable I’d have to nominate Harry Korn, Adam Branch and Tommy Jefferson. For non DEK lawyers, I’ll go with Lindsay McDonald, Lilah Morgan, Holland Manners and Marcus Hamilton of Wolfram and Hart. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/25 "2012-06-17T08:06:06Z")
Perry Mason Al Pacino in And Justice For All Maximilian Schell in Judgment at Nuremberg ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/26 "2012-06-17T08:29:55Z")
Jack McCoy! That’s for TV. Atticus Finch is THE BEST male attorney in the history of fiction. When he gets the ridiculous guilty verdict, he packs his suitcase, can hardly pause at the acclimation of the black balcony, and heads home to hit the appeal. So fucking sad and brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/27 "2012-06-17T12:12:54Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Perry Mason > > Al Pacino in And Justice For All > > Maximilian Schell in Judgment at Nuremberg Props for the Schell nomination! I almost did so myself. The other two are also excellent! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/28 "2012-06-17T12:54:38Z")
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/29 "2012-06-17T14:43:23Z")
_“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I’m just a caveman. I fell in some ice and later got thawed out by some of your scientists. Your world frightens and confuses me…”_ ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/30 "2012-06-17T15:31:30Z")
Favorite: [Felix Unger on _The Odd Couple_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koIcQxtFCJo). Least Favorite: Ben Matlock. He don’t know spit about lawyering. ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/31 "2012-06-17T17:27:15Z")
For movies I have to go with Atticus Finch. My TV faves are Diane Lockhart(_The Good Wife_) and Harriet Korn(_Harry’s Law)_. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/32 "2012-06-17T19:24:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Stuart Markowitz - L.A. Law (Most Innovative)(Venus Butterfly) IIRC, he didn’t invent the Venus Butterfly. A client told him about it. Alan Shore and Horace Rumpole ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/33 "2012-06-17T19:39:30Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Vinny Gambini (aka My Cousin Vinny)… You were _serious_ about that? 😛 I’ throw in (unasked) Marisa Tomei as hottest Expert Witness. ---
**Author:** ![phxjcc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phxjcc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phxjcc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/34 "2012-06-17T19:46:15Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Horace Rumpole +1 Not even a close second to Rumpole. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/35 "2012-06-17T20:33:51Z")
No Saul Goodman yet? Or yeah, Lionel Hutz. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/36 "2012-06-17T20:42:43Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > No Saul Goodman yet? > . Post #14. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/37 "2012-06-17T20:53:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Cool! 🆒 > > I saw “The Case of the Terrified Typist” a couple of years ago. Perry lost, but it didn’t matter because the case hinged on a fraudulent identity and a murder that never _really_ happened. The judge indicated he was throwing the whole case out, and there would be a retrial once they got things sorted out. > > Confusing as hell, but the look on Perry’s face when he lost was priceless! There is also a 1960 episode called “The case of the Prudent Prosecutor” where a friend of Hamilton Burger is indicted for murder. Burger recluses himself from the case and asks Perry Mason to defend his friend. At one point during the hearing when the substitute DA is objecting to a Mason question, Burger mutters “Be quiet, you fool”. After Mason gets the client off, at the victory dinner Burger says “I feel like I finally won one.” Favorite lawyer: Richard Fish of “Ally McBeal”. Lots of great Fishisms, especially the first one “If we help someone along the way, that;s fine, but I am in this for the money. The piles and piles of money”. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/38 "2012-06-17T21:28:18Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Wait, no one has mentioned Atticus Finch yet? > > Also, my sf geek side wants to give props to the Klingon defense attorney in _Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country_. Fun fact: That tlhIngan advocate was Colonel Worf, father of Mogh, father of Lt. Commander Worf. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/39 "2012-06-17T21:43:17Z")
Fred Gailey, Miracle on 34th Street > [@](#): > > **Fred Gailey** : Your Honor, every one of these letters is addressed to Santa Claus. The Post Office has delivered them. Therefore the Post Office Department, a branch of the Federal Governent, recognizes this man Kris Kringle to be the one and only Santa Claus. > **Judge Henry X. Harper** : Uh, since the United States Government declares this man to be Santa Claus, this court will not dispute it. Case dismissed. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356/40 "2012-06-17T21:52:55Z")
Jeremy, in _Indecent Proposal_ > [@](#): > > Let me get this straight. He offered you a million dollars for a night with your wife? As in _your_ wife Diana? And you agreed to it? I don’t know what to say. How could you do something like that? _How could you negotiate without me?_ Never negotiate without your lawyer. Never! For a woman like Diana I could have gotten you at least two million. Obviously, you don’t want to get screwed, and then… screwed! > [@](#): > > [John Gage is reading through the contract drawn up by Jeremy] > Gage: Do you want to elaborate on the “Verification” clause? > Jeremy: Verification? That means you pay even if the relationship isn’t consummated. > Gage: You mean if I’m impotent? > Jeremy: It’s important for a lawyer to cover contingencies. > Gage: I can live with that. The “John Garfield” clause? > Jeremy: That’s if you die in the act. > Gage: I have no problem with that either. Could I have your pen?.. You’re pretty good, you know. > Jeremy: Thank you. > Gage: You should come and work for me. > Jeremy: Ooh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nominations-for-your-favorite-tv-movie-attorney/625356.md?page=3)