# Why are lawyers so common in TV and movies and who is your favorite lawyer character? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327 "2011-06-13T17:09:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327/21 "2011-06-14T12:59:14Z")
Two of my favorite movie lawyers square off against each other in the courtroom in _Anatomy Of A Murder_ - Paul Biegler (played by James Stewart) and Claude Dancer (one of the all-time great literary/cinematic names - played by George C. Scott). Dancer was elegantly scumbaggy. Also, Lt. Barney Greenwald, reluctantly but briliantly defending the mutineers in _The Caine Mutiny_ - (Jose Ferrer). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327/22 "2011-06-14T13:23:33Z")
> [@ExcitedIdiot](#): > > Maurice Levy from The Wire. The perfect scumbag lawyer. God, yes. He was, in a show full of revolting characters, the revoltingest. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327/23 "2011-06-14T13:34:22Z")
Among the hundreds of movies that feature courtroom dramas, a few of my favorites are: [Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055031/) [A Place in the Sun (1951)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043924/) [Town Without Pity (1961)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055539/) [Witness for the Prosecution (1957)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051201/) which pop up on TCM and Retro from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327/24 "2011-06-14T14:52:04Z")
In order of preference : 1.) Jack McCoy 2.) Jack McCoy’s eyebrows. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327/25 "2011-06-14T15:57:31Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > Horace Rumpole is by far and away my favourite fictional lawyer. > > Not that he’s that far removed from his creator, [del]Horace Rumpole[/del] John Mortimer. Was “Rumpole” an intentional, or unintentional, pun? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327/26 "2011-06-14T17:58:06Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > …Atticus Finch would be my favorite. Likewise, but Maj. J.F. Thomas, the defense lawyer from _Breaker Morant_ (played by Jack Thompson), is a close second. The American Bar Association magazine had a poll of favorite fictional lawyers earlier this year. They had to put Atticus in his own category because he just squashed all the other lawyers like bugs. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327/27 "2011-06-14T18:43:54Z")
John Larroquette plays a lawyer well. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327/28 "2011-06-14T19:32:48Z")
My favorite TV attorney: Old Man Waterfall from **Futurama** , followed closely by the Hyper-Chicken from the same show. Who else but Waterfall could have coerced the Supreme Court into finding polygamy legal, when it wasn’t even an issue in the case? Waterfall: “I can’t wait to tell my husband!” Audience: “BOOOOOOOOO!!!” And the Hyper-Chicken, from the same episode: “Your Honors, yonder crawdad done et up our flag.” In closing, “I’m sorry, I thought you was corn.” ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327/29 "2011-06-14T19:38:58Z")
Perry Mason (so debonair) Atticus (of Course) Finch Jack MaCoy Not in that order… ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327/30 "2011-06-14T20:36:03Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Among the hundreds of movies that feature courtroom dramas, a few of my favorites are:…[Witness for the Prosecution (1957)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051201/) Oh yes, Charles Laughton as Sir Wilfrid is one of the greats. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-lawyers-so-common-in-tv-and-movies-and-who-is-your-favorite-lawyer-character/585327.md?page=1)