Law is a popular topic in cinema. Hundreds of movie lawyers over the past several decades have made the courtroom seem like a fun place to just sit in and follow proceedings. And even in movies that don't necessarily revolve around the legal system, there is always a lawyer or two somewhere.
While some movie lawyers are so good that they make you get up from your seat and celebrate when the verdict goes in their client's favor, others are so incompetent they make you sympathize with whomever they are representing. Here are the best and worst movie lawyers of all time.
Best: Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer)
Matthew McConaughey's list of great performances is as long as an ancient scroll but this was his career-best. In the movie, he is a struggling criminal defense attorney who is unable to afford an office so he uses the back seat of his chauffeured Lincoln town car to prepare for his court cases.
Despite his uncomfortable working environment, he knows how to cut deals easily and work the system. He normally represents criminals that are guilty but a big case lands on him and it turns out that his latest wealthy client really is a psychopath. He is thus faced with a dilemma on whether to do his job the way he normally does it or switch things up a bit.
Worst: Vincent Gambini (My Cousin Vinny)
Joe Pesci seems better suited for bad guy roles rather than the good guy. In My Cousin Vinny, he plays a lawyer who defends his cousin against a wrongful murder charge in Alabama. His cousin had just left a store before the store clerk was murdered.
Vinny's incompetence shows when he takes forever to bring in a crucial witness that saves his cousin. Would you blame him? He is said to have passed the bar exams after about ten attempts. What generally saves Pesci's performance in the movie is his humor. But the next time his cousin needs a lawyer, he should look elsewhere.
Best: Erin (Erin Brokovich)
Julia Roberts is fierce in this movie. On one occasion, her character Erin tells her lawyer-turned-boss, "Do they teach lawyers to apologize? Cause you suck at it.” The film tells the real-life story of lawyer and environmental activist Erin Brokovich who had a major legal battle against the energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)
Erin leads a major case against the company for illegally dumping highly toxic chemicals into a local water source. And she manages to convince a whopping 634 plaintiffs to join the case. Roberts won multiple awards for this role including an Oscar, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and various critics awards for Best Actress.
Worst: John Shaunessy (Kramer Vs Kramer)
In one of the best ever movies about divorce, a father is forced to raise his son by himself after his wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) deserts them. Many months later, Joanna returns to demand custody. Having gotten used to the boy, the husband rejects this and the two go to court. The judge awards custody to Joanna because of the "tender years doctrine" rule which states that under extreme circumstances, the custody should be given to the mother. The father considers appealing but his lawyer Shaunessy (Howard Duff) discourages him, saying he'll be forced to bring his son on the stand. The father doesn't want that so he lets it go.
The truth is that his son would never have been required to take the stand since appeals are based on records from the original trial, not new evidence. The most the son could have been asked to do is appear in the judge's chambers to tell his side of the story. Due to Shaunessy's bad advice, the father loses custody.
Best: Frank Galvin (The Verdict)
Frank Galvin is an elderly alcoholic lawyer who ends up losing his job at a big firm. To make his dire situation better, he takes on a medical malpractice case where a hospital’s negligent staff caused a mother to become comatose. Even though he took the case for his own benefit, he begins to sympathize with the clients.
Galvin does everything he can to make them win. His arguments in court are packed with indisputable facts and in the end, he redeems himself while also making sure justice is served. For his performance, Paul Newmann received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Worst: Fletcher Riddle (Liar Liar)
He's funny, but you wouldn't want him to defend you. Fletcher (Jim Carrey) is a lawyer who is incapable of telling a lie or staying quiet when he hears someone telling a lie. Before that, he had a habit of lying so his disappointed son made a birthday wish for his dad to be honest.
Fate granted this wish and Fletcher suddenly woke up as an overly honest human being. It's a comedy so things are not to be taken seriously, but Fletcher really comes out as a terrible lawyer. Any aspiring lawyer should watch this movie for the laughs and not legal inspiration.
Best: Daniel Kaffee (A Few Good Men)
Here's the film that popularized the phrase, “You can’t handle the truth!” In A Few Good Men, a rookie military lawyer Kaffee (Tom Cruise) is tasked with defending two marines accused of murder after they refuse representation from another veteran lawyer. The two claim they were only acting under orders.
Cruise owns this role so well you'd think he really went to law school. He manages to get the two acquitted of murder charges though they are given the lesser punishment of being discharged from the military. For his performance, Cruise received a Best Actor nomination at the Golden Globes.
Worst: Arthur Kirkland (...And Justice For All)
This character is played by Al Pacino, another actor who works better as a bad guy than a good guy. In the movie, Arthur Kirkland discovers that his client is actually guilty and that he's forcing people to be his alibi. So, what does he do? He screams in court that his client is guilty.
That's a breach of contract so he won't get paid. It's good to have a conscience but one wonders whether he'll now be able to pay his rent using "conscience" instead of cash. Kirkland will now have to go to a store and tell the cashier, "My credit card isn't working, but do you accept conscience as a form of payment?" He simply could have notified the judge privately in his chambers about his client's dirty tactics instead of screaming in court.
Best: Michael (Michael Clayton)
In the movie, Michael is a lawyer and fixer who makes sure all the cases in a law firm run smoothly. He is brought in to fix the situation after one of the other lawyers suffers a mental breakdown while defending an agrochemicals company that he believes is guilty. Michael soon discovers he might have bitten more than he can chew after his car gets blown up.
Clooney got an Oscar nomination for Best Actor while the movie as a whole received seven nominations. The movie also has a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes. If you want a good legal drama to watch and you also want to see George Clooney at his best, this is your best bet.
Worst: Frito Pendejo (Idiocracy)
The movie is set in a dystopian future where the majority of the population is dumb. Joe Bauers, a former army librarian, wakes up 500 years and finds himself the most intelligent human alive. He is arrested after visiting a hospital without a bar code to pay for the services.
He is assigned the lawyer Frito Pendejo to defend him in court. Since the lawyer is basically stupid, Joe loses the case. When an IQ test determines that he's the smartest person alive, the president tasks him with saving the dying agricultural sector. He soon discovers that the people have been irrigating crops with soda instead of water. Jesus!