Here is a list of a few legal drama tv shows and some classic films that are not only entertaining but also highly educational for the aspiring lawyer. 

These films and tv series show how interesting and invigorating the legal profession is so whether you are an aspiring lawyer or the parent of teenagers unsure about what they would like to study in College, some legal drama binge-watching could be a great source of inspiration to pursue a legal career.

Let’s start with the films, I have selected just two classics because they are brilliant, entertaining and they’ve made to the podium of the greatest films ever made.

12 Angry Men (1957)

This is a cinematic classic directed by the great director Sidney Lumet.

The film focuses entirely on the jury deliberation process of twelve men who are pretty sure a young man has killed his father. The jurors are ready to send him to the electric chair without much of a deliberation.

Thankfully, Juror 8 (played by Henry Fonda) doesn’t think he is guilty and he will try to convince his fellow jury members that the case they are presiding over may not be so clear-cut as they think. 

Doubt isn’t necessarily an admission of weakness! 

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

The film takes place in a fictional Alabama town during the 1930s against a backdrop of racial tension. 

A lawyer named Atticus Finch( played by Gregory Peck) defends a black man who has been wrongly accused of raping a white girl.

To Kill a Mockingbird is based on Harper Lee’s award-winning novel of the same name and the director of the film was Robert Mulligan.

This is a must watch film and it was named the ABA (American Bar Association) Journal’s greatest legal film ever made.In 1995, the film was included in the National Film Registryfor its cultural and historical importance.

As for current television series, here is a list of recent legal drama tv that will delight the courtroom fans.

Suits (2011-2019)

The much loved legal drama television series will certainly open the appetite for those eager to work in a fancy corporate law firm . 

The series is set in New York City in the fictional law firm Pearson Hardman, a firm that only hires attorneys who graduated from Harvard Law School. 

However, unknowingly, they hire a college dropout, Mike Ross (Patrick J. Abrams) who has a brilliant mind and pretends he is a Harvard Law School graduate to scam his way into becoming a lawyer at the law firm. 

Mentoring Mike Ross, is the polished and powerful Harvey Specter(Gabriel Match), an ambitious corporate attorney and a top Harvard Law graduate. 

Once Harvey finds out about Mike non-lawyer status, they will try to keep his educational secret undisclosed despite the risk, but together, they are actually a dream team that will close complex legal cases in corporate America. 

How to Get Away with Murder (2014-2020)

Viola Davis plays the character of Annalise Keating, an outstanding criminal defence attorney and criminal law professor at Philadelphia University. 

Professor Keating, along with her two associates and a group of five law students, get entangled in a murder plot which will change their careers and lives. 

All this, while professor Keating still has to represent and win cases for her clients before the court. 

The show starts with Annalise Keating entering the classroom and challenging her first year law students to solve a case. She chooses five of them to intern at her firm and as time goes by, they pretty much get away with anything. Thrilling!

The Good Wife (2009-2016)

A legal and political drama series, it focuses on the wife of Cook County State’s Attorney, Alicia Florrick. 

The dutiful wife, decides to return to her career in law after her husband goes behind bars for his involvement in events of political corruption. Not only that, he has also been involved in a sex scandal which is highly humiliating for the good wife and mother. 

Will Gardner, an old law school friend and partner at a prestigious law firm in Chicago, hires Alicia as a first-year associate. 

She starts working as a litigator in Stern, Lockhart & Gardner to fend for her family while falling for Will- the love of his life- and aiming higher and higher in her legal career.

You will love watching these high-powered lawyers at the top of their game!

The People v. O. J. Simpson (2016)

In this American crime legal drama, the story revolves around the infamous 1994-1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial. 

It is based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book “The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson”.

The television series depicts the riveting trial and it takes us behind the scenes of both the defence and the prosecution. 

The series starts with the LAPD investigators visiting O. J. Simpson after the bodies of his ex-wife Nichole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman-a waiter at a local restaurant who was just kindly bringing a pair of glasses Nicole’s mum had left behind- were found dead at Nicole’s home. 

The investigators suspect O.J. Simpson is the killer and prosecutor Marcia Clark- who is convinced O.J. Simpson is guilty- takes on a case that will become a media circus when the judge decides to allow cameras in the courtroom. 

At the time 150 million viewers tuned it to watch the still controversial jury verdict!