Some of these films penned in legalese have been nominated for awards--some have won them and some simply entertain audiences. Often they deal with dicey legal cases, dark motives or questionable practices.
Kramer vs. Kramer won best picture at the 52nd Academy Awards in 1979. Law in film even inspired the American Bar Association to compile a list of the 25 greatest legal movies of all time; a list which includes Philadelphia, 12 Angry Men and its top rated film To Kill a Mockingbird (see the full list here).
However, entertaining audiences sometimes comes at a price. Christine A. Corcos, the Richard C. Cadwallader Associate Professor of Law at the LSU Law Center has written extensively on the topic of law in film and said accuracy is sometimes the victim of Hollywood’s endeavors.
“No audience really wants to see what lawyers actually do to prepare for a case—for example, spend days doing research in the law library or taking depositions in a conference room. Audiences want to see exciting things, and if the lawyer is the hero, they want to see the hero doing exciting things, even if real lawyers don’t routinely do exciting things, like save witnesses from killers … or take over forensic investigations,” she says.
An entertaining film may be well-acted and engaging, but might not follow the letter of the law when it comes to portraying procedure. Often, Corcos says, the messages and themes involved in the film take precedent over the technical details that are part of real law.
The film “Jagged Edge,” starring Glenn Close, touches on subjects like the acquittal of a guilty person, the difficulties female attorneys may face establishing sexual boundaries between her and her clients and the complicated reality that a lawyer discovering a client's guilt after an acquittal cannot ethically do anything about it, she says.
Corcos rattled off a number of films that have had a meaningful impact on the public perception of law; “Anatomy of a Murder,” “Reversal of Fortune” and “Judgment at Nuremberg” are just a few. Another is the 1992 comedy “My Cousin Vinny,” which she said is notable because it “focuses on the use of civil procedure and the evidentiary rules and how they can assist an attorney to win a case.”
She also says non-lawyers often perceive legal advocacy and a lack of ethics to be the same thing, which impacts how movies are made. The protagonist in My Cousin Vinny is, at times, unethical.
“The image of the lawyer as amoral is one that gets repeated in film because it is instantly recognizable, very dramatic because it creates conflict, and one that the filmmaker can play with endlessly,” Corcos says. “But in real life, in my experience, the overwhelming number of lawyers in the profession are ethical and take their responsibilities to the profession and to society extremely seriously. The public remembers just a tiny few who wander off the path, and it’s those few who make the headlines, and become the model for the ‘bad’ film lawyers. In fact, historically, if you look at the relationship between many publics and their lawyers, you’ll see this kind of animosity. The Greeks and Shakespeare dramatized it.”
In addition, in order to translate law to film in general, it sometimes requires the cross-pollination of expertise. “Quite often lawyers, particularly practicing attorneys, will work as consultants on films and on [television] series,” she says.
David E. Kelley is a particularly well known example, she adds. “In addition, a number of attorneys have left the practice of law to become screenwriters, producers and directors. Some of the most famous are people like Otto Preminger [of Anatomy of a Murder.].”