No gavels, no hearsay and lots of drinking: a law expert ranks legal dramas by their accuracy
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Tuesday, September 26, 2023
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But it would be wrong to think that all we see on legal television shows is accurate – even when it claims to capture reality.
Key Points:
- But it would be wrong to think that all we see on legal television shows is accurate – even when it claims to capture reality.
- Most legal dramas are terrible at capturing the realities of law.
Not accurate: Law(less) and (dis)Order
- As with most serials, Law and Order presents the criminal justice system as moving quicker than you can say dun dun.
- The mean duration of criminal law matters in Australian higher courts was almost one year (50 weeks) across 2021-22.
- Most criminal matters do not proceed to a full trial as an accused will often plead guilty to the charges.
- And should an accused be found guilty, a chunk of their sentence would be reduced by time served awaiting trial.
Not accurate: Suits
- Suits (2011-19) centres around law firm partner Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) and his mentorship of Mike Ross (Patrick Adams) – the “lawyer” who never graduated law school and provides legal advice thanks to his photographic memory.
- In Australia, law students who present themselves to be lawyers are subject to sanctions by the Legal Services Commission.
- While Suits has left its mark(le) on the popular imagination of law, it fails to address one of the primary duties of civil litigation: the duty of disclosure.
- It’s not like the lawyers of Suits have ever really been concerned about ethics, though.
Not accurate: How to Get Away with Murder(ing rules of evidence)
- Annalise Keating (Davis) and her ragtag team of morally illiterate law students (although I never see them studying?!?!)
- manipulate people to obtain evidence and then dramatically prompt witnesses on the stand to read this information into the record, or otherwise “sneak” it into the trial.
- One of the most important rules of evidence deals with hearsay evidence.
Accurate: Fisk
- Fisk excels in showing the importance of lawyer-client relations and the word-of-mouth that sustains much of small legal practice.
- It’s the anti-Suits, and Fisk is more powerful for it.
Accurate: Rake
- Rake excels at showing the reality of law.
- Australian courts do not use gavels, and their presence in legal dramas in Australian and UK courts shows a lack of attention to detail.
- Rake is accurate, in part, because the site of drama is rarely the courtroom, but rather Greene’s personal life.