Summer time is usually a good time to lounge somewhere and enjoy a good book…or in this case perhaps just a great movie. Let’s make that a legal movie. Earlier this year, the ABA Journal asked 12 prominent lawyers who teach film or are connected to the business to choose what they regard as the 25 greatest legal movies ever made about lawyers and the law.
Perhaps it was from one of those movies that you watched as a kid that you decided to become a lawyer. Who did not want to emulate the great Atticus Finch? Hollywood has opened up the legal world to our eyes in a series of provocative, intense, and sometimes downright heart wrenching movies. From the incisive Henry Drummond and the droll Mr. Lincoln to the callow Danny Kaffee and the regal Atticus Finch, lawyers have provided some of Hollywood’s most memorable cinematic heroes and some of its most honorable and thoughtful films.
So here are the 25 greatest legal movies ever made; together these films represent 31 Oscar wins and another 85 nominations as befits the best work of some of the greatest actors, writers and directors of their time. So quiet, please. A rap of the gavel, a pull of the curtain, and ‘Hear ye! Hear ye!’ for the 25 greatest law films ever made (in alphabetical order):
- 12 Angry Men
- A Civil Action
- A Few Good Men
- A Man for All Seasons
- Amistad
- Anatomy of a Murder
- And Justice for All
- Breaker Morant
- Chicago
- Compulsion
- Erin Brockovich
- In the Name of the Father
- Inherit the Wind
- Judgment at Nuremberg
- Kramer vs. Kramer
- Miracle on 34th Street
- My Cousin Vinny
- Philadelphia
- Presumed Innocent
- Reversal of Fortune
- The Paper Chase
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Verdict, The
- Witness for the Prosecution
- Young Mr. Lincoln
Which one is you favorite legal flick of all times?
Written on: 06/01/09 PDF Version