Legal Drama
Courtroom Battles, Offices, Lawyers, Scandals
An early example of Crime and Legal overlapping was Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason, in which the eponymous trial lawyer would usually defend his clients from their murder charges by investigating the crime before the trial, and dramatically revealing the actual perpetrator during the closing courtroom scene, by calling some other person to the stand and interrogating him or her into confessing in open court:
either of having committed the crime or of having witnessed the crime being perpetrated by someone other than Mason’s client, the defendant.
It is widely believed by most practising lawyers that legal dramas result in the general public having misconceptions about the legal process. Many of these misconceptions result from the desire to create an interesting story. For example, conflict between parties make for an interesting story.
Legal dramas often focus on areas of the legal process which can be portrayed dramatically, such as oral arguments, and ignore areas which are less easily portrayed, such as researching a written legal brief.
An early example of Crime and Legal overlapping was Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason, in which the eponymous trial lawyer would usually defend his clients from their murder charges by investigating the crime before the trial, and dramatically revealing the actual perpetrator during the closing courtroom scene, by calling some other person to the stand and interrogating him or her into confessing in open court: either of having committed the crime, or of having witnessed the crime being perpetrated by someone other than Mason’s client, the defendant.
It is widely believed by most practising lawyers that legal dramas result in the general public having misconceptions about the legal process. Many of these misconceptions result from the desire to create an interesting story. For example, conflict between parties make for an interesting story.
Legal dramas often focus on areas of the legal process which can be portrayed dramatically, such as oral arguments, and ignore areas which are less easily portrayed, such as researching a written legal brief.
