Law School 411: Books & Films on Law & Law School

Classic farce of married attorneys played by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn on opposite sides of a sensational attempted murder case.

Outstanding courtroom drama of murder trial. The defendant insists that he suffered temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife.

Three Australian lieutenants are court martialed for executing prisoners as a way of deflecting attention from war crimes committed by their superior officers.

Drama of an attorney who gets caught up in a tragedy. His law firm fails from the financial burden of representing families of children who died after exposure to toxic wastes of companies. Opposing attorneys use time, money and trickery to prevent a just solution.

Based on true story of unemployed single mother who becomes a legal assistant and by diligent work and persistence almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply.

Acclaimed documentary series looking at the civil rights movement from 1954 until 1965.

Acclaimed documentary series looks at the struggle for civil rights as it continues past 1965.

Rookie military lawyer Kaffee played by Tom Cruise has a good record based on plea bargaining and no real courtroom experience. He faces a crisis of conscience when he defends Marines accused of murder who insist they were acting on orders of a military icon played by Jack Nicholson. Kaffee discovers that he has a talent for the courtroom and a thirst for justice.

Ryan Gosling starts as a star young prosecutor climbing the career ladder toward success who finds an unlikely opponent in a manipulative criminal, played by Anthony Hopkins, who he is prosecuting for his murdering his wife.

Drama based on the landmark Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 US. 335 (1963). The film tells the story of Clarence Gideon's struggle to have counsel appointed for him at the expense of the state.

Drama of a trial of some of the lesser Nazi criminals at Nuremberg. This movie is about really about the judges. This trial is about 4 Judges who used their offices to conduct Nazi sterilization and cleansing policies. Retired American Judge, Judge Dan Haywood has a daunting task ahead of him. The Cold War is heating up and no one wants any more trials as Germany, and allied Governments, want to forget the past. But is that the right thing to do is the question that the tribunal must decide.

Blair Underwood plays a young black man accused of murdering a young girl. The accused turns to a law professor played by Sean Connery to prove his innocence. The prosecutors and police are not interested in the exculpatory evidence Connery finds.

Comedic look at Harvard Law School life. Elle Wood gets dumped by her East Coast blue blood boyfriend just before he starts law school at Harvard. Elle decides to follow him and win him back. She aces the LSAT, prepares a video personal statement, and is admitted to Harvard. The film shows academic one-upmanship, cattiness and arrogance as Elle makes her own very personal statement through the campus and law school. Lots of laughs, and a a look at justice in the courtroom to boot!

Based on Michael Connelly's novel of the same name, Matthew McConaughey portrays a sleazy defense attorney who has a crisis of conscience when he represents a wealthy client with an apparently foolproof plan to beat the system.

This film is about Sir Thomas More and the untenable position Henry VIII placed him in when Henry decided to divorce his wife. Henry expected More’s approval and support and forced More to choose between his principles and his king.

A couple of New York teenagers are on their way to college in California when they get delayed in the south. A series of circumstances land them in jail and in big trouble charged with 1st degree murder. The family sends cousin Vinny to the rescue. Vinny is a mechanic turned lawyer who has recently passed the bar after multiple attempts. His first courtroom experience is trying to get the teenagers free. This film is a combination comedy and drama which dramatizes regional and class differences.

Prof. Kingsfield can literally scare you out of your seat, but few law school classrooms today match the scene in this classic movie set at Harvard Law. Still, you will enjoy the movie, and be thankful once classes have begun that few Prof. Kingsfields are teaching today.

Based on a Grisham novel, the star of this thriller is law student Darby Shaw played by Julia Roberts. Shaw uses research databases to discover what lead to the recent assassination of two Supreme Court justices. She details her theory in a brief which falls into the wrong hands. From that time on Shaw is running for her life with help from a newspaper reporter. Give an A+ to the librarian who taught Darby how to use Lexis and Westlaw!

A gay lawyer in a prestigious Philadelphia law firm is fired after partners discover that he has AIDS. He turns to a homophobic personal injury lawyer to represent him in his suit against his former law firm. Tom Hanks won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Andrew Beckett, the gay attorney.

Based on Harper Lee’s novel, this drama stars Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, a lawyer in a small Alabama town in the 1930s appointed by a judge to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman. The townspeople are dismayed by Finch’s robust defense. Another plot surrounds the friendship of Finch’s children with Boo, a mentally challenged neighbor who rescues the children from a villain whom he kills, putting the principled Finch into a legal and moral dilemma.

A jury room drama in which what started as an open and shut case of patricide becomes a muddle as the prejudices of each juror color his perceptions of the evidence. An all-star cast headed by Henry Fonda.

Frank Galvin, a drunken ambulance chaser, is handling a medical malpractice case where all parties are amenable to settlement. In time, Frank realizes that there is merit in this case on the side of his client who is in a permanent comatose state. Galvin fights serious pressure to settle with the defendant Catholic hospital and takes the case to court to do what is right for his client. Paul Newman was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Galvin.

The ABA Journal asked 12 prominent lawyers who teach film or are con­nected to the business to choose what they regard as the best movies ever made about lawyers and the law. Here are the results. Together the 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.