The Shows a Person Should Watch Before

There are about a million shows which have graced our TV's about lawyers ranging from comedies to soap operas. Few of them actually show a realistic view of the life of the law in or out of a courtroom. These are the three which I think come the closest to reality.

1. The Practice:

I've never watched the entirety of this series. It was a soap opera and courtroom drama. At first, the courtroom part played a more important part. The first few seasons showed the reality of cramped offices, money problems, manipulative and unrealistic clients, interactions between defense attorneys and prosecutors, and hard fights in the courtrooms. However, after a certain point it became more and more of a soap opera as well as making the protagonist firm undefeatable in murder cases and making the cases more and more outlandish. Nevertheless, the first couple seasons are worth watching to get a feel for how things feel when you are practicing.

2. Raising the Bar:

This show gives you the feel of how things work for lawyers who represent indigent defendants. It really gives you the feel for how indigent defense attorneys see the world: hostile judges, unyielding prosecutors, selling deals to clients - despite their oath that they are innocent - because it's a better deal than they will get when they are probably found guilty, etc. It was flawed in its representation of how things work in the prosecutor's office and all the clients were entirely too innocent. Still it's worth watching both seasons (which are available on YouTube).

3. Night Court:

Sometimes humor is the best representation of reality. Talk to an officer and he'll tell you that about Reno 911. Well, Night Court is our Reno 911. Sure, it's over the top and silly, but as a representation of how things work in a misdemeanor court, it's spot on with the weird and petty things that come before the court and the black humor everyone develops to deal with it. And besides, it's fun.