The Best Damn Law Show, Period

Friends often ask me what my favorite TV law show is. I have a lot of lawyer friends who don't watch law shows at all. The last thing they want from their entertainment is to be reminded of their jobs. But I watch a lot of them, at least sporadically. I used to love Law & Order, until their episode last season where they convicted a public defender of murder because he wouldn't reveal confidential client communications, and couldn't squeeze in enough comments about how sleazy defense lawyers are, and how public defenders are even sleazier. I also used to be a big fan of The Practice. I loved Bobby Donnell's old line, "People ask me how hard it is to defend guilty clients. Try defending the innocent. It's terrifying." Amen, brother! But now, I am a huge fan of Boston Legal, which unfortunately won't be back until the fall. Like Ally McBeal, Boston Legal is really a fantasty law show. For the most part, it is the furthest thing in the world from a realistic depiction of the practice of law. But here's the thing. Unlike Law & Order or The Practice, where I would often find myself screaming that the television, "You could never do that!," "That would never happen!, and "Objection!," on Boston Legal, almost all of the unrealistic stuff the lawyers do is what I would love to do if I could get away with it. You defense lawyers know what I mean. Who hasn't wanted to tell the judge, "I believe the Assistant District Attorney is fully capable of prosecuting this case without you?" Or to have their first cross-exam question of a police officer be, "Did they teach you to lie under oath that well in the academy or did you just get that way with all your years of experience?" It's awesome. And also . . . James Spader and William Shatner. Enough said.