The Best Movies About Lawyering As Ranked By A Lawyer

I’ve been a litigator for over 14 years. I’ve tried 30 jury trials in New York City. Most of my trials have been in Brooklyn and I’ve appeared hundreds of thousands of times in court and at depositions throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, even Staten Island. As you can imagine there’s a lot that Hollywood gets wrong about the actual practice of law. But, there’s a lot that Hollywood gets right too. What follows is a list of my favorite movies about lawyering and what it’s actually like to practice law.

My Cousin Vinny (1992)

I’m sorry, I know what you’re thinking — Joe Pesci? He gets it right?! How?? But really, I love this movie. First of all, the level of shade that this Judge throws at Pesci is so right on. Judges definitely have their favorites and absolutely have their feelings about how they want shit done in their courtroom. I’ve been before judges that would light you on fire if there was an errant pencil mark on the cover of your motion papers. Judges that seemed to be best friends with my opposing counsel and I’m thinking great, there’s no way I’m winning this one. Ugh, so rough.

The other thing I like about this movie is that co-defense attorney that Karate Kid’s friend goes with (I know his name is Ralph Macchio but to me he’ll always be Karate Kid). So I’ve totally done this where…