David E. Kelley is a modern-day master of scripted TV, who’s created, written and produced hit show after hit show over the past 40 years. Since his medical sitcom Doogie Howser, M.D. debuted on ABC in 1989, several of Kelley’s brainchildren have become hugely popular. Most recently, the show developer has achieved massive success with Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer.
While David E. Kelley’s series span various genres, it’s his best legal dramas that have really caught fire. Decades before he brought Mickey Haller to the small screen, Kelley was churning out legal dramas for fun, most of which have a sharp comic edge to them. Michael Connelly chose the perfect person to adapt The Lincoln Lawyer’s characters for television.
Aside from Kelley’s Netflix megahit, he’s created three legal comedy-dramas, one of which was spun off from another of his lawyer dramas, and two more recent legal drama series for different streaming platforms. In addition, Kelley started his TV career writing episodes for a seminal legal show in the 1980s. In total, he’s been involved in eight shows primarily about lawyers.
8
Harry’s Law
2011–2012
Harry’s Law is the one David E. Kelley legal show that unfortunately fell flat. A comedy-drama about a comfortable patent lawyer who suddenly finds herself going it alone as a criminal defense attorney, there are glimpses of what Kelley has done with The Lincoln Lawyer in this short-lived series. However, Harry’s Law tends to miss the mark with its storylines.
David E. Kelley himself came up with two far superior legal comedy-dramas before Harry’s Law saw the light of day.
Canceled after two seasons, the show has been forgotten by time, and wasn’t particularly funny to begin with. Suits is the way to go for genuinely funny scenes about corporate law. Otherwise, Kelley himself came up with two far superior legal comedy-dramas before Harry’s Law saw the light of day.
7
The Practice
1997–2004
The Practice
- Release Date
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1997 – 2004-00-00
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Dylan McDermott
Bobby Donnell
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Kelli Williams
Lindsay Dole
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Lara Flynn Boyle
A.D.A. Helen Gamble
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Steve Harris
Eugene Young
The Practice was the ultimate legal drama to star in during the late 1990s and early 2000s. A major upgrade on everything that came before it, the series is polished and packed with clever subplots. Returning to Suits momentarily, Kelley’s first self-created legal drama The Practice featured actor Rick Hoffman as a lawyer long before he became Louis LItt.
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Unlike its forerunners, The Practice also gives us realistic insights into the legal profession, while balancing procedural elements with compelling personal storylines. This show laid the blueprint for legal dramas in the modern era. What’s more, it accidentally gave us one of the best lawyer characters in the history of television, to whom we’ll be returning later in the article.
6
Presumed Innocent
2024–
Just as a version of The Lincoln Lawyer appeared on the big screen before David E. Kelley turned it into a TV juggernaut, Presumed Innocent was a movie long before this murky serial drama fronted by Jake Gyllenhaal. Its lead actor plays a prosecutor who becomes entangled in a murder case in which he’s regarded as a likely suspect.
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The Apple TV+ series differs from Harrison Ford’s movie adaptation of Scott Turow’s bestselling novel in certain key details, as David E. Kelley draws on his expertise as a legal dramatist to take the suspense up a notch. Presumed Innocent was originally a limited series, but was so popular and acclaimed that a second season is now in production.
5
L.A. Law
1986–1994
L.A. Law
- Release Date
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1986 – 1994-00-00
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Corbin Bernsen
Arnie Becker
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Jill Eikenberry
Ann Kelsey
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Alan Rachins
Douglas Brackman
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The progenitor of every legal drama being made today, L.A. Law was how David E. Kelley got his start in the TV business. As a budding Boston lawyer in his late twenties, Kelley wrote a movie script which impressed L.A. Law co-creator Steven Bochco, who soon hired Kelley to help script his new series.
One of the biggest shows on television during the late 1980s and early 1990s, L.A. Law allowed Kelley to earn his stripes in the business. He spent eight seasons writing for the series, learning how to develop characters across extended narrative arcs and plot twist-laden storylines within a legal-procedural setting.
L.A. Law was watched by at least 7% of American TV-owners throughout its first six seasons, according to Nielsen ratings.
It was Kelley who was primarily responsible for one of the biggest plot twists in TV history, as the lead writer on L.A. Law’s season 5 episode “Good to the Last Drop”. Once he’d graduated from the show, he was more than ready to create his own legal drama.
4
Ally McBeal
1997–2002
Ally McBeal
- Release Date
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1997 – 2002-00-00
- Network
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FOX
- Showrunner
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David E. Kelley
- Directors
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David E. Kelley
It was with Ally McBeal that David E. Kelley really came into his own as a legal drama specialist. He did away with the situational and tonal constraints of the genre, allowing the title character’s personal life to take center stage, and blending procedural drama with comedic and satirical elements.
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The likes of Legally Blonde and Suits owe a massive debt to this series, which deservedly won acclaim for its humor, biting satire of male-dominated office environments, and experimental fantasy sequences. Its reception gave Kelley the confidence to work comedy into most of his legal dramas from that point on.
Amid rumors of a potential reboot, Ally McBeal’s lead actor Calista Flockhart has said she’s “game” to return as the character. Fans of the show are still waiting on tenterhooks for her to be asked, and a revival would also allow a whole new generation to enjoy this forgotten TV gem.
3
Goliath
2016–2021
Goliath
- Release Date
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2016 – 2021-00-00
- Network
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Prime Video
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Billy Bob Thornton
Billy McBride
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Dominic Hoffman
Judge Walter Strauss
Goliath is David E. Kelley’s ultimate Lincoln Lawyer alternative. No one in the TV universe would understand Mickey Haller better than its protagonist, Billy McBride. An addict who’s as cynical about the legal profession as he is brilliant at being a lawyer, McBride is Haller’s kindred spirit, albeit a little rougher around the edges than The Lincoln Lawyer’s central hero.
Those who enjoy dark dramas will enjoy Goliath’s noir aesthetic.
Debuting on Prime Video in 2016, Goliath effectively served as the dress rehearsal for Kelley’s bigger Netflix series. But it’s a great watch in its own right, with Billy Bob Thornton’s performance as McBride arguably even better than Manuel Garcia-Rulfo’s Mickey Haller. Those who enjoy dark dramas will enjoy the show’s noir aesthetic, too.
2
Boston Legal
2004–2008
This series began as a spin-off of The Practice that was lighter in tone. But Boston Legal quickly surpassed its parent show, primarily thanks to the best role of James Spader’s career prior to The Blacklist. Alan Shore only appears in the final season of The Practice, but he’s markedly more interesting than anyone else in the show.
James Spader’s role as Alan Shore in The Practice and Boston Legal was his first as a regular TV show cast member since 1983 drama series The Family Tree.
Shore is intensely neurotic, somewhat arrogant, but incomparably gifted as a defense lawyer. Some of his monologues in the courtroom are the best in TV history, combining wit and rhetorical gravitas with profoundly moral sensitivity.
Outside the courtroom, Shore is a maverick whose underhanded evidence-gathering methods frequently lead to clashes within his law firm. Alongside these professional quirks, the immensely entertaining dynamic between Shore and the equally eccentric Denny Crane is one of the highlights of Boston Legal, of which there are many more.
1
The Lincoln Lawyer
2022–
Boston Legal gave David E. Kelley many of the ingredients for an even better show, from its protagonist’s maverick approach to the law to the bond he shares with an older mentor figure. But The Lincoln Lawyer ups the drama stakes, with its best lawyer characters providing engrossing personal storylines as well as their prowess in the courtroom.
The pinnacle of Kelley’s long career, this incredibly popular series has harder-hitting legal cases than any of its creator’s other shows, too. Twists abound throughout The Lincoln Lawyer, and we’re gripped by Mickey Haller’s story from the moment we meet him.
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Much of the credit for the show’s mastery of plotting and characterization has to go to novelist Michael Connelly, whose work is the entire basis for The Lincoln Lawyer. But Connelly still needed to place his stories in safe hands for a TV adaptation, and there are none safer in the legal drama business than those of David E. Kelley.
