‘Suits’ Fans Have to Add These 6 Legal Dramas to Their Queue
In 2011, USA Network released the legal dramedy Suits about an underachieving college dropout (Patrick Adams) who uses his photographic memory to land a job as a lawyer despite never going to law school. Together, with the assistance of hot-shot lawyer Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), he takes on high-profile cases while hiding his deception.
After a nine-season run that ended in 2019, the series recently found new life on Netflix, smashing records since it debuted in June 2023. Chances are high that you’ve already cruised through the courtroom-based drama.
One of the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is our unwavering ability to consume massive amounts of streaming content. To keep your thirst for TV’s legal dramas alive, here are six more binge-worthy series to add to your queue.
The reason behind ‘Suits’ newfound popularity
Suits was previously available for streaming on Amazon Prime and Hulu without much fanfare. It wasn’t until Netflix picked up the series that an unprecedented number of viewers tuned in. Suits recently shattered the streaming service record as the most watched acquired series in a measured week. According to TV Insider, from June 26 to July 2, 2023, the legal drama logged 3.14 billion watched minutes.
The renewed interest in Suits can be attributed to the appearance of Meghan Markle, now known as the Duchess of Sussex, who starred as paralegal Rachel Zane for seven seasons in the courtroom-based drama. The show is fun to watch, at times witty, and intriguing to witness the mastermind behind “Megxit” at work.
While the following series do not feature any members of the royal family, they do promise to deliver romance, intrigue, and entertaining legal banter.
1. ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’
Season 1 and 2 of The Lincoln Lawyer is now streaming on Netflix. Based on the 2011 movie starring Matthew McConaughey, the legal procedural series from David E. Kelley is packed with courtroom drama.
The action-packed show revolves around defense attorney Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), who prefers to work from the backseat of his Lincoln town car as he unravels the mysteries behind several high-profile cases. Season 3 is coming soon to Netflix.
2. ‘Better Call Saul’
AMC had a massive hit with the 2008 series Breaking Bad, starring Bryan Cranston (Walter White) and Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman). In 2015, Bob Odenkirk, who played the sleazy lawyer (Saul Goodman) in the series, got his own show with AMC, Better Call Saul.
The six-season run told the backstory of the corrupt attorney, who went by the name Jimmy McGill, as he attempts to navigate the underbelly of the Albuquerque criminal world through elaborate courtroom antics and testimony.
3. ‘The Good Wife’
The CBS legal drama, The Good Wife, highlights talented actors Julianna Margulies and Christine Baranski. Following the story of a disgraced politician (Chris Noth), his wife must face the scandal head-on as she maneuvers her way through a Chicago law firm, defending the likes of serial murderers, drug lords, and sometimes the wrongly accused.
The Good Fight became a popular spinoff, binge-worthy in its own right, as Baranski tackles cases straight out of the current events of its time.
4. ‘Goliath’
In the David E. Kelley legal drama Goliath, actor Billy Bob Thornton is a has-been lawyer looking to right his wrongs. The Amazon Prime series relies heavily on the underdog theme as the down-on-his-luck attorney strives to get his day in court. The once-brilliant lawyer, Billy McBride (Thornton), now living in a run-down motel, tries to take on a corporate enterprise plagued with corruption.
5. ‘Ally McBeal’
Another David E. Kelly legal series worth your time is the 1999 Emmy Outstanding Comedy Series winner Ally McBeal. Actor Calista Flockhart (aka Mrs. Harrison Ford) is the titular character, a ditzy Boston lawyer and hopeless romantic who can manage the courtroom much better than her personal life.
The Fox series featured an ensemble cast including Hayden Panettiere, Lucy Liu, Portia de Rossi, Jane Krakowski, Iron Man‘s Robert Downey Jr., and Courtney Thorne-Smith.
6. ‘The Practice’
Throw together Star Trek’s Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Emmy award-winning actor James Spader, and lots of whisky, cigars, and women, and you have the makings for an old-school, somewhat tone-deaf, legal drama from the early 2000s. A spinoff of The Practice, the series centered around the wacky inner workings of the elite Crane Poole & Smidt law firm and ran for five seasons.
