20 superb legal dramas that will make you want to apply to law school

The fact that Law & Order has aired well over 500 episodes is all the proof it needs to show that it’s a great legal drama. It’s also had, like, a million spin-offs, all of which have also been very successful. 

A legal drama starring Glenn Close? That’s what dreams are made of. Unsurprisingly, Close was fabulous in this series, and she had great co-stars, too, the likes of which included Rose Byrne, Tate Donovan, and Ted Danson, among others. 

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a fan of legal dramas who didn’t like The Good Wife. A compelling premise, great characters, and entertaining storylines made for excellent television. 

Better Call Saul was fantastic television. For some reason, spin-off legal dramas often work very well, and Better Call Saul is proof. The follow-up to Breaking Bad had fans just as obsessed as they were with their introduction to Saul Goodman. 

Suits was good before it had its post-COVID streaming renaissance, and it’ll be good for long after. Suits will have you convinced that you don’t need to go to law school to become a lawyer, but it’ll also remind you why that’s probably not a good idea. 

How to Get Away with Murder certainly isn’t a traditional legal drama. There was a lot of emphasis on the drama. But Viola Davis is fantastic, and anything Shonda Rhimes does is worth watching. 

Matlock was such a good legal drama that it warranted a gender-swapped reboot, the latter of which is also very good. It’s so good, in fact, that star Kathy Bates declared it’d be her last gig before retiring from acting. 

Bryan Cranston was meant to play a judge. Another non-traditional legal drama, Your Honor did better with audiences than it did with critics, but it’s still worth watching if you’re a fan of the genre. 

No one knows how to put together a legal drama like David E. Kelley. The man is a creative genius, and some of his best work came in the form of Boston Legal. 

Another stroke of genius from David E. Kelley, The Practice had fans captivated for season after season of great TV. Legal dramas are amongst the easiest shows to watch decades after their release, so don’t hesitate to binge The Practice in current day. 

The Lincoln Lawyer has entertained audiences across multiple media platforms. Whether you read the book, watch the movie, or binge the series, you’ll be thoroughly entertained. 

David E. Kelley didn’t create L.A. Law, but he did have a hand in writing and producing it for a couple of seasons. His involvement in this great series set him on an incredible path of legal drama success. 

The Good Wife was so good that it warranted two spin-offs, the first of which was The Good Fight. The series followed Diane Lockhart after her arc in The Good Wife, and it was met with great acclaim. 

The second spin-off of The Good Wife was Elsbeth. Though it toes the line between legal drama and police procedural, it’ll still delight fans who prefer the former genre over the latter. 

You can watch the American version of Rake if you want, but there’s a great chance you’ll enjoy the original version, which hails from Australia, much more. They know how to make TV Down Under. 

American Crime Story only releases new seasons every few years, and the stories are always fictionalized versions of real-life events, but that doesn’t make the series any less compelling. 

We need more Ally McBeals in the world: Legal comedy-dramas that bring levity to even the most serious situations. Another David E. Kelley series that made television history. 

It can be hard to find a show worth sinking your teeth into in the streaming era, but All Rise is a good option. It only lasted a few seasons, much to the chagrin of its fans, but it now makes it a quick watch and a fun binge. 

If you’re a diehard Suits fan, you’ve got to watch Pearson (if you haven’t already seen it). The series only lasted for one season, but it got great reviews and led fans to wonder what more it needed to do to stay afloat. 

Long before any of the aforementioned series graced our screens, there was Perry Mason, the literal blueprint to legal dramas. The series lasted for nine seasons, an incredible feat by any era's television standards.