Movies for legal minds

We often think that preparing for law school always has to be purely academic. Yes, it has to be; but at the same time there's plenty we can learn from film and TV if we can figure out our taste at the right moment. For new law students and aspiring lawyers, here is a blend of list recommended by Martin Partington, Emeritus Professor of Law at Bristol University, and of course by us.

Twelve Angry Men (1957): This US film is set in the jury room, where 12 jurors have to decide the outcome of a seemingly open and shut case. In the UK, no one knows precisely what goes on in the jury room. Direct participant research is prohibited by law. So dramas like this offer a version of what might happen.

The Devil's Advocate (marketed as Devil's Advocate) (1997) American mystery thriller film directed by Taylor Hackford, and stars Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino and Charlize Theron. The story focuses on an exceptionally adept Florida lawyer is offered a job to work in New York City for a high-end law firm with a high-end boss - the biggest opportunity of his career to date. 

In the Name of the Father (1993): This is an Irish-British-American film based on the story of the Guildford Four, four people falsely convicted of the 1974 IRA's Guildford pub bombings, which killed four off-duty British soldiers and a civilian. The story is important as it formed part of the background to major changes in the criminal justice system of England and Wales, including the creation of the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Crown Prosecution Service. Warning: its portrayal of the trial process is a travesty of reality – it should not be taken as any sort of representation of what happens in practice.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962): Based on Harper Lee's classic novel, this tells the story of attorney Atticus Finch's defence of a black man falsely accused of rape. The recent publication of Harper Lee's follow up novel Go Set a Watchman brings a new dimension to the tale.

Erin Brockovich (2000): A great 'cause lawyering' film. A clerk in a small law office pursues an action against a huge corporation, suspected of widespread land pollution. It's a pity no similar UK film was made about the Sunday Times classic investigation into the thalidomide drug.

This compilation, however, is not everything to the “legal thrill” that has been captured on celluloid; you may invest your weekend night in any of the following: Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Reversal of Fortune (1990), 10 Rillington Place (1971), The Paper Chase (1973), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), and Bridge of Spies (2015).