Legal thriller
The legal thriller genre is a type of crime fiction genre that focuses on the proceedings of the investigation, with particular reference to the impacts on courtroom proceedings and the lives of characters. The genre came about in the 16th century with the publication of short stories and novels based on court cases taking place at the time. Some of the novels were later adapted into early television series and film productions during the 1950s.
Many legal professionals, including Scott Turow in Presumed Innocent and Harper Lee in To Kill a Mockingbird, constitute the primary authorship of the genre, drawing on their own relevant experiences. The legal thriller genre's courtroom proceedings and legal authorship are ubiquitous characteristics. The genre features lawyers as legal professionals as the supreme hero. Their actions in the courtroom affect the quality of character's lives, as they determine innocence prevailing against injustice.
Legal language is also another characteristic of the legal thriller in that it employs real life lawyer terminology, courtroom, and police procedures among characters. The television shows Suits and How to Get Away with Murder embody the legal thriller, characterized by episodes based on scenarios of legal proceedings similar to actual court scenarios. Novels, films, and television series such as To Kill a Mockingbird, How to Get Away with Murder, and Marshall have received nominated for awards such as the Pulitzer Prize and NAACP Image Award for their awareness of controversial topics such as racial discrimination, gender inequality, the death penalty. The legal thriller genre has expanded to accommodate contemporary social themes while also preserving the general plot and actions of original legal thrillers.
Books
Earliest authors and novels
The earliest written version of legal thrillers came in the form of plays and stories printed in the newspaper date back to the mid-1550s. One of the first authors to bring into existence the legal thriller as a genre in the 1850s was Wilkie Collins. Collins learned from another writer who took an interest in the genre known as Charles Dickens. Among the first books Collins produced included The Woman in White and The Moonstone which was among the first novels to display the storyline of a legal thriller by incorporating the testimonies of various characters to show the storyline of a detective investigating a crime, finding a suspect innocent, and generating a storyline of suspense. In the 20th Century, one of the most popular authors in legal fiction came to be Melville Davisson Post. His style of plots were notoriously fast-paced yet easy to follow as seen in his novel Corpus Delicti where he showcases a calm, collected, intelligent lawyer who advises his clients to go to extreme lengths to defend his case.Between the 1930s–1940s, author and active lawyer, Elre Stanley Gardner, wrote a series of novels that carried out the same proceedings of a legal thrillers as those in previous novels. In 1933, he wrote The Case of the Velvet Claws starring fictional lawyer, Perry Mason, who embarks on a journey of proving the innocence of clients that has been found guilty only to find that the culprit was one of the witnesses all along.
In 1958, author and former American judge, John D. Voelker wrote Anatomy of a Murder. The novel featured a lawyer named Paul Biegler who is in charge of defending a man accused of murdering someone to protect his wife. It became known for being one of the first most realistic legal thrillers for its thorough investigation and use of evidence to find the truth and defend an unlikable character.
Legal thriller novels today
The plot of contemporary legal thrillers takes on similar tropes to that of early legal thriller novels whereby the protagonist is depicted as the hero and the courtroom is established as the setting for the climax.The book A Time To Kill was about a white lawyer named Jake Bridge who is defending a black client Carl Lee Hailey after he was charged with capital murder for killing two white men that raped his daughter. After facing several setbacks outside the court with the family of the deceased, on the day of the verdict, the jury decided to extend an equal standard of justice and mercy to Carl after considering what the outcome would have been had he been white. In A Pitch for Justice, veteran prosecutor, Jaime Brooks is asked to investigate the matter of a pitcher accused of murder for his legal throw against a player. The debate between the lawyers in the courtroom established the courtroom as the place where they would study the unwritten rules of baseball.
Two academically acclaimed legal thrillers that were made into films included Bryan Stevenson's memoir Just Mercy and the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The book Just Mercy details the life of a Bryan Stevenson who is set on correcting racial and social injustice through the Equal Justice Initiative. The book To Kill a Mockingbird details a murder mystery novel that provides close analysis of court proceedings amidst a dark period of racial discrimination in the legal system.
Major authors and their books
Major authors and books of this genre include the following:| Author | Name of Book |
| Bryan Stevenson | Just Mercy |
| Harper Lee | To Kill a Mockingbird |
| Scott Turow | Presumed Innocent |
| John Grisham | The Firm |
| Michael Connelly | The Lincoln Lawyer |
| Linda Fairstein | Final Jeopardy |
| Paul Levine | To Speak for the Dead |
| Patrick Hoffman | Every Man a Menace |
| Vish Dhamija | Doosra |
| Jilliane Hoffman | Retribution |
| Mark Gimenez | The Color of Law |
| Marcia Clark | Guilt by Association |
| James Grippando | The Pardon |
Television
Earliest legal thrillers in television
The earliest legal drama began with the 1955 premiere of the popular American television show, "Perry Mason." This series follows the career of a criminal defense lawyer by the name of Perry Mason who deals with clients that had been wrongfully accused of murder. While Mason works on his defense of the client who is accused, detective Arthur Tragg and prosecutor, Hamilton Burger work together to build a case against Mason's client. During trial, Mason conducts his own investigation where he goes on to uncover illegal or morally incorrect behavior of those accusing the client. The show was central in introducing the theme of "moral ambiguity" referring to the moral conflicts that emerge in the plot of legal thrillers.Following Perry Mason's show was The Defenders. It showcased a father and son lawyer duo named Lawrence Preston and Kenneth Preston who frequently found themselves taking on controversial cases such as abortion, capital punishment, insanity defense, and more. In the episode, "The Benefactor," they were seen to be defending a doctor arrested by police for performing illegal abortion. The episode ended with doctor being found guilty for performing the abortion but the judge suspended his sentence. When interviewed by The View Magazine regarding the themes covered by the show, screenwriter, Reginald Rose stated that "We're committed to controversy."
Contemporary themes and language in legal thriller television
Social justice themes were prevalent within this show and police procedural elements in subsequent shows such as Arrest and Trial. The development of these television shows led to the creation of the most famous TV shows of the 1990s, Law & Order. Different categories of legal thriller shows also developed, such as courtroom drama, ensemble shows, and police detective dramas. The characters in these shows displayed ardent personality traits when investigating and dealing with complex legal issues of the justice system.In How To Get Away with Murder the series features a legal professional as the leading teacher and a group of law students who devise tactics to combat various criminal cases and murder mysteries.
Australia, Denmark, and Poland import 62% of law and justice shows from the United States. Legal thriller television is mostly sourced from the American jurisdiction.
Australian legal thriller shows developed in the 1980s and 1990s covered both adjudication and punishment. The television shows concerning adjudication and punishment consist of the soap opera, Carson's Law and SeaChange. Both shows feature female lawyers who experience prejudice from males in their legal careers.
Thematic ideas of justice and equality are associated with the female lawyer protagonist's fight for change to break the glass ceiling. The inequality of men and women prevalent in the set time of the 1920s contribute to these themes present. In 2014, Australian legal thrillers developed were limited, compared to previous years that are tabulated with "45%".
In Britain, the most dominant form of legal thrillers are police and detective shows. Examples of these include the Dixon of Dock Green and The Sweeney. Women also played a role in these television shows as evident in Juliet Bravo and C.A.T.S. Eyes. Courtroom drama in Britain featured the series Justice as a prominent show, where the courtroom drama played a big role in its characteristic of the legal thriller. As Britain has three legal systems, this distinction was made apparent in the television shows, also highlighting barristers and advocates in wigs as part of the show.
As American shows dominate the legal thriller genre today, the characteristic of legal language has emerged. In the American legal drama Suits, the series follows the career of a university expellee named Mike Ross, who is hired as a lawyers at Harvey Spector despite not having a license to practice law. The show features Mike Ross and other lawyers engage in various court proceedings throughout which they make their case using Latin and French legal terminology including terms such as "affidavit", "plaintiff", "defendant", "malfeasance", and "in lieu".