Amoral Attorney: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

 

A possible reason lawyers form such Acceptable Targets may be that people generally only interact with them directly at difficult times in their lives (when facing criminal sanction, civil suits, or the complexity of land laws when buying a house), meaning individuals are not associated with the good parts of the legal system, like public order and good lawmaking.

 

 

 

* ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]''. One of these attacks Togusa on the stand after he shoots a rich cyborg kid, trying to make it seem like it was a cold blooded attack on the cyborg due to Togusa's supposed technophobic beliefs, instead of the fact that the cyborg was in the process of murdering his ex-girlfriend. When Section 9 discover that the lawyer is linked with elements plotting against it, he and his client [[Make It Look Like an Accident|have a fatal road accident]].

 

* Shark-man lawyer, Mr. Larry "Frenzy" Fischmann, in ''[[Top Ten]]'' is a prime example. When one of his clients commits suicide in police custody, all he cares about is his fee. When [[Kaiju|Gograh]] shows up at the Top Ten, causing the earth to shake with each footstep, Frenzy says he'll sue the department if he gets whiplash from falling down in their building. At one point, Alexei "Spaceman" Glushko makes a comment about his people not having evolved in millions of years - Frenzy takes offense and cites this as one of many common misconceptions about sharks. Spaceman wasn't talking about sharks. Fischmann is a senior partner at Metavac, Fischmann, and ''Goebbels'', by the way. That's ''Eddie'' Goebbels, a ''hypnotist''.

* Averted in the ''[[Astro City]]'' story "Knock Wood": the protagonist is a defense attorney who has to defend the son of a mob boss accused of murder. Despite the air-tight case (the crime occurred in a nightclub with 59 witnesses) and concerns about mob ties, he performs his job diligently, insisting on following the system. By raising the possibility that [[Comic Book Tropes]] were involved, he introduces enough doubt in the jury to win the case. {{spoiler|He then gets into further trouble when the defendant's father wants to recruit him...and refuses to take "no" for an answer.}}

* The classic [[Carl Barks]] [[Donald Duck]] story "The Golden Helmet" (and [[Don Rosa]]'s sequel "The Lost Charts of Columbus") features corrupt lawyer Sylvester Sharkey working with con-man Azure Blue.

** Barks wrote his story shortly after he'd been through an ugly divorce with his second wife, and was presumably not a big fan of lawyers at the time.

* Mentioned briefly in one ''[[Birds of Prey]]'' story arc. The Twelve, a group of brothers named after the Chinese Zodiac (with Rabbit acting as their spokesman and leader), each with near Shiva level martial arts talent, are sent to defend a shipment of drugs to Gotham. The Birds of Prey engage them until Lady Blackhawk renders the whole fight meaningless by blowing up the drug shipment with her fighter jet. Having failed their mission, the Twelve surrender:

{{quote|'''Rabbit:''' We have at our disposal creatures far more ruthless and terrible than even ourselves. ''Lawyers.''}}

* There is an attorney in [[Sin City]] that only appears in one panel where he tells Marv that if he doesn't sign a confession, [[The Mafia]] will kill his mother. [[Laser-Guided Karma|He gets his arm broken in three places.]]

 

* After proving that the young Linguini is the rightful heir to Gusteau's restaurant, the lawyer in ''[[Ratatouille]]'' is perfectly happy to advise his client on how to cheat the boy out of his inheritance.

* The ''[[Erin Brockovich]]'' movie.

* Lampshaded in the film ''[[Blade (film)|Blade II]]'':

* ''[[The Devil's Advocate]]''. Satan himself is apparently a scummy defense attorney.

** Well, of course. He ''is'' canonically a prosecutor. You think you can just change sides in the courtroom and do just as well?

*** Which ties into the biggest hotspot of the movie: at the end, the [[Reset Button]] is pushed, and he decides to walk away from defending the pedophile - while saying that he'll be disbarred for the act. IRL, lawyers are [[But Thou Must!|legally compelled]] to do ''everything'' Lomax did throughout the movie (besides {{spoiler|screw their half-sisters to sire the Anti Christ}}). If there's the slightest chance the jury will swallow a given defense, '''lawyers have to present it to them''' - '''''it's [[Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught]]!'''''

* Averted in ''Legal Eagles'', which is more or less a movie ''about'' defense attorneys. The only lawyer who's portrayed negatively is a prosecutor, and he's just a jerk, not evil.

* ''[[Changing Lanes]]'' stars [[Ben Affleck]] as a high-powered estate attorney, but he's not amoral. {{spoiler|His bosses, on the other hand, epitomize this trope.}}

* ''[[Planes, Trains and Automobiles]]'' - Neal Page (Steve Martin) tries to bribe a man to get into his cab. The man finally says that he will give it for $50. But when Neal is about to give him the money, he says a man who will pay $50 for a cab would certainly pay $75.

{{quote|'''Neal:''' All right. $75. You're a thief!

** On the idealistic hand, he believes in the system and its ability to protect the innocent from wrongful punishment.

{{quote|'''Martin Vail:''' I believe in the notion that people are innocent until proven guilty. I believe in that notion because I choose to believe in the basic goodness of people. I choose to believe that not all crimes are committed by bad people. And I try to understand that some very, very good people do some very bad things.}}

{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Aaron Stampler}}:''' Don't be like that, Marty. We did it, man. We fucking did it. We're a great team, you and me. You think I could've done this without you?}}

* ''Eye For An Eye'' (1996) had an interesting case. A man breaks into a house to rape and kill a teenager. The only evidence is a small amount of blood - enough for the prosecution to identify him with their own tests, but not enough for the defense to run tests of their own. He, of course, gets [[Off on a Technicality]], leading to the main plot - {{spoiler|the girl's mother suckering the killer into targeting her so she can kill him in self-defense.}} The part that gets you wondering why we don't kill every lawyer on Earth? The defense was invited to have their own experts participate in testing the blood - they declined. ''Then'', they sprung the technicality. They ''purposefully'' refused to participate in the investigation so their killer rapist (who already had a record of stalking) could go free.

* [[Michael Clayton]] (2007) deconstructs and subverts this trope several times. The [[Designated Villain]] is this, but is a [[Punch Clock Villain]] who is [[This Is Your Brain on Evil|extremely neurotic and edgy]] off the clock. One of the main characters does a [[Heel Face Turn]] from this at the beginning of the movie, the protagonist {{spoiler|does the same by the end}}.

* Linda from ''Madea Goes To Jail''. She pads her cases with other previous cases, thus getting the people she's convicting more time than they are supposed to get. She gets a girl seventeen years in prison for two counts of prostitution when only four are allowed. She gets fired and she also gets arrested and left at the altar. And the worst part? The prostitute case is just because her fiance was spending more time concerned about an old friend in trouble than focusing on their upcoming wedding.

* Charles McCarter in ''[[Diary of a Mad Black Woman]]'' is revealed to {{spoiler|have gotten quite a bit of his money from defending rich criminals who were obviously guilty.}}

* In ''[[The Verdict]]'', both Galvin and Cancannon are willing to resort to tactics of questionable morality, though they both also show a dedication to justice.

* Chris in ''[[The Woman]]'', though most of his evilness is shown outside the courtroom. His wife even calls him out on it, noting that, as a lawyer, he should know that what he's doing is illegal and could get him thrown in jail.

 

* '' [[The Sweet Hereafter]]:'' in the original novel by Russell Banks, Mitchell Stephens clearly comes across as one to many of the townsfolk. However, his reasoning is more complex: he's a shark in court, going after what he perceives as huge, uncaring entities who try to cut costs, in order to make it more expensive for them.

* In ''[[A Little Princess]]'', Mister Barrow lets Miss Minchin know he has no plans to help her out of the debt Captain Crew left her when he died. He suggests using Sara as a servant, and commends Minchin when she angrily implies she'll work the girl to the bone and abuse her (which she does).

* Annawake Fourkiller, the merciless Cherokee attorney from the novel ''Pigs In Heaven''. She doesn't do much direct lawyering, but she's definitely amoral, with her constant bantering that all white people should be held accountable for the Trail of Tears, her near-stalker-like following of the main character, and attempts to take her daughter away. And, near the end of the novel, when her elderly uncle tells her off, she responds by [[Kick the Dog|beating him with a shoe]]. She does mellow out eventually.

* Mr. Slant from [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' is a lawyer and a zombie. Other zombies, such as Reginald Shoe, can be quite moral, but Slant appears to be motivated only by greed and is quite willing to break the law. He is also quite quick to abandon his partners in crime.

* ''[[Rumpole of the Bailey]]''. The main character is a deeply honest criminal defense barrister who has successfully defended known criminals on more than one occasion (even murderers, though he doesn't usually discover this until after the verdict has been passed). His colleagues run the gamut from petty and mercenary to almost as upstanding as Rumpole (one is a member of a group called Lawyers As Christians), sometimes within the confines of the same story.

** Rumpole draws the line at representing someone who has said, in so many words, "I did it", often desperately trying to shut his clients up before they can spout [[Too Much Information]]. And he will have nothing to do with anything resembling subornation of perjury.

* Double averted in ''[[X Wing Series|The Krytos Trap]]''. Nawara, defending Tycho, is opposed by the prosecutor Halla Ettyk, who is determined to see Tycho guilty. Nawara trusts Tycho completely; they flew on the same squadron and Tycho repeatedly risked his life to save other Rogues. Halla, when one of the victim's friends wonders if Tycho might be innocent, tells her "[[Hold Your Hippogriffs|Don't plot a course into that black hole]]" and says that she isn't the trier of fact in this case. That's the tribunal's job; she just has to present the best case she can muster and see if the defense can knock it apart. Then Halla lets the victim's friend start investigating. It's not personal, and fees are never mentioned.

* [[Older Than Print]]: The 13th century ''[[The Icelandic Sagas|Njal's Saga]]'' has an early instance of this trope, [[Unbuilt Trope|if it really could be called a trope back then]]. When the killers of Njal and his family are sued by Njal's friends, the former enlist the help of the famous lawyer Eyjolf Bolverksson, who subsequently continually tries to invalidate the suit on petty technicalities, and {{spoiler|eventually succeeds.}} Which is an ambivalent outcome because {{spoiler|he gets killed for it.}} Though he is not an attorney in a strict sense (because Old Icelandic law had no such institution), he acts just like one. [[Values Dissonance|Strangely]], his amorality is not so much demonstrated by his playing on technicalities (which is common tactics), or his support of a guilty party (the killers never deny the deed, which legally is only [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|the usual manslaughter, not murder]]), but by his acceptance of a gold bracelet as a payment in advance, which is against conventions and perceived as a dishonest act.

* Earlier in his life, Edgar from the ''[[Night Watch (novel)|Night Watch]]'' novels was a very successful small town attorney. Edgar is a Dark Other. Do the math.

* Napoleon Chotas in ''[[Sidney Sheldon|The Other Side of Midnight]]'' and its sequel ''Memories of Midnight'' specializes in getting wealthy, powerful clients declared not guilty of their crimes -- ''especially'' when there's a ton of evidence that would support a guilty verdict. In ''Memories of Midnight'', he drinks the poison a woman used to kill her husband to prove to the jury that it wasn't actually poison at all; in truth, it ''was'' poison and he barely manages to get his stomach pumped afterward. In ''The Other Side of Midnight'', he is immediately hired by Constantin Demeris to represent his mistress Noelle in her murder trial, and does a stunning job of it. {{spoiler|However, Constantin has Napoleon lie to Noelle and her lover (the other defendant) that if they plead guilty, they'll get a lighter sentence, when, in fact, they'll be put to death by a firing squad; this is Constantin's way to punish the lovers for crossing him. The sequel reveals Napoleon's regret; he too fell in love with Noelle. Constantin tries to have him killed to hide his crimes, but Napoleon survives to successfully defend him in his own murder trial -- and immediately afterward, kills him and himself.}}

* Edward St. John "Loophole" Latham in ''[[Wild Cards]]''. No one can tell if the titular virus [[Complete Monster|burned away his conscience]] or if he's naturally the best lawyer in the world.

** In a later book, it's implied that the wild card has nothing to do with him being the best lawyer in the world. {{spoiler|He contracts the virus, and is given the ability to [[Body Surf]], as well as create other Body Surfers by anal rape.}}

* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: Played with like you would not believe! On one side is Nikki Quinn, a defense attorney. On the other side is Jack Emery, a prosecuting attorney. Nikki defends a woman who shot the man who raped and murdered her daughter, and she shot the guy after the guy was found not guilty! Jack prosecutes the woman, which is ironic, because he prosecuted that murdering rapist and failed to convict the guy. Of course, Nikki is portrayed as the sympathetic one, and Jack is portrayed as the total [[Jerkass]] in that situation. You would find it hard to believe that Nikki and Jack are girlfriend and boyfriend! To Jack's credit, he did reveal in his thoughts that he is not heartless, and that he doesn't know what he would have done if he had a daughter who was raped and murdered. Funny enough, Nikki becomes a vigilante, Jack becomes an ally of the Vigilantes, and so does a defense attorney named Lizzie Fox. In the book ''The Jury'', a defense attorney named Allison Banks, against all advice, defends the Barringtons, a group of slimeballs who let a herd of horses starve to death and only used them for profit. Nikki's firm suffered a major blow in its reputation, and Nikki fired and punched out Banks in short order. Then it turns out that Banks was essentially in bed with the Barringtons, the judge presiding over their case, receiving kickbacks from them, ''and'' was not really Allison Banks. It turned out that Allison died years ago, and that an imposter had assumed her identity. Unbelievable!

 

** As well as some of the prosecutors. Jack McCoy, in particular, is known for hiding evidence, bullying witnesses, and generally [[Loophole Abuse|abusing the hell out of the law]] to get convictions. Although McCoy can generally be characterised as playing hard, but within legal limits, this isn't always the case. Withholding evidence, for example, is illegal when the evidence is sufficient to prove innocence. This is often referred to as [[wikipedia:Brady material|Brady material]]. McCoy at least (usually) had the good graces to feel bad about some of his less proud moments, and also often has people telling him, [[What the Hell, Hero?|"YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!"]] when he goes overboard.

** One of the few exceptions is a recurring lawyer on ''SVU'' played by [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001633/ Annie Potts], who gets brought in whenever the show decides to have a ''really'' sympathetic defendant.

** An even bigger exception would be Danielle Melnick, plays by [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0271165/ Tovah Feldshuh], a one-woman crusader for the Bill of Rights whose sole justification for working so hard to defend some of the worst dregs of humanity is that the Constitution says that even the worst deserve a defense in court. A Jewish woman, she even once defended a Neo-Nazi because of her belief in the Constitutional right to a fair trial.

** Alan Shore started out in ''[[The Practice]]'' (and in ''[[Boston Legal]]'', although he became less scummy as the series went on) as an exemplary example of an Amoral Attorney. His unethical behavior caused him to be fired from the firm in The Practice, which he successfully sues and, after stealing client files, goes to Boston Legal's firm of Crane, Poole, and Schmidt. One of the best moments of his that shows just how amoral he is can be found halfway [http://www.generationterrorists.com/cgi-bin/boston_legal.cgi?ep=104 down here], with him browbeating the nebbish store clerk who saw his client, a very wealthy woman and kleptomaniac, stuff a scarf into her purse:

{{quote|"He would fire me, Miles, if I didn't explore every nuance and shadow of your personality. Every secret place and insufficiency in the hours that you will spend in that witness chair, Miles, in front of all those friends you invited. And when I'm finished with you, even they will think you are a vindictive, pathetic little sycophant who has falsely accused and probably framed a fine woman for something she never did and never would do only so that you could get at long last your moment of attention. By the time I'm done, I'll have you believing you put that scarf in her handbag. Lee Tyler can afford to hire any attorney in the world. She's chosen me. Do you wonder if I'm any good, Miles? Do you really wonder?"}}

* The protagonists of both the classic courtroom drama ''[[Perry Mason]]'' and its [[Spiritual Successor]], ''[[Matlock]]'', avert this in a very odd way. While both Perry Mason and Ben Matlock are successful and honorable defense attorneys, they always win by uncovering the real guilty party and [[The Perry Mason Method|dramatically presenting]] proof of their guilt in court. In other words, in order to redeem his role as a defense attorney, each hero has to also do the prosecutor's job, and offer up someone else to take the innocent defendant's place in jail. Of course, prosecuting attorneys and rival lawyers in both shows are likely to fit this trope perfectly.

* In the 1990s ''[[Superman]]'' series ''[[Lois and Clark]]'', an episode involved Superman being [[Frivolous Lawsuit|sued for injuring a man whilst saving his life]], which eventually snowballed into a class action lawsuit against him. He thus had to find an "honest lawyer" to defend him, and only managed to find '''one'''. In the ''whole of [[New York City|Metropolis]]''. Willing to defend '''[[Superman]]'''. For all its shiny loveliness, this suggests that Metropolis is actually one heck of a [[Crapsack World|Crapsack City]].

*** Or ''maybe'' they're just the only people smart enough to realize that you can't take a person to court if you ''don't know their actual name.''

* Recently, Karl Mayer of ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' has revealed himself to be one. If the promos are any indication, {{spoiler|not only is he not above cheating Bree's soon-to-be-ex spouse out of money he is entitled to, he is also willing to talk Bree into staging a robbery in her own house.}}

** Also subverted in general: Lampkin may be ruthless, but he's also very principled: after all, he indicates that devotion to the principle that everyone deserves a good defense is why he took Baltar's case in the first place.

* Jeff Winger in ''[[Community]]'' is an unapologetic version of this trope...at least for now. The very fact that he lied about having a college degree is the reason he's at community college in the first place. A colleague of his said the pair (known as Sundance and Tango - they had different partners) were called 'the litter bugs' by prosecutors because they put so much trash back on the streets.

** In one episode, Lois's mother suffered an accident at the family's home and sued them. When it was revealed that they had no insurance and their house was the only thing that could be taken from them, the lawyer representing the plaintiff withdrew himself from the case because, while he had no qualms about sending poor people to live on the streets, he would not do it for only 40% of a house that fits in his garage.

** When Francis decided that he wanted to be emancipated, his lawyer said that he'd need the signatures of his parents. Francis quickly forged their signatures ''in front of the lawyer'', who simply went ahead with the emancipation.

* Mostly averted in the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' [[Courtroom Episode]], where the defense attorney is maybe a bit irritating, but not really amoral. He actually makes some valid points about the flaws in criminal profiling, one of which (the fact that Richard Jewell fit the profile of the Olympic Bomber, who then turned out to be innocent) was actually raised by Agent Morgan himself in a previous episode.

* An episode of ''[[Tales from the Crypt]]'', "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime", featured one who ended up in a nightmareish [[Kangaroo Court]].

* ''[[Suits]]'' features a [[Villain Protagonist]] Amoral Attorney ([[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|although he's nice-ish to his newbie partner]]). Also noteworthy for being [[Magnificent Bastard|magnificent]] and [[Deadpan Snarker|hilarious]].

* ''[[Adam-12]]'' has a very balanced position in the early episode, "Courtroom", where Reed makes a drug bust with a legally questionable search. In the resulting trial, the defense lawyer gets his client off with a well reasoned argument based on clear legal decisions, but his only response to the client afterward is that the defendant will get his bill. Furthermore, the defense lawyer makes it clear to Reed that he is as committed to his own binding oath to serve his necessary role in the Justice System as the officer is.

* ''[[Franklin and Bash]]'' has Damien in the first episode, when he colludes with a CEO to sell out an airline pilot to limit an airline's liability by paying a witness to make false testimony. He gets better as the season progresses.

* Double-subverted (to an exaggerated degree) on ''[[The Closer]]'' in the episode "Power of Attorney." At one point, Brenda and Sergeant Gabriel confront a slick lawyer who represents their chief suspect in a series of brutal rapes, the last one of which ended in murder, and ask him how he can represent such a reprehensible person and live with himself. The lawyer gives an impassioned speech arguing that, since those accused of sex offenses face not only harsh sentences but lifelong punishment in the form of mandatory public registration, they deserve an even better defense than other criminals. Of course, in the end, it turns out that not only is the suspect guilty, but {{spoiler|the lawyer was his accomplice all along (and the one who actually committed the rapes and the murder); he was just defending the guy so he could muddy the waters enough that he could never be convicted of the crimes}}.

 

* In an early ''[[Dilbert]]'' comic, Dilbert was concerned that a new invention of his might be dangerous, so he decided to seek legal counseling. After explaining his situation to a lawyer, Dilbert asked if he would help. The lawyer replied, "nah, it sounds like I could make more money by suing you."

* During the later [[Author Tract]] years of Chester Gould's run on [[Dick Tracy (comic strip)|Dick Tracy]], these were a common appearance. The most notorious was Flyface, a man so filthy that flies followed him everywhere. The later introduction of Flyface's family (who, including children, were all similarly disgusting) was apparently enough to get the strip canceled from a couple of papers.

* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[The Far Side]]''. An explorer discovers a tribe of natives and tries to placate them with beads and trinkets. The tribe responds by sending out their fiercest lawyers, who all chant "Sue him! Sue him!"

* This trope is one of the main themes of [[Non Sequitur (comic strip)|Non Sequitur]].

 

* "Innocence" by [[Disturbed]] is about corrupt lawyers and the people they choose to defend for their own benefit.

 

 

* ''[[Chicago]]'' has the "silver-tongued prince of the court room", Billy Flynn.

* Roy Marcus Cohn from ''[[Angels in America]]''. He was also one in [[Real Life]], naturally, although his villainy in both goes [[Complete Monster|far beyond this]].

'''Cade:''' Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled o'er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings: but I say, 'tis the bee's wax; for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since. }}

* The learned judge in [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''Trial by Jury'' was once one of these:

 

** Franziska von Karma: See above, coupled with an obsession with succeeding where {{spoiler|her adopted brother (NOT her father)}} failed. She also badgers witnesses, either with threats of legal action or with her whip.

** Manfred von Karma: Besides strong implications of forging evidence and tampering with witnesses, he was also so obsessed with perfection that when a defense attorney got him penalized in court, he took a six-month vacation - his first in the entirety of his thirty-year career. {{spoiler|The real reason for the vacation was to cover his tracks after he was accidentally shot in the shoulder when he killed the defense attorney responsible.}} In what is perhaps the most shining example of [[Disproportionate Retribution]] in video game history, {{spoiler|he then proceeded to raise the victim's son to be a twisted opposite of everything his father stood for, only to have him accused of ''his own father's murder'' right before the statute of limitations on the murder ran out, all to get revenge on the victim!}} He's the Trope image for a ''damn good'' reason.

** In ''Ace Attorney Investigations'', {{spoiler|prosecutor Byrne Faraday}} manages a partial subversion. {{spoiler|When he failed to convict a murderer and smuggling ring member, he took to stealing evidence of shady dealings from businesses and sending it to the media. It's not so much immoral as illegal.}} Played straight with {{spoiler|Jacques Portsman and Calisto Yew. Yew isn't even a defense attorney, she's a plant by the smuggling ring who also participated in Faraday's thieving antics.}} Who's running the lawyer vetting system around here?

*** In ''Gyakuten Kenji 2'', we have {{spoiler|prosecutor Bansai Ichiyanagi. He ran an illegal auction, selling evidence of past cases to anonymous bidders. He also murdered two people and was part of the group that ordered the assassination of Teikun O, the same incident that ruined the House of Lang's reputation as reputable investigators. He was also the Chief Prosecutor who gave von Karma his only penalty, even though he was the one who provided the forged evidence himself.}}

* Igland of the Swift Sword in ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' [[You Fail Logic Forever|is willing to fail logic forever]] in order to secure a conviction, doesn't care if there are mitigating factors, and begins screaming about bribery should you succeed. Of course, your character is permitted to ''commit out-and-out bribery and corruption'' in order to get him off. After you finish the trial, [[Failure Is the Only Option|relationships between the victim's culture and the defendant's tribe get worse no matter what happened]].

*** [[Role Playing Game Terms|Perhaps he had a high Charisma score...]]

* Played straight and averted in ''In The 1st Degree''. Averted with the prosecutor Sterling Granger because 1. You are playing as him and 2. The defendant you are trying to prove is guilty of Murder One and Grand Theft is as sleazy as they come. Played straight with the defendant's defense attorney Cynthia Charleston, who ''will'' do her best to defend the guy. In fact, if you ask Ruby Garcia, the defendant's girlfriend, the right questions, she'll end up yelling at Charleston about how her own boyfriend is a murderer, that Charleston knows he's guilty, and how can Charleston live with herself over defending this guy.

* "Legal" Lee from the ''[[Saints Row]]'' series is the player's contact for Insurance Fraud missions. In the beginning of ''Saints Row 2'', he's defending [[Ax Crazy|Johnny Gat]] on a triple-digit murder charge when the player busts up the trial to rescue him. In the aftermath, all Lee does is hide and ask if anybody's hit and needs a lawyer.

 

* Dan Mason, the protagonist of ''[[Accuser]]'', used to be a criminal defense attorney who didn't care if his clients were guilty or not as long as they paid for his services.

 

** Massey Reinstein, the legal consultant of ''Tagon's Toughs'', is a very intentional subversion, however.

{{quote|'''Narrator''' (while Massey is being tortured by the Collective): Yes, I know they ARE all lawyers. You're supposed to be rooting for the friendly human one.}}

* ''[[Its Walky]]'' has a lawyer of this nature who goes after the SEMME agency because he believes that they're reckless, irresponsible, immature, psychologically unstable, and hormonal time-bombs who cause an immense amount of destruction and death and, in some ways, do more harm than good. Although he's a slimy, unscrupulous jackass, it's kind of hard to argue with him.

* [[Played With]] with ''[[Homestuck]]'''s Terezi Pyrope. She wants to be a lawyer when she grows up, and since every court on Alternia is a [[Kangaroo Court]], "There is no such thing as a defense attorney. Or a defense." On the one hand, she's a [[Magnificent Bastard]] who [[Troll|screws with people for fun]], but on the other, she honestly cares about justice and [[Guile Hero|is ultimately on the side of the good guys]].

 

{{quote|'''George Meyers, Jr.:''' That's it... That's it, little girl! You just saved ''Itchy and Scratchy''!

'''Lawyer:''' Please sign these papers indicating that you did not save ''Itchy and Scratchy''. }}

* Another less-than-competent example is Kyle Broslovski's lawyer father, Gerald, who nonetheless proceeds to help Eric Cartman and a number of other ''[[South Park]]'' children bankrupt the local school system through a series of [[Frivolous Lawsuit|frivolous sexual harassment lawsuits]], the money from which he uses to build a huge mansion for his family. Despite this, Gerald is often portrayed as a competent lawyer, even in this episode.

** As South Park tends to do, though, the treatment of lawyers is surprisingly fair. They're in it for the money, not [[For the Evulz]], and when the good guys can scrape together the cash, [[South Park]]!Johnny Cochrane uses his [[Chewbacca Defense]] for them instead.

{{quote|'''Aunt Figg:''' Now stop talking! You're a lawyer -- ''scheme!''

'''Lickboot:''' We've got to have more... MONEEEY!'' }}

* ''[[Gary the Rat]]'' is all about an unscrupulous lawyer.

* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' gives us Monstroso, a super villain lawyer, which is, as Dr. Mrs. the Monarch describes it, "Like having a shark with a grenade launcher on its head."

** More recently, it was revealed that [[Evil Twin|Foop]] became a lawyer in his never ending quest to upstage Poof (he apparently got his degree while in prison).

{{quote|'''Foop''': I knew that in order to defeat you, Poof, I needed to become something ''truly'' evil -- a lawyer!}}

* In an episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'', after Peter claims he'd sell his soul for fame, the devil finds out he already sold it...twice! He asks where he can find a lawyer. Pan to see everyone in hell raise their hands.

 

* For that matter, Roy Cohn himself is [[Truth in Television]] for this trope. One of Joe McCarthy's main allies (which, of course, [[Acceptable Targets|would be endearing enough by itself]]), outside of his association with McCarthy, he faced numerous proceedings for professional misconduct (including perjury and witness tampering) and was eventually disbarred. He once tried to forge a dying and comatose man's signature on a will that would make him beneficiary by forcing a pen in the man's hand and putting it to the document. As if that wasn't bad enough, although himself a closeted homosexual, one of his favourite tactics during his anti-communism days was to relentlessly pursue and expose people for homosexuality (whether true or not), which, in those days, meant complete ruin and even suicide for those so exposed. [[Sarcasm Mode|A charming man and a credit to his profession.]]

* [[Truth in Television]]: watch lawyers-to-be go the rounds in a mock trial competition. During the competition, your team switches sides on a regular basis, so you must have a solid defence for both sides of the case.

* Mike Nifong of Duke Lacrosse Rape Case fame. He withheld DNA evidence that could have exonerated the accused, used his position to try and intimidate a immigrant taxi driver who could place one of the accused across town while the alleged rape was going on, made false statements to the press, and just generally ignored the rules of conduct as he saw fit. He was disbarred and spent a day in prison.

* Edward J. O'Hare, Sr., also known as "Easy Eddie", was business associate and legal representative of [[Al Capone]]. With his help, Capone and many of Capone's associates were able to avoid arrest on gambling charges (he also made a small fortune after cheating some inventor's poor widow out of the inventor's patent rights). Possibly subverted in that O'Hare turned federal informant and was instrumental in Capone's arrest on tax evasion. Legend has it that he did so to provide a good example for his son Butch, who later became a war hero and Medal of Honor recipient. Then again, maybe Easy Eddie just wanted to switch sides before the Feds nabbed him too.

* Anti-video game activist [[wikipedia:Jack Thompson (activist)|Jack Thompson]], whose antics are the stuff of legend if you followed his crusade against the internet community in general. His relentless and pointless attacks against Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins (of ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' fame) as well as Scott Ramsoonair (creator of webcomic ''[[VG Cats]]'') goes beyond merely amoral and catapults into [[Cloudcuckoolander]] territory. He eventually got permanently disbarred for his multiple transgressions, not the least of which included accusing the Florida bar itself of being against him.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Courtroom Index]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]