Random Defense Attorneys From Movies You’d Hire To Get You Out Of A Pickl (15 items)

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  (#2) Jake Tyler Brigance

  • A Time to Kill

  Notable Defense Tactics: After his daughter is viciously assaulted and beaten, Carl Lee Hailey goes into the courthouse and slays both of the guilty parties. He is immediately taken into custody, then chooses Jake Brigance to represent him.

  Brigance is concerned he can't get an acquittal, but his closing arguments describe, in painstaking detail, what the young girl went through. When he is finished, he asks them to "now imagine she's white." This helps convince the jury, and Hailey is acquitted.

  Biggest Win: The People vs. Carl Lee Hailey

  Biggest Loss: Unknown
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  (#11) Billy Flynn

  • Roxie Hart, Chicago, Chicago, Chicago

  Notable Defense Tactics: Billy Flynn comes to represent Roxie Hart after she offs her lover, Casely. She initially convinces her husband to confess to doing it, saying Casely is a crook, but he recants when the detective uncovers evidence of Roxie's affair. Flynn uses every trick in the book to discredit witnesses and evidence, doing anything he can to win the case.

  He's the type of attorney you would want on your side if you were absolutely 100% guilty of what you've been charged with. He won't care, he'll make it a media frenzy, and he will get that acquittal, no matter what.

  Biggest Win: The People vs. Roxie Hart

  Biggest Loss: Unknown
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  (#3) Joe Miller

  • Philadelphia

  Notable Defense Tactics: Despite his discomfort at first, Joe Miller agrees to represent Andrew Beckett in his wrongful termination case, which Beckett believes is the result of his manifestation of AIDS. Proving that Beckett was fired for having the disease is no easy task, but Miller manages to do it by tirelessly picking apart numerous stories and innuendo around Beckett's employment; he is able to win the case in the end.

  One of the most telling scenes in the movie involves Miller asking Beckett to take off his shirt so he could show the court an example of the lesions he was showing shortly before he was fired. The shocking revelation helps convince the jury that not only was Beckett fired for having AIDS, but that he deserves punitive damages totaling $5 million.

  Biggest Win: Andrew Beckett vs. Baker McKenzie

  Biggest Loss: The central trial of the film is the one involving Andrew, which he wins, but in the beginning, both attorneys are representing their respective parties against one another in a different lawsuit. The details of the case aren't explored in much length, but Miller loses the case to Beckett.
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  (#13) Arthur Kirkland From 'And Justice for All'

  Notable Defense Tactics: Arthur Kirkland has had trouble with the legal system since becoming an attorney, and he's been charged with contempt of court for it. He routinely goes up against Judge Henry T. Fleming, and the two despise one another. When Fleming is accused of assault, he asks Kirkland to represent him, thinking that having an attorney who publicly hates him arguing for his defense would be an advantage.

  Ultimately, Kirkland takes the case, but shortly before the trial begins, Fleming confesses to him that he did, in fact, inappropriately touch the woman, and he is inclined to do it again. As the trial begins with Kirkland's opening remarks, he loses it and exclaims that his client is guilty, which is followed by the famous line, "You're out of order! You're out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They're out of order!"

  Biggest Win: Unknown

  Biggest Loss: The People vs. Jeff McCullaugh
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  (#8) Elle Woods

  • Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, Legally Blonde, Legally Blonde: The Musical

  Notable Defense Tactics: Elle Woods is put on the defense team of Brooke Windham as part of a special group of students. Eventually, she replaces Windham's counsel despite not having graduated law school yet.

  Upon cross-examining the main witness, Elle quickly realizes she is lying, and it is all figured out due to her knowledge of what a woman would and would not do regarding a perm. Through her examination, she gets the witness to confess, resulting in a dismissal of the charges against her client and the application of new charges against the witness.

  Biggest Win: The People vs. Brooke Windham

  Biggest Loss: Getting fired for opposing her firm's representation of the C'est Magnifique Corporation.
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  (#4) Vinny Gambini

  • My Cousin Vinny

  Notable Defense Tactics: After Stan Rothenstein and Bill Gambini are accused of taking down a store clerk, they call on Bill's cousin Vinny to represent them. It's Vinny's first case, and he's woefully unprepared without the necessary experience to properly defend anyone.

  Fortunately, he perseveres and, in the end, he wins the case by thoroughly examining the evidence, derailing the credibility of the witnesses, and tipping off the sheriff, who ends up finding the ones truly responsible through a little investigative work.

  Biggest Win: The People vs. Bill Gambini and Stan Rothenstein

  Biggest Loss: None

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