History Main / SimpleCountryLawyer

--->'''[=McCoy=]:''' I'm not a magician, Spock, just an old country doctor.\\

** Lionel Hutz occasionally slipped into this. He, too, was played by Creator/PhilHartman.

** PlayedForLaughs in yet another episode of ''The Simpsons'':

** Homer does this while [[AFoolForAClient representing himself]] in one comic. His whole opening statement is "I'm not a fancy big-city lawyer." He explains that that's all he learned from watching Matlock with his father.

** A humanoid chicken who calls himself "just a simple hyperchicken from a backwoods asteroid". His name is generally treated as "The Hyper-Chicken", but according to a deleted scene from ''Into the Wild Green Yonder'', said chicken's name is "[[Series/{{Matlock}} Matcluck]]". Despite this trope, he holds an on-screen perfect record of 2 successful defenses and 2 successful prosecutions, having been representation for Planet Express staff, the planet Earth, and the Democratic Order of Planets. He managed to negotiate a sweet deal for Bender ''while under arrest himself'', "awaitin' trial for that there ''incompetence.''" in "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz". One of those insanity defenses was simply saying "Well for starters, they hired ''me'' as their lawyer".
** One-shot character Oldman Waterfall (of the recurring Waterfall family) makes the above chicken look like a regular city slicker in comparison. Despite this, he was very socially liberal (and in a way that was positively portrayed, unlike the rest of his StrawmanPolitical family). He also argued for the validity of bisexual polygamist marriage. ...and Satanic funerals.
** The episode "A Clockwork Origin" has Bender attempt to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope while defending the Professor on charges of claiming Creationism to the species of robots who he caused to evolve (ItMakesSenseInContext). The prosecution objects to Bender wearing redundant suspenders when he has no pants.
* From ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':

* Creator/DustinHoffman plays the Simple Country Lawyer in ''Film/RunawayJury'', going against the jury-rigger played by Gene Hackman.

* Spencer Tracy plays with this trope as Chief Judge Dan Haywood in ''Film/JudgmentAtNuremberg.'' While he's the judge, not a lawyer, he makes it clear that he's a simple jurist from the woods of Maine, and needs help understanding the German cultural issues surrounding the trials. When it comes time for the tribunal to make their decision, he tells his fellow judges to stop with the legalese, and (plain-n-simply) decide if the defendants were responsible for their actions.

-->'''Roger Ebert:''' I've rarely been more aware than during Steven Spielberg's ''Lincoln'' that Abraham Lincoln was a plain-spoken, practical, down-to-earth man from the farmlands of Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois.

** The SNL writers pushed the trope to its limits by introducing the simplest, countriest attorney possible: Cirroc, the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, who ''loved'' deploying this tactic during his legal arguments:

** Lionel Hutz occasionally slipped into this. He, too, was played by Phil Hartman.

'''Ned:''' ''[sighs]'' I suppose if you must know, I'm... well, I... I'm 60.

* A mythology has built up around UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln which seeks to paint him as this trope. Whilst he might have ''started'' that way, he built his firm into a ruthless business-law juggernaut which cornered the market in Springfield (an important market, because, Springfield being the capital of Illinois, Lincoln could easily litigate cases in the Illinois Supreme Court and could help with lobbying the Illinois Legislature). Abe Lincoln was more akin to a modern corporate lawyer; he was placed on retainer by Illinois Central Railroad in 1853, he later demanded $2000 ($62000 in 2021 money), and, when they refused to pay, took them to court and won $5000 ($155000 in 2021). He also once offered to desert them and represent their opponents if they could match his fee. He was basically the [[Franchise/AceAttorney Franziska von Karma]] of the ''antebellum'' legal world.

** They pushed the trope to its limits by introducing the simplest, countriest attorney possible: Cirroc, the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, whose legal arguments were sterling examples of this tactic.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers''' had Tiny Attorney, a weird cross between Matlock and [[Film/TotalRecall1990 Cuato from ''Total Recall'']]. He had lines like "I may just be a growth on the stomach of an inbred simpleton]], but...", and actually says "I'm just a simple country lawyer" at one point.

* ''WesternAnimation/Disenchantment'': When representing Princess Bean during her trial in the Season 1 finale, Luci the demon -- who is often assumed to be a talking cat -- begins his speech by saying "Now, I'm just a simple country cat..." while forming suspenders out of his body; and insults the intelligence of the judge and jury involved.

* A pretty and blonde variant in ''Series/TheGoodWife'', which had recurring antagonist Nancy Crozier, a young attorney fresh from law school. In actuality, she was a [[BitchInSheepsClothing ruthless bitch]], but she loved claiming to juries and opposing attorneys that she was "just a simple girl from Michigan" who was inexperienced with city life and sophisticated business dealings, which annoyed Alicia every time they crossed swords. One time, Alicia beat her by getting her own fresh-from-law-school girl who was even cuter to sit second chair, to a DeathGlare from Nancy.

* ''Series/TheGoodWife'' had recurring antagonist Nancy Crozier, a young blond lawyer fresh from law school. In actuality, she was a [[BitchInSheepsClothing ruthless bitch]], but she loved claiming to juries and opposing attorneys that she was "just a simple girl from Michigan" who was inexperienced with city life and sophisticated business dealings, which annoyed Alicia every time they crossed swords. One time, Alicia beat her by asking an ''actual'' fresh-from-law-school girl who was even cuter to sit second chair, to a DeathGlare from Nancy.

* Creator/WilliamFaulkner has a recurring character named Gavin Stevens, who works as the country attorney in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, a Mississippi backwater, where he is from. He's known to be an honest, intelligent, and observant, member of the community. He solves crime mysteries in court, through observation, questioning, and deduction, similar to ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''. His courtroom presentations are oblique, meandering, and feature Southern patois, characteristic of Faulkner's style.

* Creator/WilliamFaulkner has a recurring character named Gavin Stevens, who works as the country attorney in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, a Mississippi backwater, where he is from; though he was educated at Harvard and Heidelberg, before getting his JD at the University of Mississippi. He's known to be an honest, intelligent and observant, member of the community. He solves crime mysteries in court, through observation, questioning, and deduction, similar to ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''. His courtroom presentations are oblique, meandering, and feature Southern patois, characteristic of Faulkner's style.

* Creator/WilliamFaulkner has a recurring character named Gavin Stevens, a county attorney in a Mississippi backwater (though educated at Harvard). He's known to be a stand-up gentleman, who is both very intelligent and very observant. He solves crime mysteries in court, through observation, questioning, and deduction, in a manner similar to ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'', except his arguments are especially oblique, and meandering.

* Creator/WilliamFaulkner has a recurring character named Gavin Stevens, a county attorney in a Mississippi backwater. He's known to be a stand-up gentleman, who is both very intelligent and very observant. He solves crime mysteries in court, through observation, questioning, and deduction, in a manner similar to ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'', except his arguments are especially oblique, and meandering. Something of a subversion of the trope, in that he was educated at Harvard.

* A Little Caesars commercial has one of these lawyers to declare that their bacon-wrapped deep-deep-dish pizza is perfectly legal.

-->'''Roger Ebert:''' I've rarely been more aware than during Steven Spielberg's ''Lincoln'' that Abraham Lincoln was a plain-spoken, practical, down-to-earth man from the farmlands of Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.

* ''Series/TheGoodWife'' had recurring antagonist Nancy Crozier, a young blond lawyer fresh from law school. In actuality she was a [[BitchInSheepsClothing ruthless bitch]], but she loved claiming to juries and opposing attorneys that she was "just a simple girl from Michigan" who was inexperienced with city life and sophisticated business dealings, which annoyed Alicia every time they crossed swords. One time, Alicia beat her by asking an ''actual'' fresh-from-law-school girl who was even cuter to sit second chair, to a DeathGlare from Nancy.

* Website/TheAgonyBooth: Now, Mr. Mendo's not one of those big city lawyers, but it [[http://www.agonybooth.com/video1135_Commando_1985_Movie_Review.aspx seems to him]] that there's a huge plot-hole in Creator/RaeDawnChong's back-story!

'''Homer:''' Now I'm not a fancy big city lawyer... ''[congregation gasps]'' ...but it seems to me that a senior citizen has to be over 55. Isn't that so?\\

** Homer does this while [[AFoolForAClient representing himself]] in one comic. His whole opening statement is "I'm not a fancy big city lawyer." He explains that that's all he learned from watching Matlock with his father.

* Surprisingly, the great [[{{AncientRome}} Roman]] orator, lawyer and politician Creator/{{Cicero}} fills this trope quite well. Whereas most of the senators, magistrates and lawyers in AncientRome were more or less [[{{Nepotism}} patrician]] (not necessarily [[{{ImpoverishedPatrician}} with money]] though), Cicero was an ''eques'' (well-off, but hardly rich) and from Arpinium--a town in southern Latium which had been conquered, assimilated, and granted (plebeian) citizenship by the Romans over the course of the 200 years before Cicero's birth. He played on this fact both implicitly and explicitly in many of his major speeches appealing to the ''[[NouveauRiche homines novi]]'', such as in the ''In Verrem'' speeches. This makes this trope OlderThanFeudalism.

This can take a ShockingSwerve in a number of directions when this persona hides a SouthernFriedGenius who proceeds to put the big city lawyer to shame with superior legal knowledge and skill. May be a FatSweatySouthernerInAWhiteSuit.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/simple_country_lawyer.png]]

* A mythology has built up around UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln which seeks to paint him as this trope. Whilst he might have ''started'' that way, he built his firm into a ruthless business-law juggernaut which cornered the market in Springfield (an important market, because, Springfield being the capital of Illinois, Lincoln could easily litigate cases in the Illinois Supreme Court and could help with lobbying the Illinois Legislature). Abe Lincoln was more akin to a modern corporate lawyer; he was placed on retainer by Illinois Central Railroad in 1853, he later demanded $2000 ($54,380 in 2012 money), and, when they refused to pay, took them to court and won $5000 ($135,950 today). He also once offered to desert them and represent their opponents if they could match his fee. He was basically the [[Franchise/AceAttorney Franziska von Karma]] of the ''antebellum'' legal world.

* A gag in one episode of ''WebVideo/{{AtopTheFourthWall}}'' has Linkara as Galactus trying this in the court of the Living Tribunal.

This can take a ShockingSwerve in an number of directions when this persona hides a SouthernFriedGenius who proceeds to put the big city lawyer to shame with superior legal knowledge and skill. May be a FatSweatySouthernerInAWhiteSuit.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/simple_country_lawyer.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:...but don't assume he's some kind of featherbrain.]]

--->I'm just a caveman. I fell on some ice and later got thawed out by some of your scientists. Your world frightens and confuses me! Sometimes the honking horns of your traffic make me want to get out of my BMW.. and run off into the hills, or wherever.. Sometimes when I get a message on my fax machine, I wonder: "Did little demons get inside and type it?" I don't know! My primitive mind can't grasp these concepts. But there is one thing I do know -- when a man like my client slips and falls on a sidewalk in front of a public library, then he is entitled to no less than two million in compensatory damages, and two million in punitive damages. Thank you.

The legal counsel who starts off his closing argument with "[[UnaccustomedAsIAmToPublicSpeaking now, I may not be a big-city lawyer...]]" and then tries to win the jury over with an appeal to emotion and his folksy charm. He's almost always a SouthernGentleman with a thick WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn drawl, dressed in a [[ManInWhite white suit]] with a WaistcoatOfStyle.