Line #58 Series/HarrysLaw


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harryslaw_2055.jpg]]
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3	A LawProcedural starring Creator/KathyBates by Creator/DavidEKelley.
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5	[[KnightInSourArmor Harriet Korn]] is tired. Being one of the best patent lawyers in Cincinnati gets a little boring after a while. As soon as she mentions this to her superiors, though, she quickly finds herself out of a job.
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7	All well and good for Harry, who promptly clears out her desk and starts to move on...only to have someone literally [[GrievousHarmWithABody drop out of the sky on top of her]]. Malcolm, a [[TroubledButCute troubled teen]] trying to kill himself because he's facing drug charges, then pleads with Harry to take his case, since he feels their unique meeting was fate. Despite her better judgment, she ends up helping him and finds she actually likes being a criminal attorney. After the day is won, Harry decides to open a law firm in one of Cincinnati's [[WrongSideOfTheTracks worst neighborhoods]] in order to help the underprivileged people that big lawyers tend to pass over.
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9	Oh, she also gets hit by a car, not that it [[PlotArmor matters much]].
10	----
11	!!Harry's Law provides examples of:
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13	* ActorAllusion: In the first season finale, Josh Peyton (played by [=Paul McCrane=]) sings the song "Is It Okay If I Call You Mine?" at a lawyer gala. The song was written and performed by [=McCrane=] originally in ''Film/{{Fame}}''.
14	* AttemptedRape: Chunhua is a victim of this.
15	* BilingualDialogue: Subverted. Harry couldn't understand the gang members very well during the talks.
16	--> '''Harry:''' Look, I don't speak Legalese to you, so don't speak Gangsterese to me.
17	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Recurring character Tommy Jefferson is a spotlight-hogging LargeHam literal example of this trope, probably thanks in part to [[ActorAllusion Christopher [=McDonald=]]] playing him.
18	* CommonNonsenseJury: Harry gets a client -- a woman who committed armed robbery -- off with a defense that amounted to "She did it, but she's old so we should feel sorry for her."
19	* CreepyUncle: [[spoiler: Jenna had an "encounter" with her, as she put it, "quote, 'friendly uncle', unquote." She never quite got over it.]]
20	* DeadpanSnarker: Seems to be a requirement to work at Harriet's Law & Fine Shoes.
21	* DisregardThatStatement: Harry lives for this trope. Subverted in that it actually ''does'' almost get her disbarred.
22	* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Tommy's case in "And The Band Plays On". He keeps suggesting the client to drop the case because he allowed it to happen. The client point blatantly asks him if he would be saying the same thing if the genders were reversed.
23	* DrivenToSuicide: A girl is charged with murder for doing this to another girl in "Queen of Snark". The girl killed herself because of things the defendant wrote on her blog. The defendant is ultimately acquitted because the jury doesn't consider her actions to be the direct cause of the victim's death. In LaymansTerms, killing herself was ultimately the victim's choice, so the defendant isn't criminally responsible.
24	* {{Expy}}:
25	** Tommy Jefferson of [[Series/BostonLegal Denny Crane]].
26	** The entire ''series'' seems to be a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/BostonLegal'', with Harry taking the place of Alan Shore. Both shows are Creator/DavidEKelley productions.
27	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Jenna (sanguine), Harry (choleric), Adam (melancholic), and Malcolm (phlegmatic).
28	* GangBangers: More than a few, but Damien is the most prevalent, being a recurring character.
29	* GenkiGirl: Jenna.
30	* HelloAttorney: Cassie Reynolds, Phoebe Blake and if paralegals count, Chunhua and Lisa. And Oliver Richard for the ladies.
31	* HiddenDepths: This show loves this trope.
32	** Despite Tommy's brash nature, he actually used to be really nervous in court. The only reason he acts the way he does now is to get people (namely jurors) to like him.
33	** Damien seems like a thug at first, but he really just wants to protect people.
34	** Jenna acts like a bubbly ditz because that was how she dealt with being molested, and now she feels a responsibility to everyone to keep it up even when it's driving her nuts.
35	** Rachael seems like a controlling ex at first, but her actions turn out to be out of love and concern and intimacy.
36	** Puck is actually a caring and sensitive, very sad person just trying to do right in the world.
37	** Even the street gang stepped up to the plate to offer organ donations for the ex-gang member.
38	* InherentInTheSystem: The entire point of the series seems to be to shine a light on everything that's broken in American society, though there is a clear liberal viewpoint[=/=]bias being expressed.
39	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Harry, Tommy, and Damien.
40	* KnightInSourArmor: Harry.
41	* KnightTemplar:
42	** DA Josh Peyton is a non-evil example. Always goes for the maximum penalty, seems to totally scorn plea bargaining, and doesn't seem to know the meaning of the terms "extenuating circumstances" or "reasonable doubt".
43	** Damien is a non-evil example, too. Sure, he almost beats a guy to death, but said guy ''did'' rape someone.
44	* LargeHam: Tom-- Ahem, excuse me. '''''TOMMY JEFFERSON.'''''
45	* LeParkour: Malcolm initially attempts to pass off his suicide attempt as this.
46	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: ''Jenna.''
47	* TheNicknamer: Damien. Names so far: Sweets for Jenna, Slick for Adam, and Old Lady for Harry.
48	* NoisyShutUp: Harry memorably pulls this off with an airhorn while mediating a sit-down between two gangs. It works so well that, later in the meeting, merely ''reaching'' for the airhorn is enough to shut them up.
49	* OnceAnEpisode: Jenna storming into storage, and slamming the door (sometimes twice or more!).
50	* OnlySaneEmployee:
51	** Tommy's secretary Ivy.
52	** Harry herself, when compared to DoggedNiceGuy and TroubledButCute Marcus; KnightTemplar Damien; Adam, who always brings his personal problems to work; and ManicPixieDreamGirl Jenna.
53	* OpenHeartDentistry: Harry is the legal equivalent. As a patent lawyer she is in a very specialized subfield of law (which barely exists in Cincinnati) that requires a technical degree to practice as well as a law degree. Furthermore, it's so specialized that basic skills in criminal law are non-existent. It's one thing to go to doing civil suits for the poor, it's another to suddenly start doing criminal law after an entire career of civil cases that average 5 years on each...
54	* PeaceConference: Harry decides she's going to act as a mediator between two local gangs. Thanks to her {{Jerkass}} front, they do manage to agree on one thing: she sucks as a mediator.
55	* PenultimateOutburst: Harry has to get on a soapbox about something at least once per episode.
56	* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Christopher [=McDonald=] (season 2).
57	* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Jenna]] and [[spoiler:Malcolm]]. Given the new direction of the show, they are likely on a LongBusTrip.
58	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Harry.
59	* ReTool: Mostly, the "street level" approach was jettisoned when Season 2 began, and it went from helping the people the big lawyers pass over to being more of a standard law show. Much of the Season 1 cast goes away, with the standard-law-show type characters who were their nemeses becoming the supporting cast (yes, Tommy Jefferson was a "bad guy" at first) and the shoe store is traded for a big pretty office. Seasons 1 and 2 may as well be two different shows.
60	%%* RevolversAreJustBetter
61	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: One case involves a woman suing the fast food industry for making her fat. A similar case was brought before a court in recent memory when the episode first aired. Of course Harry refuses the case as it's simply frivolous, but GloryHound Tommy Jefferson takes the case because he doesn't care about the client or the case, only that he is well known. [[spoiler:Tommy then develops sympathy for the woman and ends up winning the crucial part of the suit not by his typical theatrics, but by good old-fashioned legal ass-kicking (because he cared enough to come CrazyPrepared).]]
62	* StepfordSmiler: [[spoiler:Jenna, in a way. When she had an encounter with her CreepyUncle, she retreated into a fantasy world where everything was happy and perfect. She never really came out.]]
63	* TomboyishName: Harriet is mostly called Harry.
64	* WidowMistreatment: Harry had a client whose wife was murdered and the police never found the killer. There was no evidence that he did it, no one in his life or his wife's family suspected him, and in fact the police didn't consider him a suspect, just a person of interest (which basically means the investigators were aware of his existence). But, because the world is filled with people who are too stupid to understand the difference between a person of interest and a suspect, his life was ruined because the "person of interest" label made it impossible for him to get a job or a loan.
65	* WrongSideOfTheTracks: Where Harry's new firm is set up.
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Context Series / HarrysLaw