Boxing Clever: The Lincoln Lawyer
Every week, Michael Telfer – aka Mike TV – recommends a box set to crack open. This week’s choice is something of an endangered species in 2026... a good old courtroom drama.
The courtroom drama used to be a mainstay at the cinema and a staple in the daytime TV schedules. From 12 Angry Men in the 1950s to A Few Good Men and umpteen star-studded John Grisham adaptations in the 1990s, we were spoiled for choice if we wanted to see a sharp-suited Hollywood star issuing an impassioned “Objection!”.
The rapid growth in popularity of streaming in the intervening years has inadvertently almost killed the genre. The DVD sales that gave mid-budget films a second life after the cinema have disappeared without trace and at the same time true crime has exploded in popularity.
The 2011 film adaptation of Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer was one of the last significant courtroom successes on the big screen, which makes it fitting that the series of novels has now been successfully adapted to television.
The Netflix TV series replaces handsome Texan Matthew McConaughey with handsome Mexican Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey Haller, the lawyer who solves cases from the back of his Lincoln car.
The TV adaptation landed on Netflix in 2022 and was a surprise instant hit. By the end of its first week the audience had reached a unanimous verdict; the show was the platform’s most-watched English-language series globally, with over 108 million viewing hours, more than three times the second-place show.
The Lincoln Lawyer is very easy to like. Garcia-Rulfo is extremely charismatic as the charming and unconventional defence lawyer Haller, and he is ably supported by office assistant (and ex-wife #2) Lorna (Becki Newton), investigator (and Lorna’s boyfriend) Cisco (Angus Sampson) and his driver and fellow recovering addict Izzy (Jaxx Recole).
Season One loosely follows the second of Connelly’s books, and starts with Haller trying to find his feet while recovering from a painkiller addiction he picked up after a nasty surfing injury (he is actually shot at the end of the first book and in the film but that would require more exposition, and deprive the show of a “will he ever surf again?” subplot).
His stalled legal career gets a shot in the arm when a rival LA lawyer is murdered and surprisingly leaves his Law Practice (and full caseload) to Mickey in his will. This gives the season an over-arching story arc as well as a series of neat, quirky cases that Haller and Co can solve and defend within a single episode, for viewers that need more instant gratification.
The cases often pit Haller against criminal prosecutor (and ex wife #1) Maggie McPherson, who is brilliantly played by 90s film and TV star Neve Campbell. Their courtroom clashes coincide with their often fraught custody battle for daughter Hayley (Krista Warner), with whom Mickey has a complex relationship.
The main dramas that drive each season become increasingly convoluted and Haller can’t help but get hopelessly caught up in them, getting on the wrong sides of criminals, cops, gangsters and FBI agents along the way, but no amount of violence, one liners or loaded threats can get between our man and the truth.
In fact the only thing that can occasionally slow down Mickey’s pursuit of justice is his love of food. For somebody who’s day job requires him to look good in a suit he spends an awful amount of time eating or talking about tacos, dumplings and sandwiches. The Lincoln Lawyer is not a show to watch on an empty stomach.
While watching Mickey and Cisco traipse round the most beautiful parts of LA looking for clues and violence is fine, the series is by far at its strongest once proceedings enter the courtroom.
Haller is at his most dynamic and compelling when he’s locking horns with a prosecutor or trying to enamour himself to a hard nosed judge who has seen and heard almost all of it before, and the rapid exchanges and twists quickly remind viewers why the genre used to be such a bedrock of popular culture.
The fourth season was released last month and finds Haller framed for murder, and forced to work out of a prison cell rather than the back of his Lincoln SUV (which I should point out is probably bigger than the home office I’m typing this in).
Fighting to regain his freedom (and his access to LA’s rich tapestry of takeaways) we find Haller at his most combative and inventive, and his battles at the bench with deputy district attorney Dana Berg (Constance Zimmer) eat up the small screen.
For me the show has improved with each season and the fourth is easily the best yet, not least because Neve Campbell is given far greater prominence as her character’s concerns for Haller force her into a drastic career choice.
All 40 episodes of The Lincoln Lawyer are available to stream on Netflix, and without wanted to be accused of leading the witness I’d say it’s definitely worth a binge. The defence rests.