The Lincoln Lawyeris the most popular and celebrated legal drama series of the decade so far. Its titular protagonist Mickey Haller already has pride of place among the pantheon of great TV lawyers, even though the show has just completed its third season. It’s not just Mickey who’s legal skills deserve to be celebrated, though, as several of his contemporaries in the show have also demonstrated their prowess in the profession acrossThe Lincoln Lawyer’s run of 30 episodes and counting.
In fact, many ofThe Lincoln Lawyer’s best episodescenter on a courtroom showdown between Haller and one of his rival attorneys, in which the show’s main hero has to prove his mettle. As a defense lawyer, Mickey has to face down one central prosecutor per season ofThe Lincoln Lawyer, while various other legal professionals, from his ex-wife Maggie McPherson to local district attorneys, play supporting roles in the series. In addition, there’s typically a deputy district attorney prosecuting a smaller case in each episode, although these characters are too minor and many in number to make this list.
11Vanessa Blake
Assistant Attorney
A peripheral figure inseason 3 ofThe Lincoln Lawyer, Vanessa Blake is Andrea “Andy” Freemann’s assistant attorney, who helps her to prosecute the case of domestic violence victim Deborah Glass on behalf of the local district attorney. Blake’s main storyline involves her reporting Freemann to the district attorney for failing to warn Glass about her abuser’s release from jail, which resulted in murder.
Although Blake clearly knows her way around the job of being a deputy district attorney, which explains why she knows that Andy’s lapse in responsibility will get her removed from the Glass case,she doesn’t really display any legal acumen or initiativeof her own. Her actions are solely driven by narrow career goals, and there’s no doubt that Freemann is better suited to prosecuting the case that Blake takes off her, despite the mistakes she’s made.
10Robert Cardone
District Attorney
Another character whose primary concerns revolve around furthering his own career is Robert Cardone, the district attorney who heads Maggie McPherson’s office in the first season of the show. Cardone manipulates Maggie into endorsing him for reelection to his position, before having her demoted to another office at theend ofThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 1, to avoid her threatening one of his campaign promises by continuing to prosecute a valid case against his interests. He’s clearly a skillful operator, but as a high-level bureaucrat rather than as a prosecutor in the courtroom.
We never actually see what Cardone can do as a lawyer in the series, and only hear about his shortcomings as a district attorney from the campaign advert of his rival for office, Janelle Simmons. However, it’s obvious from his dealings with Maggie thathis ability to prosecute cases successfully comes a distant second to his talent for electioneeringand backroom handshakes.
9Bill Forsythe
Deputy District Attorney & Prosecutor
The lead prosecutor in the trial of Julian La Cosse duringmost ofThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 3, Bill Forsythe is the least capable of the state attorneys we see go up against Mickey Haller in the major legal cases of the show’s first three seasons. Apart from his successful cross-examination of Sylvester Funaro Jr. in the season 3 episode “Relevance”, Forsythe generally struggles to make Mickey’s job as defense attorney difficult.
The case for the defense is undermined by factors that generally have nothing to do with Forsythe’s own contribution to the trial.He’s not as proactive or authoritative as other prosecutorsinThe Lincoln Lawyer, and is ultimately no match for Mickey’s more aggressive, front-foot approach to making a case in the courtroom.
8Janelle Simmons
Deputy District Attorney & District Attorney Candidate
It turns out that Janelle Simmons is the candidate for district attorney that Maggie should have supported after all, given how Robert Cardone betrays her loyalty in the finale ofThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 1. Although Simmons is something of a micromanager who also factors her own political interests into the decisions she makes, she appears to be more capable as a lawyer than her electoral opponent Cardone. She’s able to make snap decisions about cases under time pressure, based on the balance of available evidence.
We’ll never know how good Janelle Simmons could have been as a district attorney in her own right, but the strength of her candidacy, as well as Maggie’s initial support for her, suggests that her credentials as a lawyer are much stronger than Cardone’s. Simmons is another senior prosecutor who doesn’t feature in one of the show’s court scenes, butat least she seems to have a firm grasp of the cases in her office.
7Adam Suarez
As Adam Suarez tells Andy Freemann during season 3 ofThe Lincoln Lawyer, he’s a district attorney who likes to run a tight ship. His removal of Freemann from the Deborah Glass case might seem harsh, but it’s reflective of his exacting standards as a prosecutor. Like the other district attorneys in the show, Suarez doesn’t enter the courtroom himself at any point, but we at least get the sense thathe takes his job more seriously than Robert Cardone and Janelle Simmons.
It’s disappointing and surprising when Suarez reassigns Andrea Freemann’s case to Vanessa Blake.
Suarez typically displays sound judgment when managing his subordinates, too, and has high hopes for Freemann in particular. It’s disappointing and surprising, then, when he reassigns Freemann’s case to Vanessa Blake, but, as Mickey Haller tells her, this move isn’t the end of the story. It could be that inThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 4, we find out Freemann has been promoted to a higher position in another district attorney’s office, thanks in part to a glowing recommendation from Adam Suarez.
6Lorna Crane
Legal Assistant And Defense Attorney
Lorna Crane might beginThe Lincoln Lawyerwith limited legal expertise, but her tireless work ethic, reliability and readiness to venture out of her comfort zone make herthe most dependable member of Mickey Haller’s legal team. Her graduation to the status of a fully-qualified lawyer in season 3 was a long time coming, and we can expect her to serve as an adequatereplacement for Mickey himself duringThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 4, while he’s kept in a jail cell awaiting trial.
Crane demonstrates her knowledge of the law and resourcefulness during the first case she leads in season 3, as her quick-thinking results inSam Scalesreceiving a lesser penalty than he should have for the crime of embezzlement. Now she’ll need to step up as a lawyer like never before, as she pits her wits againstThe Lincoln Lawyer’s new prosecutor “Death Row” Dana Bergto try and secure the freedom of Mickey Haller himself.
5Jeff Golantz
Mickey’s first major opponent in the courtroom was Jeff Golantz, inThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 1. Golantz might not produce the mic-drop moments that Andy Freemann delivers as a prosecutor, but he certainly knows how to harry a witness into submission, and paint a compelling picture of a defendant’s guilt.
Despite his skills, Golantz never quite manages to pin down his opponent across the benches by going for the jugular.
Golantz knows how to use the kind of procedural tricks that are Mickey Haller’s specialty when the court is in session. He cleverly plants the seeds of a guilty verdict in the minds of jurors via speculation and argumentation, before swiftly withdrawing his breaches of protocol as though he’d never committed them. He never quite manages to pin down his opponent across the benches by going for the jugular, butGolantz is still a highly competent prosecutor whose oratorical skills are second only to Haller’sin the series.
4Maggie McPherson
As good as Jeff Golantz is when he has the floor in the courtroom, however,Maggie McPherson is even better at making a case, and ensuring the defendant in her case faces the full force of the law. Everything and everyone seemed to be against Maggie when she was building a case to prosecute Angelo Soto inThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 1, including her ex-husband, Mickey Haller. In the end, her district attorney Robert Cardone forced her to close the case. But she didn’t give up in pursuit of justice, alerting federal prosecutors to the evidence she’d collected to ensure that Soto would pay for his crime.
Maggie’s methods might be unorthodox, and she relies on Mickey’s help multiple times in season 1, but she consistently manages to get the job done in a way few other lawyers in the series can match. Thereturn of Neve Campbell’s character toThe Lincoln Lawyerin season 4, following her stint as Head of Major Crimes in the San Diego District Attorney’s office, will show us exactly what she’s made of as a lawyer. An experienced prosecutor, Maggie will suddenly find herself working on a defense team for the first time, in the murder trial of her own ex-husband.
3Andrea “Andy” Freemann
When Andy Freemann first shows up as Mickey Haller’s rival inThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 2, he’s never beaten her in a case. She’s a formidable prosecutor, whose coolness under pressure, powerful closing arguments, and disruptive courtroom tactics make her the best state attorney across the show’s first three seasons. PerhapsFreemann’sLincoln Lawyerreplacement Dana Bergwill provide Mickey with a challenge comparable to Andy’s outstanding courtroom performance, but the show will still miss her legal exploits.
Yaya DaCosta’s character Andrea “Andy” Freemann won’t be returning forThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 4.
Aside from the romantic relationship Andy and Mickey share inThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 3, the pair are the perfect match for each other on opposite sides of the benches.Andy is the opponent Mickey needs to bring the best out of him as a lawyer, while he’s one of the few people capable of beating Andy in a case.
2Mickey Haller
Defense Attorney
The Lincoln Lawyer himself, Mickey Haller, is ultimately the best lawyer in the business when it comes to the show’s courtroom scenes. Haller continually devises ingenious strategies to place reasonable doubt in the minds of trial jurors, from his whiteboard math lesson in season 1 to his prosecution-by-proxy of Alex Grant at theend ofThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 2. What’s more, he’s always capable of thinking on his feet, adapting his courtroom as a trial develops.
Above all, Mickey is a winner, who aims to do the very best job he can to make his father, another famous defense lawyer, proud. The methods and morality of his professional actions could be called into question from time to time, but the right result ends up justifying the means. More than ever before, Haller needs his winning streak to continue inThe Lincoln Lawyerseason 4, as if it doesn’t, he could be facing the death penalty for murder.
