‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ review: Well-executed classic tropes carry Netflix legal drama

Based on the novel ‘The Brass Verdict’ by Michael Connelly, the ten-part series is a solid addition to the long list of engrossing courtroom dramas

Legal dramas never go out of style. There’s something engaging about a courtroom drama, the fancy lives of hotshot lawyers, and the cat-and-mouse chase for the truth which makes this genre a fan favourite.  The Lincoln Lawyer is a solid addition to the long list of well-executed projects in the genre.

In Netflix’s latest, we meet Mickey Haller, a defence attorney who has been out of the game for a year due to a surfing accident that left him addicted to pills. A strange turn of events gives him a second chance at the profession that he is the best at, a remark which he and others repeatedly make during the course of the show. 

Haller, played by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, is handed over the business of another attorney who has just been shot dead. These cases, especially the high-profile murder trial of a tech CEO’s wife and her lover, are the last chance for Haller to get his life and practice back on track. 

And thus, with his second ex-wife cum legal aide, Lorna Taylor, and her boyfriend Cisco — who is also Haller’s private investigator — the Lincoln Lawyer undertakes one of the most important cases of his career. 

Haller has a panache for leaving his office environment to be on the road, chauffeured around in his Lincoln cars, where he says he is able to think better. 

The ten-part series is based on the book The Brass Verdict written by Michael Connelly; incidentally, one of his earlier novels based on Haller’s character has already been adapted into a 2011 film of the same name, starring Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Bryan Cranston, and others. 

In recreating Connelly’s storyline for a TV audience, creators Ted Humphrey and David E. Kelley rely heavily on fast-paced action, suspenseful storytelling, and of course, obligatory cliff-hangers at the end of every episode.