Because the media landscape is littered with so many attorneys, it would be hard not to find one anywhere you look. Television, movies, books, disaster zones, the Internet, an annual convention, and assorted other venues lead to a wide variety of attorneys. Every year, viewers enjoy another lawyer adventure. Defense attorneys in the movies can be the superhero stopping an oncoming train or protecting a client’s train accident. Or they can be defenders of evil.

A longtime favorite lawyer-based movie is A Few Good Men. The military court drama pits one branch of military service against another. In this case, Navy versus Marine is fighting tough and smart men of action.

A Few Good Men is based on defending an indefensible action when a person is a cog stuck in a bureaucratic machine with corrupt elements. Kevin Bacon plays Marine Defense Attorney Captain Jack Ross. In an exciting moment, under a harsh interrogation by Navy Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, played by Tom Cruise, a high-ranking witness, the Colonel. Nathan R. Jessep answers a question. He proclaims that men like him are sentinels, wielding the truth of what it takes to protect the American public. The hard-nosed watchdogs, the product of unimaginable circumstances, pledged fealty to keep the American public from facing their worst nightmares. Don’t blame them for what the American public turned them on.

Ashley Judd teamed up with Morgan Freemen on some good movies, one of which was High Crimes. The actors portrayed lawyers outside the norm. In the case of the illustrious super attorney Claire Kubik, she is a partner in a respectable but conservative law firm that was forced to defend her husband. Her husband Tom, James Caviezel, is accused by the army of massacring innocent Latino villagers during a military operation. In this case, versus A Few Good Men, the military justice system is working against a soldier who determined that he acted independently of orders.

Pick any John Grisham movie and audiences will find a lawyer fleeing or surprising their worst nightmares. Treacherous, shady colleagues, and cheating clients who care more about legal victory than the legal right to their case. The Firm, for example, is a lesson that crosses a consumer warning and something to think about. If something is too good to be true, it is probably a misrepresentation. If you get what you want, the media may not matter.

In the film, the law firm seduces attorney Mitch, played by Tom Cruise, into the fold with all the trimmings worthy of a great Ivy League dog. But then attorney Mitch must defend himself and his wife Abby’s right to leave Emerald City when it turns out to be a beautiful nightmare behind her curtain of illusions. In this film, the lawyer must defend all the good that he thinks he represents.

In Primal Fear, high-priced legal wizard Martin Veil is chasing his dreams, and he stops short. A sensational opportunity falls into his lap to defend Aaron, a shy and stuttering altar boy, from the death penalty resulting from the brutal murder of a priest. This classic film is another optical illusion full of defining moments for Martin. Martin comes to reveal the truths of his own shortcomings and his own disadvantages.

If there is any decisive moment in the realm of public defense, it would be summed up with the movie To Kill a Mockingbird. The film was not only a reflection on the reasons why many attend law school, but also a reflection on the film as a social commentary on decisive moments in social history. It is a classic piece of America for these reasons, as well as iconic to film school students as a precursor to contemporary documentary making. The American Film Institute (AFI) recognized Atticus Finch as the hero of the 20th century and To Kill a Mockingbird as one of the 25 greatest films of all time. The film has been honored by the Library of Congress with preservation in the US National Film Register because the film is culturally, historically, or aesthetically important.