With tens of 1000’s of trials yearly and numerous different authorized issues taking place, there’s by no means a scarcity of tales centering round legal professionals, judges, defendants, victims, and different individuals throughout the justice system. Writers can discover the inspiration behind each story, whether or not you need to write one based mostly on true occasions or give you an authentic authorized thriller, drama, or comedy narrative. In case you’re trying to write a procedural drama or courtroom screenplay that takes place throughout the authorized subject, these are 10 screenplays you’ll need to take a look at.
Logline: A veteran British barrister should defend his shopper in a homicide trial that has shock after shock.
Screenplay By: Billy Wilder, Howard Kurnitz
A curmudgeon lawyer takes on an intriguing case of a person who allegedly murdered an older girl for her cash. There are various twists and turns on this authorized drama because the trial commences within the courtroom, and witnesses start testifying that the person did certainly need to kill the lady.
Even so, the artful outdated lawyer has a means of discrediting the witnesses for the prosecution, which all culminates right into a shock ending—so stunning that it even pleads with the viewers to not share them with their mates.
Obtain the script!
Logline: A jury holdout makes an attempt to stop a miscarriage of justice by forcing his colleagues to rethink the proof.
Screenplay By: Reginald Rose
One other movie from 1957 that has gained approval for being a top-rated authorized drama is 12 Offended Males. Initially a tv play, the movie is a stable lesson in constructing stress and drama in a single location and a minimal solid.
The story peeks contained in the jury room of a homicide trial and the lone juror who holds out in convicting the defendant. The trial looks like a no brainer till the only juror instills doubt within the others and slowly modifications their minds regardless of hostilities from the opposite 11 impatient jurors. There have been numerous iterations of this story on stage and display, however this 1957 model is likely one of the greatest.
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Logline: An outcast, alcoholic Boston lawyer sees the possibility to salvage his profession and self-respect by taking a medical malpractice case to trial relatively than settling.
Screenplay By: David Mamet, Barry Reed
Paul Newman performs an alcoholic lawyer who usually takes the simple path by settling a case relatively than going to court docket, a standard theme within the authorized style. Generally known as an ambulance chaser, he sees the injustice inside hospitals. He finds an opportunity to redeem himself regardless of the medical doctors, judges, shopper’s household concerned with a medical malpractice case, and an in depth buddy who all really feel going to trial is a assured loser.
After rejecting the settlement, he quickly realizes that the case is an unattainable David vs. Goliath try for justice because it appears forces are at work to make him lose. One final shot at saving himself might have simply turn out to be the worst determination of his life.
Obtain the script!
Logline: Lt. Daniel Kaffee is a army lawyer defending two U.S. Marines charged with killing a fellow Marine on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Though Kaffee is understood for searching for plea bargains, a fellow lawyer, Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway, convinces him that the accused marines have been most probably finishing up an order from a commanding officer. Kaffee takes a danger by calling Col. Nathan R. Jessep to the stand in an effort to uncover the conspiracy.
Screenplay By: Aaron Sorkin
Based mostly on a play written by Aaron Sorkin, A Few Good Males helped launch his profession after it grew to become a smash hit directed by Rob Reiner and starred a few of the Nineties largest film stars. It additionally clicks lots of the containers of a courtroom drama, together with a stable closing argument, an keen younger lawyer with one thing to show, and a wrestle to uncover the reality.
A Few Good Males is a couple of hot-shot younger lawyer who usually takes the simple means out of his instances. When tasked to defend a pair of marines accused of killing a fellow marine, he finds he should deal with a system that doesn’t at all times mesh nicely with the legislation. The case takes a flip when the likelihood that the 2 marines have been ordered by a commanding officer to commit the homicide arises.
It additionally offers one among AFI’s 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time: “You possibly can’t deal with the reality!”
Obtain the script!
Learn Extra: 50 Gold Screenwriting Quotes to Bounce Begin Your Creativity
Logline: Two New Yorkers accused of homicide in rural Alabama whereas on their means again to varsity name within the assist of one among their cousins, a loudmouth lawyer with no trial expertise.
Screenplay By: Dale Launer
On this fish-out-of-water comedy, Vinny is a big-city lawyer heading to rural Alabama to assist defend his cousin and a buddy in a homicide trial. Though he’s means over his head, Vinny, with the assistance of his fiancée, tries to finagle the authorized system and set his cousin free.
The truth that Vinny is inexperienced is a good contact to the story as a result of it brings a naivete that engages the viewers, who possible isn’t well-versed within the authorized system. As Vinny learns, so can we. The well-written script exemplifies the way it builds an surroundings that results in misunderstandings, cultural clashes, and unorthodox authorized techniques within the courtroom.
Obtain the script!
Longline: A quick-track lawyer can’t lie for twenty-four hours attributable to his son’s birthday want after he disappoints his son for the final time.
Screenplay By: Paul Guay, Stephen Mazur
All through the Nineties, a number of comedies centered round divorced fathers not being round for his or her sons, reminiscent of The Santa Clause. In Jim Carrey’s first considerably regular position as a lawyer and father, Liar Liar performs on the idea that legal professionals bend the reality to win instances. Fletcher (Carrey) is simply too busy to spend time along with his son and creates elaborate excuses for why he can’t be there.
On his birthday, Fletcher’s son needs for his dad to have to inform the reality, and that’s precisely what occurs. With the most important case of his life, Fletcher should navigate the authorized world within the courtroom with brutal honesty whereas defending a shopper who most believes is responsible.
This movie performs on the outdated joke that goes:
Q: How have you learnt when a lawyer isn’t telling the reality?
A: They’re speaking.
Obtain the script!
Logline: An unemployed single mom turns into a authorized assistant and virtually single-handedly brings down a California energy firm accused of polluting a metropolis’s water provide.
Screenplay By: Susannah Grant
Based mostly on a real story, that is the story of a single mother who finally ends up working for a lawyer she employed however can’t afford to pay. From her demeanor to her schooling degree, Erin Brockovich appears to be somebody nobody takes significantly. She makes use of this to her benefit as she begins investigating a California vitality firm’s contamination of a residential space by illegally dumping chemical compounds.
Her willpower results in one of many largest class motion lawsuits in American historical past as this unlikely hero turns into the savior of the small-town residents who by no means stood an opportunity in opposition to the Pacific Fuel & Electrical Firm.
Obtain the script!
Logline: Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has all of it. She desires nothing greater than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III. However there’s one factor stopping him (Matthew Davis) from proposing: She is simply too blond. Elle rallies all of her sources and will get into Harvard, decided to win him again.
Screenplay By: Karen McCullah, Kirsten Smith, Amanda Brown
Legally Blonde grew to become a basic within the early-aughts, launching Reese Witherspoon’s profession into lead actress stardom (4 years later, she would win the Oscar for Finest Supporting Actress for her position as June Carter in Stroll the Line).
The movie follows ditsy, super-blonde style graduate Elle Woods embarking on a journey throughout the nation to get her Harvard Regulation College-attending ex-boyfriend again. Entering into the distinguished legislation college was simple sufficient, however everybody doubts her and her distinctive capability to see issues that extra critical college students can’t, sparking a hearth that burns to show everybody incorrect. Elle then is given the possibility to defend a weight loss plan icon convicted of murdering her husband within the courtroom.
Obtain the script!
Logline: In 1969, seven individuals have been charged by the federal authorities with conspiracy and extra, arising from the protests on the 1968 Democratic Nationwide Conference in Chicago.
Screenplay By: Aaron Sorkin
The Sixties have been an incredible decade to give attention to for storytelling, and all of it appeared to culminate in 1968 with the assassination of high-profile people, a struggle raging on the opposite aspect of the world, riots all through America, and protests all over the place.
The main focus of Aaron Sorkin’s second authorized drama on the record is a trial of seven people arrested through the tumultuous 1968 Democratic Conference in Chicago. The movie exhibits how the world would lump collectively teams of “agitators” no matter their precise affiliation with each other and put all of them on a seemingly unfair trial within the courtroom. No matter their variations, the group on trial and their lawyer should all work collectively to win their case.
Obtain the script!
Logline: Aspiring Florida protection lawyer Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) accepts a high-powered place at a New York legislation agency headed by authorized shark John Milton (Al Pacino). As Kevin strikes up within the agency’s ranks, his spouse, Mary Ann (Charlize Theron), has a number of scary, mystical experiences that start to warp her sense of actuality. With the stakes getting greater with every case, Kevin rapidly learns that his mentor is planning a far higher evil than merely profitable with out scruples.
Screenplay By: Andrew Neiderman, Jonathan Lemkin, Tony Gilroy
Whereas My Cousin Vinny took a New York lawyer to the south, The Satan’s Advocate brings a hot-shot Florida lawyer to the massive metropolis the place his exceptionally flashy boss embraces him like a son. However there’s extra to the legislation agency than meets the attention because the Florida lawyer will get deeper into his work.
As he struggles to construct the protection of a wealthy man accused of homicide, he continues neglecting his spouse whereas additionally discovering sinful temptations round each nook. There may be lots of spiritual symbolism all through the movie, taking part in on legal professionals being devilish figures who assist preserve the sinners free.
Obtain the script!
—
A fantastic courtroom monologue, an keen younger lawyer on an unattainable case, or somebody who has one thing to show—these screenplays have the tropes present in a few of the most famous authorized movies round.
Learn Extra: High 10 Charming Courtroom Scenes in Movie
Scripts from this Article
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Logline: A veteran British barrister should defend his shopper in a homicide trial that has shock after shock.
Screenplay By: Billy Wilder, Howard Kurnitz
A curmudgeon lawyer takes on an intriguing case of a person who allegedly murdered an older girl for her cash. There are various twists and turns on this authorized drama because the trial commences within the courtroom, and witnesses start testifying that the person did certainly need to kill the lady.
Even so, the artful outdated lawyer has a means of discrediting the witnesses for the prosecution, which all culminates right into a shock ending—so stunning that it even pleads with the viewers to not share them with their mates.
Obtain the script!
12 Offended Males (1957)
Logline: A jury holdout makes an attempt to stop a miscarriage of justice by forcing his colleagues to rethink the proof.
Screenplay By: Reginald Rose
One other movie from 1957 that has gained approval for being a top-rated authorized drama is 12 Offended Males. Initially a tv play, the movie is a stable lesson in constructing stress and drama in a single location and a minimal solid.
The story peeks contained in the jury room of a homicide trial and the lone juror who holds out in convicting the defendant. The trial looks like a no brainer till the only juror instills doubt within the others and slowly modifications their minds regardless of hostilities from the opposite 11 impatient jurors. There have been numerous iterations of this story on stage and display, however this 1957 model is likely one of the greatest.
Obtain the script!
The Verdict (1982)
Logline: An outcast, alcoholic Boston lawyer sees the possibility to salvage his profession and self-respect by taking a medical malpractice case to trial relatively than settling.
Screenplay By: David Mamet, Barry Reed
Paul Newman performs an alcoholic lawyer who usually takes the simple path by settling a case relatively than going to court docket, a standard theme within the authorized style. Generally known as an ambulance chaser, he sees the injustice inside hospitals. He finds an opportunity to redeem himself regardless of the medical doctors, judges, shopper’s household concerned with a medical malpractice case, and an in depth buddy who all really feel going to trial is a assured loser.
After rejecting the settlement, he quickly realizes that the case is an unattainable David vs. Goliath try for justice because it appears forces are at work to make him lose. One final shot at saving himself might have simply turn out to be the worst determination of his life.
Obtain the script!
A Few Good Males (1992)
Logline: Lt. Daniel Kaffee is a army lawyer defending two U.S. Marines charged with killing a fellow Marine on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Though Kaffee is understood for searching for plea bargains, a fellow lawyer, Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway, convinces him that the accused marines have been most probably finishing up an order from a commanding officer. Kaffee takes a danger by calling Col. Nathan R. Jessep to the stand in an effort to uncover the conspiracy.
Screenplay By: Aaron Sorkin
Based mostly on a play written by Aaron Sorkin, A Few Good Males helped launch his profession after it grew to become a smash hit directed by Rob Reiner and starred a few of the Nineties largest film stars. It additionally clicks lots of the containers of a courtroom drama, together with a stable closing argument, an keen younger lawyer with one thing to show, and a wrestle to uncover the reality.
A Few Good Males is a couple of hot-shot younger lawyer who usually takes the simple means out of his instances. When tasked to defend a pair of marines accused of killing a fellow marine, he finds he should deal with a system that doesn’t at all times mesh nicely with the legislation. The case takes a flip when the likelihood that the 2 marines have been ordered by a commanding officer to commit the homicide arises.
It additionally offers one among AFI’s 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time: “You possibly can’t deal with the reality!”
Obtain the script!
Learn Extra: 50 Gold Screenwriting Quotes to Bounce Begin Your Creativity
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Logline: Two New Yorkers accused of homicide in rural Alabama whereas on their means again to varsity name within the assist of one among their cousins, a loudmouth lawyer with no trial expertise.
Screenplay By: Dale Launer
On this fish-out-of-water comedy, Vinny is a big-city lawyer heading to rural Alabama to assist defend his cousin and a buddy in a homicide trial. Though he’s means over his head, Vinny, with the assistance of his fiancée, tries to finagle the authorized system and set his cousin free.
The truth that Vinny is inexperienced is a good contact to the story as a result of it brings a naivete that engages the viewers, who possible isn’t well-versed within the authorized system. As Vinny learns, so can we. The well-written script exemplifies the way it builds an surroundings that results in misunderstandings, cultural clashes, and unorthodox authorized techniques within the courtroom.
Obtain the script!
Liar Liar (1997)
Longline: A quick-track lawyer can’t lie for twenty-four hours attributable to his son’s birthday want after he disappoints his son for the final time.
Screenplay By: Paul Guay, Stephen Mazur
All through the Nineties, a number of comedies centered round divorced fathers not being round for his or her sons, reminiscent of The Santa Clause. In Jim Carrey’s first considerably regular position as a lawyer and father, Liar Liar performs on the idea that legal professionals bend the reality to win instances. Fletcher (Carrey) is simply too busy to spend time along with his son and creates elaborate excuses for why he can’t be there.
On his birthday, Fletcher’s son needs for his dad to have to inform the reality, and that’s precisely what occurs. With the most important case of his life, Fletcher should navigate the authorized world within the courtroom with brutal honesty whereas defending a shopper who most believes is responsible.
This movie performs on the outdated joke that goes:
Q: How have you learnt when a lawyer isn’t telling the reality?
A: They’re speaking.
Obtain the script!
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Logline: An unemployed single mom turns into a authorized assistant and virtually single-handedly brings down a California energy firm accused of polluting a metropolis’s water provide.
Screenplay By: Susannah Grant
Based mostly on a real story, that is the story of a single mother who finally ends up working for a lawyer she employed however can’t afford to pay. From her demeanor to her schooling degree, Erin Brockovich appears to be somebody nobody takes significantly. She makes use of this to her benefit as she begins investigating a California vitality firm’s contamination of a residential space by illegally dumping chemical compounds.
Her willpower results in one of many largest class motion lawsuits in American historical past as this unlikely hero turns into the savior of the small-town residents who by no means stood an opportunity in opposition to the Pacific Fuel & Electrical Firm.
Obtain the script!
Legally Blonde (2001)
Logline: Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has all of it. She desires nothing greater than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III. However there’s one factor stopping him (Matthew Davis) from proposing: She is simply too blond. Elle rallies all of her sources and will get into Harvard, decided to win him again.
Screenplay By: Karen McCullah, Kirsten Smith, Amanda Brown
Legally Blonde grew to become a basic within the early-aughts, launching Reese Witherspoon’s profession into lead actress stardom (4 years later, she would win the Oscar for Finest Supporting Actress for her position as June Carter in Stroll the Line).
The movie follows ditsy, super-blonde style graduate Elle Woods embarking on a journey throughout the nation to get her Harvard Regulation College-attending ex-boyfriend again. Entering into the distinguished legislation college was simple sufficient, however everybody doubts her and her distinctive capability to see issues that extra critical college students can’t, sparking a hearth that burns to show everybody incorrect. Elle then is given the possibility to defend a weight loss plan icon convicted of murdering her husband within the courtroom.
Obtain the script!
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
Logline: In 1969, seven individuals have been charged by the federal authorities with conspiracy and extra, arising from the protests on the 1968 Democratic Nationwide Conference in Chicago.
Screenplay By: Aaron Sorkin
The Sixties have been an incredible decade to give attention to for storytelling, and all of it appeared to culminate in 1968 with the assassination of high-profile people, a struggle raging on the opposite aspect of the world, riots all through America, and protests all over the place.
The main focus of Aaron Sorkin’s second authorized drama on the record is a trial of seven people arrested through the tumultuous 1968 Democratic Conference in Chicago. The movie exhibits how the world would lump collectively teams of “agitators” no matter their precise affiliation with each other and put all of them on a seemingly unfair trial within the courtroom. No matter their variations, the group on trial and their lawyer should all work collectively to win their case.
Obtain the script!
The Satan’s Advocate (1997)
Logline: Aspiring Florida protection lawyer Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) accepts a high-powered place at a New York legislation agency headed by authorized shark John Milton (Al Pacino). As Kevin strikes up within the agency’s ranks, his spouse, Mary Ann (Charlize Theron), has a number of scary, mystical experiences that start to warp her sense of actuality. With the stakes getting greater with every case, Kevin rapidly learns that his mentor is planning a far higher evil than merely profitable with out scruples.
Screenplay By: Andrew Neiderman, Jonathan Lemkin, Tony Gilroy
Whereas My Cousin Vinny took a New York lawyer to the south, The Satan’s Advocate brings a hot-shot Florida lawyer to the massive metropolis the place his exceptionally flashy boss embraces him like a son. However there’s extra to the legislation agency than meets the attention because the Florida lawyer will get deeper into his work.
As he struggles to construct the protection of a wealthy man accused of homicide, he continues neglecting his spouse whereas additionally discovering sinful temptations round each nook. There may be lots of spiritual symbolism all through the movie, taking part in on legal professionals being devilish figures who assist preserve the sinners free.
Obtain the script!
—
A fantastic courtroom monologue, an keen younger lawyer on an unattainable case, or somebody who has one thing to show—these screenplays have the tropes present in a few of the most famous authorized movies round.
Learn Extra: High 10 Charming Courtroom Scenes in Movie