The ABA Journal recently published a list of the 25 Greatest Fictional Lawyers (Who Are Not Atticus Finch) and Bitter Lawyer recently published a follow up list of the 10 Greatest Fictional Lawyers (Overlooked by the ABA Journal).
In that spirit, we decided there was a third list of imaginary lawyers that hadn’t fully been exploited by either list: the Greatest Cartoon Lawyers of all Time.
First, we had to set some ground rules for this list: we did not include any real life figures depicted in cartoons or drawings, such as a lawyer-politician in a political cartoon. We only included fictional animated lawyers.
Perhaps not surprisingly, it wasn’t easy to come up with this list. For whatever reason, lawyers don’t seem to make good animated characters. I know: shocking. You would think lawyers would make great entertainment for young children!
So without any further intro, here are the Top Seven Greatest Cartoon Lawyers of all Time.
Number 7: Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law 
The main character of this 2001-2007 Comedy Central TV series by the same name was an ex-superhero turned attorney working for a law firm. Harvey Birdman worked alongside other cartoon stars from 1960s and 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon series.
Harvey Birdman’s clients in the series are also characters from classic Hanna-Barbera TV shows of the 1960s and 1970s.
The humor of the show was based on the fact that so many cartoon heroes and characters were doing mundane tasks like filing lawsuits and going to court. Because everyone knows filing lawsuits = nonstop funny.
Personally, I think it’s a good thing some lawyers don’t have superpowers, because a lawyer who can argue for 10 hours straight AND who has x-ray vision would be impossible to compete with.
Number 6: Blue-haired lawyer on The Simpsons (aka the “Pasty-Faced Lawyer”).
This is a recurring character on the Simpsons who has represented numerous Simpsons characters, including Mr. Burns and Bart Simpson. He has appeared both as a private practice attorney and a District Attorney in various episodes.
According to WikiSimpsons, he “quite often makes good points and sometimes wins over the judge” which can only mean one thing: the Simpsons writers must owe their lawyer some money. Because we’re not sure why the show decided to make its primary lawyer character so ethical and law-abiding.
Number 5: Steve Dallas, Bloom County comic strip.
Steve Dallas was a self-employed, unscrupulous lawyer and main figure in the Bloom County comic strip which ran in U.S. newspapers throughout the 1980s.
Dallas primarily took on long-shot cases defending criminals and accused murderers. But most of the story lines in Bloom County which revolved around Dallas focused on his aggressive womanizing and chauvinism. He was constantly hitting on the female characters who were consistently repulsed by his put-on’s.
Oh, Dallas was also a chain-smoker just in case you didn’t get the fact that he was not to be trusted.
Number 4: Harvey Dent, District Attorney in the Batman TV Series.
District Attorney Harvey Dent was a key character in the Batman TV cartoon series which ran on Saturday morning TV during the 1980s. Dent suffers from deep-seated psychological trauma resulting from years of repressing anger. Dent also has an an evil alter ego which shows itself whenever he loses his temper.
In The Dark Knight, Richard Dent was played by Aaron Eckhart, who portrayed Dent as a power-hungry, angry foe to Christian Bale’s Batman.
Number 3: She-Hulk
She’s mean. She’s green. And she’s a lawyer. Don’t mess with her.
She-Hulk is a Marvel Comics superhero who actually served as a lawyer for other superheroes.We’re not sure what that means but presumably it means defending against all the lawsuits from angry car and property owners whose property was trashed during epic battles on the streets of Gotham.
How is She-Hulk related to The Hulk? She-Hulk is the cousin of the Incredible Hulk. Apparently the green skin and surly temper runs in the family.
This must be the last Marvel comic character that hasn’t been remade into a Hollywood summer blockbuster movie, so I imagine we can expect to see She-Hulk starring Naomi Watts and Tobey Maguire some time soon.
Number 2: Robin from Earth-Two
I bet you didn’t think the boy in tights was a lawyer, did you?
It turns out that at least one version of “Robin” of Batman and Robin fame did more than just running around following Batman and wearing extremely tight tights. In “Earth-Two,” an alternative version of the Batman and Robin tale, the Boy Wonder was depicted as a lawyer.
He even had a law firm which had a name — Cranston, Grayson and Wayne. With a name like that, it’s a wonder Robin never became Judge Robin.
Number 1: Lionel Hutz, The Simpsons.
Lionel Hutz has to come in first on this list, hands down. This classic character, voiced by the late Phil Hartman, was a mainstay on early episodes of The Simpsons before Hartman’s premature death. Hutz was a personification of every lawyer stereotype – he was depicted as an unethical, ambulance-chasing, storefront law firm-owning money hound. But it was all hilariously funny so it was all OK.
Hutz’s law firm is called “I Can’t Believe It’s A Law Firm!” and is located in a Springfield shopping mall. He was also known to use a phone booth as an office.
Here’s a classic Hutz line which explains why he comes in #1:
“Well, he’s had it in for me ever since I kinda ran over his dog… Well, replace the word ‘kinda’ with ‘repeatedly’ and the word ‘dog’ with ‘son.’”
Did we miss any cartoon lawyers from this list? Please note any omissions in the comments below.
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He doesn’t merit a Top 7 mention, but I loved Calvin’s dad from Calvin & Hobbes. He was a patent lawyer, I think. We didn’t see a lot of his lawyer-persona, except in a couple strip-stories like where Calvin flew downtown on his magic carpet and saw his dad working, or when he called his dad up and asked for a story and his dad read him the fact pattern for the patent infringement case he was working on, but a lot of his ‘lawyerly personality’ carried into the type of father he was, I always thought.
Great catch! I loved Calvin & Hobbes, but I didn’t realize his Dad was a patent lawyer. According to Wikipedia, you remembered correctly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_and_Hobbes), for what that’s worth.
How do you have Jen Walters (She-Hulk) and an alternate Robin, but you don’t have Matt Murdock/Daredevil?! At #1!
Eric: Good addition. I did run across Daredevil in my research, and that would have been a good addition. Although since Kingpin did get Murdock disbarred, would Murdock technically qualify for this list? (OK, I admit it – I didn’t pull that tidbit of knowledge out of my hat; I read it on wikipedia).
Thanks for the contribution!
And how can you forget Wolff & Byrd, Counsellors of the Macabre?
See http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/rarebooks/archive/2010/09/17/lawyers-in-comics-wolff-amp-byrd-counselors-of-the-macabre.aspx
And since you mentioned the Earth-2 Robin, it’s unkind (and sexist) not to mention his partner, the Huntress.
Nice work! Wolff & Byrd – an obscure comic book based on a weekly local comic strip published in the late 1970s and now found in a rare book exhibition at the Yale Law School Library. It takes some serious detective work to uncover these lawyer/cartoon characters!
I second Calvin’s dad and nominate Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Only a video game, but should be on list if only for being the first moderately successful lawyer oriented video game. Also Harvey Birdman should be much higher on the list.
DRG: I hadn’t heard of Phoenix Wright but that’s an excellent suggestion. In fact, I think we need a new list — Top lawyer video game characters of all time. Or is Phoenix Wright the only one? There must be more lawyers in video games, but I’m afraid they’re all victims in first-person shooter games.
While short-lived, “Gary the Rat” starring Kelsey Grammer on Spike TV as an attorney turned rodent struggling to maintain his career had its moments.
Antonin: Nice one! I remember that show. Too bad it didn’t last long.
You guys forgot the greatest of them all, Hyper-Chicken from Futurama!
And what about Gerald Broflovski (Kyle’s Dad) from South Park – he should at least get an honorable mention.
Jack: Great additions. I love South Park so that’s a glaring omission. Thanks for bring it to our attention!
Charles Foster Offdensen: the lawyer/manager for the band Dethklok in the “Metalocalypse” cartoon.
If you watch the show, this guy is easily the hardest working cartoon lawyer of all time. He represents a death metal band that is responsible for at least 10 deaths every episode and is cool as ice despite LITERALLY hell breaking loose every other episode. He should DEF be Top Five.