Favourite TV and Movie Judges

The ABA Journal asked a group of real judges and a law professor to choose their favourite fictitious judges from TV or cinema and to explain their choices:

"In the movies and on television, judges have played key roles in dramas, comedies and legal thrillers. Everyone seems to have a favorite—from the eccentric Judge Harry T. Stone (Harry Anderson) in TV’s Night Court to the serious and strict Judge John Taylor (Paul Fix) presiding over the trial in To Kill A Mockingbird. And just as lawyers are sometimes portrayed with dramatic license, cliché and exaggeration, so too are judges. Yet at the same time, we’ve seen judges who reflect the realities of what it’s like to wear the robe and weight important decisions every day. So we thought: who better to tell us about their favorite television and movie judges than real jurists?"

Of course, there are no Canadian judges since the ABA is American (so no mention of actress Julie Khaner as Justice Alana Newman Robinovitch in the CBC series Street Legal). But one of my personal favourites is there: Judge Chamberlain Haller from My Cousin Vinny.