Is There an Honest Lawyer in the Box? Legal Ethics on TV

This chapter in a book edited by Michael Asimow, "Lawyers in Your Living Room: Lawyers on TV" (ABA Press, 2009) explores the treatment of lawyers' ethics (dilemmas, choices and ethics violations) on modern television programs about the law, including classics like Perry Mason and The Defenders and the more modern period of legal ethics on TV -- LA Law, Law and Order, Boston Legal and Eli Stone. Why lawyers' ethics are depicted on television and themes of generational learning, collegial support and socialization, and the "long-term" character development permitted by television are explored