Developments in law and popular culture: the case of the tv lawyer

The study of law has been slow to look beyond its narrow professional concerns at the social cultural context in which it operates. In the past decade some work has been started in the cultural field, particulary literature and film. TV lawyers have been largely overlooked. There is a paradox here. Television dramas, documentaries and comedies seven days a week, twenty four hours a day. cinema, the previous major player has declined from being the major source of popular entertainment and is now a feature in the lives of a small proportion of the population in Western societies. In the studies that have been undertaken into the role and impact of popular culture on people's legal consciousness, the overwhelming majority of this work has taken place on film. This essay looks at how and why this has come about and what the future is likely to hold as interest in law and popular culture continues to expand.