Harry's Law is an American legal

Legal drama

A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about crime and civil litigation. Subtypes of legal dramas include courtroom dramas and legal thrillers, and come in all forms, including novels, television shows, and films. Legal drama sometimes overlap with crime drama, most notably in the case of Law...

 comedy-drama

Comedy-drama

Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...

 television series created by David E. Kelley

David E. Kelley

David Edward Kelley is an American television writer and producer, known as the creator of Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Boston Legal and Harry's Law, as well as several films. Kelley is one of the only screenwriters to have had a show created by him run on...

. which premiered on January 17, 2011.

On May 12, 2011, NBC renewed the show for a second season, which premiered Wednesday September 21, 2011. NBC ordered 6 additional scripts for the second season on October 11, 2011.

Plot

Harry's Law revolves around Harriet Korn, a recently fired patent lawyer, and her group of associates as they come together to form a unique law firm in a rundown shoe store in Cincinnati. In the second season, the practice is moved into a larger office with the help of prestigious lawyer and friend Thomas 'Tommy' Jefferson.

Main characters

• Kathy Bates
  Kathy Bates
  Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
  
   as Harriet "Harry" Korn: Once a highly-paid, top-level patent lawyer, she lost all drive towards this career and was fired. She seems to be finding new passion in being a criminal defense lawyer and running her office out of a shoe store. She is sarcastic, with weather-worn dry wit, and does her best to keep up with young lawyers, who in her opinion "if they knew where they were going they wouldn't be running as fast". Harry strives to see the good in people, often defending questionable innocents even when everything says they are guilty.
• Nate Corddry
  Nate Corddry
  Nathan "Nate" Corddry is an American actor best known for his television roles on programs such as Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Daily Show, United States of Tara and Harry's Law. He played Private First Class Loudmouth in the HBO miniseries The Pacific...
  
   as Adam Branch: A young attorney who careens like a billiard ball through the show; after accidentally hitting Harry with his car, he started working in Harriet's law firm, despite her demand that he leave. He greatly admires Harry's skill as a lawyer, despite the fact that during one of the trials in which he was against her she referred to him as an "arrogant little snot." He seems to have powerful women who direct or drive his interests, including Rachael, Harry, and Chunhua. He is known to have a lot of thrust towards a case, and any pretty female in the area.
• Brittany Snow as Jenna Backstrom (season 1, recurring season 2): Harry's assistant back when she was a patent lawyer and is her assistant when she is a defense attorney. She also runs the shoe store because she loves style and fashion. It is later revealed she had a "friendly uncle
  Child sexual abuse
  Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
  
  " and because of that trauma her life revolves around pretty things. At times, she tends to have odd mood swings which annoys the others. She has a noticeable habit of walking into the supply closet when she is upset. Snow's most recent appearance on the show was the episode "Queen of Snark". Jenna left the firm for a job at a major shoe company in New York. She has a heartfelt goodbye with everyone from the office. Harry gives her a framed photo of the outside of the shoe store as a going-away present.
• Aml Ameen
  Aml Ameen
  Aml Eysan Ameen is an English actor best known for his roles as Trife in Kidulthood, Lewis Hardy in The Bill and Malcolm in Harry's Law.-Biography:...
  
   as Malcolm Davies (season 1): A college student who literally fell on top of Harry when he was trying to commit suicide
  Suicide
  Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
  
   after getting his third strike
  Three strikes law
  Three strikes laws)"are statutes enacted by state governments in the United States which require the state courts to hand down a mandatory and extended period of incarceration to persons who have been convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions. These statutes became...
  
   for drug possession
  Drug possession
  Drug possession is the crime of having one or more illegal drugs in one's possession, either for personal use, distribution, sale or otherwise. Illegal drugs fall into different categories and sentences vary depending on the amount, type of drug, circumstances, and jurisdiction.A person has...
  
  . After Harry defended him and got his sentence reduced to two years probation
  Probation and supervised release under United States federal law
  United States federal probation and supervised release are imposed at sentencing. The difference between probation and supervised release is that the former is imposed as a substitute for imprisonment, or in addition to home detention, while the latter is imposed in addition to imprisonment....
  
  , he started working at Harry's law firm as a paralegal
  Paralegal
  Paralegal is used in most jurisdictions to describe a paraprofessional who assists qualified lawyers in their legal work. This is true in the United States and many other countries. However, in Ontario, Canada, paralegals are licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada, giving paralegals an...
  
  . He wishes to become a lawyer and Harry seems to truly wish to help him succeed. He later starts to date Jenna, but is clearly stressed by her odd mood swings.
• Christopher McDonald
  Christopher McDonald
  Christopher McDonald is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore, Tappy Tibbons in Requiem for a Dream, and Mel Allen in the HBO film 61*.-Personal life:...
  
   as Thomas "Tommy" Jefferson (season 2, recurring season 1): An arrogant high-priced plaintiff's attorney who is known for his commercials and big performance he puts on for each trial. Despite his arrogance, he sees Harry as a friend and is always willing to step forward to defend her, though he has a noticeable habit of referring to himself in the third person. He does not like Adam, often referring to him as rude or a bug. He used to be in the military, but during the first week he shot himself in the foot. Despite his attention-seeking behavior, he has shown more passionate and honorable traits as well. He shows to have some feelings for Harry. He eventually begins working with her at the firm.
• Mark Valley
  Mark Valley
  Mark Thomas Valley is an American film and television actor, known for his role as Brad Chase on the TV drama Boston Legal and Christopher Chance in Fox's action/drama Human Target.-Personal life:...
  
   as Oliver Richard (season 2): Oliver was an attorney that worked at the firm that fired Harry in the first episode. He brings her the Eric Sanders case and begins working with Harry after her law firm is expanded. He has a romantic past with DA Roseanna Remmick.
• Karen Olivo
  Karen Olivo
  Karen Olivo is a stage and television actress, who is known for originating the role of Vanessa in the Tony Award–winning musical In the Heights both on and off Broadway. She won her Tony Award for her performance as Anita in the revival of West Side Story...
  
   as Cassie Reynolds (season 2): A lawyer Harry hires soon after expanding the law firm. It was revealed in "Insanity" that when Cassie was in high school, a man opened fire on campus and killed her best friend.

Recurring characters

• Jordana Spiro
  Jordana Spiro
  Jordana Ariel Spiro is an American film and television actress, known for starring in the TBS comedy series My Boys as P.J. Franklin.-Life and career:...
  
   as Rachael Miller: Adam's ex-girlfriend. She is a very skilled lawyer from a very successful firm. She often gives Adam law advice, and she is jealous of Adam's feelings for Chunhua. She wants Adam to leave Harry's law firm and come back to the successful one that he used to be a part of. She later reveals to Adam that she is dating a psychiatrist named Thomas, to whom she subsequently becomes engaged. At the end of the first season finale, she kisses Adam and reveals she still has feelings for him.
• Paul McCrane
  Paul McCrane
  Paul David McCrane is an American film, television and theatre actor, as well as an occasional television director. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Montgomery MacNeil in the 1980 film Fame and Dr. Robert Romano on the NBC medical drama television series ER.-Early life:McCrane was...
  
   as Josh "Puck" Peyton: A District Attorney
  District attorney
  In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
  
   who often goes up against Harriet in trial. He has an overzealous demeanor and a noticeable habit of repeating a phrase two or three times; he often suggests the maximum punishment with no means of backing down, which Harry describes as "shooting yourself in the foot." He has a meltdown after Harry wins her final case of the season against him, and strips bare before the court while ranting about how screwed up the justice system is and announcing his resignation from the practice of law. Harry decides to help him get back on his feet and they later become friends. He also reveals that his nickname is "Puck" because he liked to play hockey when he was younger, and says only his close friends call him that. He later becomes a defense attorney, and was later charged for alleged complicity in the kidnapping of a child by one of his clients (he had agreed to take custody of the child, without altering authorities, and wait twenty-four hours before returning her to her parents, as a condition of the kidnapper surrendering her to him). We later learn that decision, as well as his overzealous nature as a prosecutor, both stemmed from a similar incident seven years ago, in which he had refused to negotiate with another kidnapper, which ended with the kidnapped boy being killed. The incident had traumatized him, and he eventually lost his job and became estranged from his family, in his zeal to prove the justic system still worked. Harry took his case following the kidnapping charge and managed to get him acquitted.
• Irene Keng as Chunhua Lao: The Chinese
  Chinese people
  The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
  
   daughter of the owner of the laundromat which is across from the firm. Adam is instantly smitten
  Love at first sight
  Love at first sight is a common trope in Western literature, in which a person, character, or speaker feels romantic attraction for a stranger on the first sight of them...
  
   with her and takes her case when a former worker sues for being fired. They start dating after the case is closed. She was recently attacked and almost raped, suffering post traumatic stress disorder from the trauma, but after a talk with Jenna she was able to get past it. However, after Adam realizes he still has feelings for Rachael, he breaks up with Chunhua. In season two, Adam offers her a job to replace Jenna working in the shoe store.
• Johnny Ray Gill as Damien Winslow: A resident of the neighborhood and self-proclaimed CEO
  Chief executive officer
  A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
  
   of Winslow Protection I.N.C. Despite first appearing as a gang banger
  Gang
  A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
  
   looking for protection money
  Protection racket
  A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce reticent potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they...
  
  , it is revealed he actually does protect the neighborhood and its residents. This is clearly demonstrated during his trial, when the entire neighborhood sits in to show their support. Nevertheless, his methods may be a bit extreme, including brutally beating and taunting Chunhua's attacker. Due to this, he is a regular client of Harriet's, who offered to defend him pro bono
  Pro bono
  Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
  
  , in exchange for a waived protection fee. He makes it clear that he takes his job as the protector of the neighborhood very seriously and does not tolerate any sort of disturbance.
• Rashad Hood as Lewis Epps: A former gang member who seeks Harry's help in getting out so he can live a better life. He expresses to her his desire to go to college. After he is seriously beaten for leaving the gang, Lewis expresses his gratitude to Harry, saying he owes her his life and that it was because of her he is still alive. He is shot in a drive-by shooting while helping Adam on a case and is in need of a liver transplant. His former gang leader Lil D becomes the donor, and he survives the procedure.
• Camryn Manheim
  Camryn Manheim
  Camryn Manheim is an American actress known primarily for her roles as attorney Ellenor Frutt on ABC's The Practice and Delia Banks on CBS's Ghost Whisperer and as Elvis's mother, Gladys Presley in the 2005 mini-series Elvis....
  
   as Kim Mendelsohn: A District Attorney who used to date Tommy.
• Alfred Molina
  Alfred Molina
  Alfred Molina is a British-born American actor. He first came to public attention in the UK for his supporting role in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears...
  
   as Eric Sanders: A murder defendant accused of his wife's murder, that Harry represents. The evidence against him is overwhelming, but Harry believes he is innocent. His case is later thrown out due to prosecutorial misconduct and it is later revealed that his adult daughter was the true murderer.
• Jean Smart
  Jean Smart
  Jean E. Smart is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is known for her comedic roles, one of the best known being her role as Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the CBS sitcom Designing Women. She later gained critical acclaim for dramatic work, with her portrayal of Martha Logan on 24...
  
   as Roseanna Remmick: A District Attorney Harry goes against during the Sanders and Peyton trials. She is known for playing dirty and being ruthless in court, which led to a judge dismissing the Sanders case and recommending her for disbarment, which she managed to avoid. She reveals that she had previously worked with both Oliver and Cassie.

Reception

The show has been met with mixed reviews, with a score of 48 out of 100 from Metacritic. In a particularly positive review of the pilot, Ed Bark called it "an improbably entertaining outing."

Ratings

The first episode opened with 11.07 million viewers and a second-place 2.2 rating/6 share among adults 18–49 at 10 p.m., building from the second episode of The Cape (viewers: #3, 6.19 million; A18–49: #3t, 1.8/ 4 at 9 p.m.) by 4.85 million viewers and 17 percent in the demo. The series has so far maintained that rating, making it NBC's most viewed drama.

American ratings

Season	Episodes	Timeslot (EST Eastern Time Zone The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time... )	Original Airing			Rank	Viewers (in millions)
			Season premiere	Season finale	TV season
1	12	Monday 10:00 PM	January 17, 2011	April 4, 2011	2011 2010–2011 United States network television schedule The following is the 2010–2011 network television schedule for the five major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 2010 through May 2011. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new...	#28	11.65
2	19	Wednesday 9:00 PM (2011) Sunday 8:00 PM (2012)	September 21, 2011	TBA	2011-2012	TBA	TBA

Development and production

This is the first television series that Kelley has not co-produced with 20th Century Fox Television

20th Century Fox Television

20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...

—instead, the series is co-produced with Warner Bros. Television

Warner Bros. Television

Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...

. On May 14, 2010, NBC officially announced that it was picking up the series. Harry's Law was held as a midseason replacement and premiered in January 2011 replacing the now-cancelled Chase

Chase (2010 TV series)

Chase is an American police procedural drama television series created by Jennifer Johnson for the NBC network. The series follows a U.S. Marshals fugitive-apprehension team, based out of Houston, Texas. Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnson serve as executive producers for the one-hour drama...

. In an attempt to make the show more realistic, producers decided to explore Cincinnati more thoroughly in the second season and have included an actual Cincinnati business as a part of the show.

Awards and nominations

In 2011, at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards

63rd Primetime Emmy Awards

The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, was held on September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Actress Jane Lynch hosted...

, Kathy Bates was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series; Paul McCrane

Paul McCrane

Paul David McCrane is an American film, television and theatre actor, as well as an occasional television director. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Montgomery MacNeil in the 1980 film Fame and Dr. Robert Romano on the NBC medical drama television series ER.-Early life:McCrane was...

 won for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

International distribution

Country	Channel	Premiere date
Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...	Nine Network Nine Network The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...	March 6, 2011
Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....	Nova Cinema 1 Nova Cinema HD	October 7, 2011
New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...	TV One	October 12 2011
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	Universal Channel	October 10, 2011
Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	WOWOW WOWOW WOWOW was the first private satellite broadcasting and pay TV station in Japan. It has its headquarters on the 21st floor of the Akasaka Park Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo...	December 25, 2011
Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...	Global Television Network Global Television Network Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...