header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
09 December 2022 / Mark Pawlowski
Issue: 8006 / Categories: Features , Profession , Media
printer mail-detail

On a lighter note: courtroom comedies!

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
103985
Mark Pawlowski takes a look at some film comedies with a distinctively legal theme for the festive season

The Fortune Cookie (1966)

TV cameraman Harry Hinkle (played by Jack Lemmon) gets knocked out accidentally during a football game and his attorney (brother-in-law), Walter Matthau, gets him to feign partial paralysis in order to claim huge damages ($1m) from the stadium’s insurance company. The film is a delight to watch, not least because of Matthau’s wonderful portrayal of a scheming, fast-talking American lawyer racing through ever more futile efforts to outmanoeuvre the other side. The sequence in which Matthau attends the law offices of the attorneys acting for the insurance company in order to persuade them to settle, quoting from various precedents, is one of the many gems in the film. Not surprisingly, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film is included among the American Film Institute’s 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the top 100 Funniest American Movies.

Adam’s Rib (1949)

As

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Cripps—Radius Law

Cripps—Radius Law

Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

Switalskis—Grimsby

Switalskis—Grimsby

Firm expands with new Grimsby office to serve North East Lincolnshire

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Property team boosted by two solicitor appointments

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Tightening the screws on JCT terminations
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
NLJ this week: Old rules, fresh warnings in employment law
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
NLJ this week: The rise of the ‘ChatGPT client’ rattles the profession
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
NLJ this week: Surrogacy children caught in succession gap
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
NLJ this week: Online safety law at a crossroads
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll