Most legal thrillers have one of two kinds of lawyers as protagonists. The first is a young, driven type who is disabused of his idealism as he — always a he, except for paralegals and/or Julia Roberts — becomes privy to the machinations and corruptions of judicial power. That’s Tom Cruise in The Firm: tormented by his commitment to do what’s right and the realization of his own smallness in the face of the system. Then there’s the kind of lawyer who is already disillusioned and, through some pivotal experience, regains faith in the system. That’s Paul Newman in The Verdict: a weary, alcoholic attorney revived by a medical-malpractice case that puts him back in the courtroom.
Presumed Innocent, on Apple TV+, centers on a third, indeed a more sinister, type of lawyer. As a chief deputy…
