!! The film:
* ActorAllusion: This wasn't the first time Matthew [=McConaughey=] played a [[Film/ATimeToKill defense attorney]].
* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler: Louis Roulet is a rich, spoiled sadist who believes [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney he can do whatever he wants]]. Roulet enjoys beating on women, particularly prostitutes, as he knows they'll never be believed over him in court and he has the best representation money can buy. Roulet is soon revealed to be the real murderer in a case the AmoralAttorney protagonist, Mickey Haller, had defended years ago, and Roulet is positively gleeful over an innocent man rotting in jail for his crime. Roulet keeps Haller as his defense lawyer by threatening him, as well as his ex-wife and young daughter, knowing Haller is obliged to do the best for his client. Haller [[BatmanGambit puts an informant on the stand]] to acquit Roulet of the assault, but the testimony puts Roulet under suspicion for his previous murder. In a rage, Roulet later makes his way to Haller's ex-wife, intending on murdering her and her daughter.]]
* HarsherInHindsight: The defendant Roulet describes a homosexual couple who came to his accuser's rescue as "two faggots". Haller's investigator, Levin, clarifies that it was a homosexual couple who lived next door, to which Roulet vehemently replies, "Like I said, [[{{Jerkass}} the faggot couple!"]] Levin mutters under his breath, "I stand corrected. The faggot couple." It is somewhat PlayedForLaughs, but later it is revealed that Levin is also gay.
* MagnificentBastard: Mickey Haller is an AmoralAttorney who happily defends the guilty and will employ any legal trick to get them cleared. After an attempted rape and murder, psychopath [[spoiler:Louis Roulet]] sways Haller into defending him, whereupon Haller learns that not only is [[spoiler:Roulet]] guilty, but he is responsible for murdering a previous client of Haller's pleaded guilty to. In order to stop [[spoiler:Roulet]] while still satisfying legal ethics, Haller plants fake testimony in a perjuring jailhouse snitch so he can discredit him along with the other witnesses against [[spoiler:Roulet]], but ensures the police hear the testimony so they may arrest [[spoiler:Roulet]] for the previous murder, winning the case while still bringing [[spoiler:Roulet]] down. When [[spoiler:Roulet]] goes after Haller's ex-wife and daughter, Haller ensures a group of bikers he knows are waiting for him, with the only instruction that [[spoiler:Roulet]] end in "the hospital, not the morgue."
* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Mary Windsor kills Frank Levin to protect her monster of a son from going to prison and later tries to kill Haller for turning against Roulet and trying to put him in prison.]]
* QuestionableCasting: In the book, Haller is half-Mexican and grew up in Los Angeles. Matthew [=McConaughey=] has neither of those attributes and maintains his Texas accent but, beyond that, he nails the character perfectly.
* TheWoobie: You kinda have to feel sorry for Minton. He is just completely outclassed by Mickey, he wants to do the right thing, and, oh yes, [[spoiler:Roulet ''is'' actually guilty.]] The film has a shot where he's clearly realizing just how badly he's been screwed.
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