Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is a criminal defense lawyer who works out of the back of his Lincoln Navigator. Following the death of a fellow lawyer, he takes over his law practice, including the ongoing case of Trevor Elliott (Christopher Gorham), a video game designer accused of murdering his wife. A recovering addict, Mickey has been married twice, both ending in divorce. He jointly raises his daughter with his first ex-wife, prosecutor Maggie McPherson (Neve Campbell), while his second ex-wife, Lorna Crane (Becki Newton), remains his legal aide. Lorna is engaged to Cisco (Angus Sampson), Mickey's go-to investigator. Mickey also employs Izzy Letts (Jazz Raycole), a client of his, as personal driver.
Series provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: In season two, Henry Dahl appears watching Mickey's house while he and Lisa meet, presumably hoping to collect material that proves Mickey was having an intimate relationship with his client. But after that he doesn't try to blackmail Mickey, instead trying to find loopholes and eventually stealing Mickey's contract for Lisa's life rights which supersedes his own. However, it is possible that, finding that Lisa and Mickey weren't having an intimate relationship, he simply tried other strategies to do a story about Lisa's trial.
- Adapted Out:
- Harry Bosch and Jack McEvoy are neither seen nor mentioned in the series. Bosch's role is instead taken up by Griggs. This is likely due to Prime Video owning the rights to the Bosch stories.
- Nina Albrecht, Walter Elliot's personal assistant and girlfriend, who helped him cover up his murders, and was later killed along with him, is also adapted out. Downplayed in that Elliott does have a receptionist in the first episode who takes Mickey's calls, and mentions having affairs, but he committed the murders and covered them up all by himself.
- Adaptation Deviation: While the series stays true to the overall plot of the two Mickey Haller novels (so far), it makes some notable changes.
- Mickey's year long absence from defence work is the result of a near fatal surfing accident, instead of a gunshot wound from Louis Roulet (however the drug addiction to hospital drugs did remain).
- On the topic of Louis Roulet, his character is renamed to Russell Lawson, and his case took place a year before Walter Elliot's. In the series, Roulet (Lawson)'s case takes place after the Walter Elliot case.
- In the series, the detective working on Jerry Vincent's murder is Raymond Griggs. In the book the detective on the case is none other than Harry Bosch. Since Bosch makes no appearance in the series, the revelation of he and Haller being half-brothers is cut.
- Adaptational Curves: In the novels, Teddy Vogel is described as overweight to the point where on a motorcycle, he looks like he's riding his little brother's bike, and heavy enough to slightly press Mickey's car closer to the ground when leaning on it. In the series, he is of average weight.
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Lisa Trammel from the The Fifth Witness was a disgraced ex-social studies teacher, and a Womanchild Jerkass whom Haller could barely stand, and had brutally murdered bank executive Mitchell Bondurant, who tried foreclosing on her home, so no one would find out that she had buried her husband there. Here she is a successful restaurant owner in a gentrifying neighborhood, and protests against Bondurant (who's a developer here) because she genuinely cares about her fellow Latino residents who are being priced out of their own neighborhood. She also a nice person to boot, and strikes up a brief romance with Mickey. Ultimately zigzagged. She didn't murder Mitchell Bondurant, but she did murder her husband. Lorna's pretty sure she was behind Mickey's assault as well, but that's unproven.
- Zigzagged with Bruce Carlin. In the novel, he delivered the bribe to rig the jury, was the one who revealed Jerry Vincent was getting cold feet about it, and had an alibi for the night Vincent was murdered, which implies he knew about the conspiracy to kill him. In the series, while he did deliver the bribe, he went on the run after Cisco spoke to him after the murder, and was afraid of the person following Mickey, implying he may not have been part of the conspiracy.
- Adaptational Job Change:
- Lisa Trammel goes from being a former social studies teacher to a restaurant owner.
- The murder victim, Mitchell Bondurant goes from a bank worker to a housing developer.
- Walter Elliot, the owner of Archway Studios becomes a high-powered video game developer, now named Trevor Elliott.
- Mrs. Elliot, Walter's trophy wife in the novel, becomes a coder at his company.
- Rilz, a house builder, becomes a yoga instructor.
- Dahl goes from being a movie producer to a podcast producer.
- Louis Roulet, in the novel, is a real estate agent for his mother's company. Russell Lawson, who fulfils his role in the series, is a bankruptcy consultant.
- Adaptational Name Change: Louis Roulet from the first novel is now Russell Lawson. Walter Elliot from the second novel is now Trevor Elliott. His wife, Mitzi Elliot, is now Lara Elliott, and the man she cheated on him with, Johan Rilz, is now Jan Rilz. Dr. Shamiram Arslanian, Mickey's science expert, is now Dr. Miriam Arslanian.
- David McSweeney, the fake juror who killed Jerry Vincent, is now Glenn McSweeney.
- In season 2, Herb Dahl becomes Henry Dahl, and Louis Opparizio is now Alex Grant.
- Adaptational Villainy: Walter Elliot, in the novel, murdered his wife and her lover, and cheated on her before this. But he was a good judge of character who made money honestly by financing movies he thought would be hits. In contrast, Trevor Elliott in this series not only killed his wife and her lover, and admitted to having affairs of his own, but also created his company by convincing his wife to let him take credit for the work she did, as she worked for a different company at the time which owned what she made. This is also why he killed her in the series; she was going to come forward and admit the truth, which would have cost him half the company and his reputation.
- A milder version with Rilz. In the novel, he only had an affair with Mitzi. In the series, he had affairs with multiple women who were married or in relationships, resulting in at least one divorce, and also convinced them to give him money, ostensibly to start his own yoga studio.
- Also a milder version with Teddy Vogel. In the novel, Mickey states Teddy has a soft spot for him due to their history, and there is no hostility when they speak. In the series, while he never does anything villainous to Mickey, he comes across as more Faux Affably Evil, and mentions Mickey doesn't want to owe him too many favors when Mickey asks. He also forces Cisco to pay back his debt by figuring out whether a close friend in the gang is a snitch.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: Inverted. On the Literature page, it is pointed out under Artistic License – Law that Mickey could report Louis Roulet for breaking into his house and threatening his family, as well as that he is required to reveal information that could result in harm to a third party, such as Menendez in prison, and that he could talk to the judge in private and let him know in vague terms that he is compromised and work something out. In the series, when Roulet's counterpart Russell Lawson reveals himself as the killer, Menendez has already been released from prison (though is at risk of being convicted again) and is not in immediate danger, and Lawson explicitly states that he is not threatening Mickey or his family (despite implying otherwise), pointing out that this is the one circumstance that would allow Mickey to break attorney-client privilege without being disbarred. He also does not break into Mickey's house, simply waiting on his porch. Mickey handles it by letting Legal Siegel know, in non-explicit (though still obvious) terms, what has happened, and acting on his advice.
- Amoral Attorney: Like his novel and film counterparts, Haller will defend his clients whether he knows they're guilty or not. He does however have pings of guilt when he successfully gets off someone who is clearly guilty, something he will usually admit around Hayley.
- Ascended Extra: A mild case, combined with Adaptational Name Change and Race Lift. In the novel, one of the cases Mickey inherited from Jerry Vincent was a drug dealer named Edgar Reese, who Mickey represents at his sentencing hearing, and is never heard from again. In the series, the character scheduled for a sentencing hearing is renamed Terrell Coleman, and Mickey manages to get the charges dropped, later asking his help in stopping Izzy from relapsing. In season 2 he returns asking Mickey to help his daughter legally, which Mickey does.
- Legal Siegel is a more obvious case.
- Batman Gambit: Lisa's plan to get Mickey to drop the issue of her estranged husband: she hires an actor to approach Mickey, pretending to be Jeff, and offer to lie on the witness stand on Lisa's behalf in exchange for money. It works perfectly—Mickey can't knowingly allow a witness to lie in court and thus has to move on from Jeff—until Mickey figures out that "Jeff" isn't who he says he is.
- Blaming the Victim: After breaking into Mickey's apartment to coerce him to continue representing him, Lawson flatly states that Martha Renteria "had it coming".
- The Cameo: The fourth episode of season 2 features former professional basketball player Robert Horry as himself.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Mickey confronts Trevor Elliott over a bribed juror, Trevor is shown flying a drone using his cell phone. After the trial, Mickey realizes that he used a drone to fly the gun and bloody clothes out over the ocean and drop the evidence where the police would never find it.
- Composite Character: Lorna, in season 2, takes elements of Jennifer Aronson from the books, in that she is attending law school, writing motions for Mickey, and acts as his second chair in Lisa's trial.
- Izzy Letts, a former dancer who recovered from a drug addiction after injuring her back and is helped by Mickey who is also a former drug addict, becoming his driver, takes elements of Patrick Henson, a former surfer who recovered from a drug addiction after a shoulder injury, who becomes Mickey's driver in the second book, and Rojas, Mickey's driver in the fourth book who is paid to let the contract for Lisa's life rights be stolen.
- Mickey himself is also this, as Henson's injury which resulted in his drug addiction is in the series given to Mickey.
- Death by Adaptation:
- Bruce Carlin, Jerry Vincent's investigator, survives the events of the novel but is arrested for delivering a bribe and participating in the conspiracy. In the series, he goes on the run after Jerry's death, but is later struck and killed by a passing car.
- McSweeney, Jerry Vincent's killer, survives the novel but is arrested by the police. In the series, he is knocked off the mountain and dies the way he attempted to kill Mickey.
- Domestic Abuse: Lisa claims that this is why she murdered her husband. It's implied that she was in fact the one with the temper.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Mickey occasionally drops random Spanish words.
- Hero's Classic Car: Mickey's convertible Lincoln Continental does this role both in and out of universe. A more recent Lincoln Navigator is Mickey's regular town car.
- I Have This Friend: A variation. When Mickey finds out Lawson killed the woman Menendez is accused of killing, he asks Legal Siegel for help. To avoid breaking attorney-client privilege, he asks about a hypothetical lawyer in the exact same situation he is in helping his client. Siegel realizes Mickey is talking about himself, but still helps him.
- Not So Above It All: Combined with Hypocrite. In the penultimate episode of season 2, after Mickey gets a witness to plead the Fifth on the stand, the prosecutor drops a Precision F-Strike on him in chambers. The judge reprimands her for this, then does so herself.
- Race Lift:
- Lisa Trammel from the novel is presumably Caucasian. In the series she's an olive-toned woman of Puerto Rican decent, though her use of Spanish is limited due to her parents forcing her to only speak English while growing up.
- A milder one combined with Adaptational Name Change. In the book, Edgar Reese, a man whose case Mickey received just in time for the sentencing hearing, was a white man. His counterpart in this series, Terrell Coleman, is black.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: After Mickey realizes the suspect Griggs showed him is a fake, he assumes Griggs faked it to find out who in the department was leaking information to Cisco, and says as much to Griggs. Griggs admits the suspect was faked, but reveals he did it to scare Mickey into giving information he was holding back, and finding the leak was a lucky bonus.
- Shout-Out: Combined with Mythology Gag, in the sixth episode of season 1, Mickey's father is interviewed by a reporter named Connelly. Michael Connelly is the writer of the books on which the series is based, as well as an executive producer of the series and writer of some of its episodes. He worked as a crime reporter before becoming a full time writer.
- A lawyer named Dan Daly appears in the season 1 finale. While he's played by an actor here, Dan Daly is actually a real lawyer who attended college with Michael Connelly, and is mentioned in many of Connelly's books. This character is also mentioned in the third episode of season 2.
- In the third episode of season 2, Mickey mentions Judge Mills. Roger Mills is a real-life judge who has been mentioned in Connelly's books since he was a lawyer.
- Spared by the Adaptation: A variation. In the novel, when he has gotten the man who killed the woman supposedly killed by Menendez arrested, his original client has already contracted HIV due to prison rape. In the series, Menendez has not, and is even in a relationship with a baby on the way.
- Spotting the Thread: In the season 2 finale, Mickey realizes something is off when he sees an old photo of Lisa's ex-husband Jeff and realizes it's not the same guy he's met before. When out with his daughter in Venice Beach, he hears sounds including music to construction that makes him realize "Jeff" was calling from there. He confronts Lisa on how she refused to sell her home or even put it up for bail, as if afraid someone would find something there...like Jeff's body buried under the garden for years.
- You Monster!: Discussed and defied. When Mickey confronts Trevor, revealing he has pieced together everything about how Trevor killed his wife and why, Trevor tells him, "if you really believe all that is true, you must think I'm a monster." However, Mickey does not call him a monster, instead saying he is an addict, with his high being everyone thinking he is a genius.
