History Series / ForThePeople

[[caption-width-right:350:From right to left: [[BullyHunter Sandra]] [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold Bell]], [[TheBully Leonard]] [[WellDoneSonGuy Knox]], [[CoolBigSis Allison]] [[PluckyGirl Adams]], [[DefrostingIceQueen Kate]] [[GoGetterGirl Littlejohn]], [[{{NiceGuy}} Seth]] [[GoodIsNotDumb Oliver]], and [[ClassClown Jay]] [[TheCharmer Simmons]]. ]]

->'''Jill (to Sandra):''' I'm giving this case to you because I think you can connect to her.\\
'''Roger (to Kate, separately):''' I'm giving this case you to because I know you will want to crush her.\\

-->-- Episode 1x03, ''"18 Miles Outside of Roanoke"''

''For The People'' is a 2018 legal drama which aired on Creator/{{ABC}} and produced by Creator/ShondaRhimes.

* BrandishmentBluff: As Jill and Sandra are on their way to make a deal with Roger and Leonard, she hands Sandra a stack of papers. What's on them isn't important, they're just a prop so that the opposing council thinks they have something heavy against them.

Set in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Federal Court, known as "The Mother Court," the series follows lawyers just beginning their careers as either Assistant United States Attorneys or Public Defenders. They handle the most high-profile and high-stakes cases in the country as their personal lives intersect and the deep-seated rivalries between the two sides of the court flare up. The prosecution, headed by Roger Gunn (Creator/BenShenkman), includes Leonard Knox (Creator/RegeJeanPage), the ambitious son of a US Senator; Kate Littlejohn (Susannah Flood), an analytical but seemingly emotionless perfectionist; and Seth Oliver (Ben Rappaport), an awkward lawyer who used to work for a private firm before joining the mother court at the same time as his girlfriend Allison. The defence, headed by Jill Carlan (Creator/HopeDavis), includes Sandra Bell (Creator/BrittRobertson), a driven crusader for truth and justice who hates to lose; Allison Adams (Creator/JasminSavoyBrown), Sandra's best friend who joined the court at the same time as boyfriend Seth; and Jay Simmons (Wesam Keesh), a laid back and awkward young man supported by his family. Rounding out the cast are as Chief Judge Nicholas Byrne (Creator/VondieCurtisHall) Ms. Tina Krissman (Creator/AnnaDeavereSmith), the no-nonsense clerk of the court.

After two seasons which were both ten episodes long, the series was canceled.

** Kate and Anya. They're almost complete opposites in both their looks and personality.

Set in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Federal Court, known as "The Mother Court," the series follows lawyers just beginning their careers as either Assistant United States Attorneys or Public Defenders. They handle the most high-profile and high-stakes cases in the country as their personal lives intersect and the deep-seated rivalries between the two sides of the court flare up. The prosecution, headed by Roger Gunn (Ben Shenkman), includes Leonard Knox (Creator/RegeJeanPage), the ambitious son of a US Senator; Kate Littlejohn (Susannah Flood), an analytical but seemingly emotionless perfectionist; and Seth Oliver (Ben Rappaport), an awkward lawyer who used to work for a private firm before joining the mother court at the same time as his girlfriend Allison. The defence, headed by Jill Carlan (Hope Davis), includes Sandra Bell (Creator/BrittRobertson), a driven crusader for truth and justice who hates to lose; Allison Adams (Jasmin Savoy Brown), Sandra's best friend who joined the court at the same time as boyfriend Seth; and Jay Simmons (Wesam Keesh), a laid back and awkward young man supported by his family. Rounding out the cast are as Chief Judge Nicholas Byrne (Vondie Curtis-Hall) Ms. Tina Krissman (Anna Deavere Smith), the no-nonsense clerk of the court.

** As pointed out in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mHWVaZweGI this video by Legal Eagle]], the pilot episode, which is portrayed as a case of entrapment and general miscarriage of justice, was anything but, with the defendant in question had already made the decision to attempt to destroy the Statue of Liberty, and taken the predicate acts to do so. Undercover FBI agents helped him after he decided, though since they didn't trick, persuade or coerce him into doing so it's not entrapment.

** As pointed out in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mHWVaZweGI this video by Legal Eagle]], the pilot episode, which is portrayed as a case of entrapment and general miscarriage of justice, was anything but, with the defendant in question had already made the decision to attempt to destroy the Statue of Liberty, and taken the predicate acts to do so. Undercover FBI agents helped him after he decided, though since they didn't trick, pursuade or coerce him into doing so it's not entrapment.

** As pointed out in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mHWVaZweGI this video by Legal Eagle]], the pilot episode, which is portrayed as a case of entrapment and general miscarriage of justice, was anything but, with the defendant in question had already made the decision to attempt to destroy the Statue of Liberty, and taken the predicate acts to do so.

Set in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Federal Court, known as "The Mother Court," the series follows lawyers just beginning their careers as either Assistant United States Attorneys or Public Defenders. They handle the most high-profile and high-stakes cases in the country as their personal lives intersect and the deep-seated rivalries between the two sides of the court flare up. The prosecution, headed by Roger Gunn (Ben Shenkman), includes Leonard Knox (Regé-Jean Page), the ambitious son of a US Senator; Kate Littlejohn (Susannah Flood), an analytical but seemingly emotionless perfectionist; and Seth Oliver (Ben Rappaport), an awkward lawyer who used to work for a private firm before joining the mother court at the same time as his girlfriend Allison. The defence, headed by Jill Carlan (Hope Davis), includes Sandra Bell (Creator/BrittRobertson), a driven crusader for truth and justice who hates to lose; Allison Adams (Jasmin Savoy Brown), Sandra's best friend who joined the court at the same time as boyfriend Seth; and Jay Simmons (Wesam Keesh), a laid back and awkward young man supported by his family. Rounding out the cast are as Chief Judge Nicholas Byrne (Vondie Curtis-Hall) Ms. Tina Krissman (Anna Deavere Smith), the no-nonsense clerk of the court.

Set in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Federal Court, known as "The Mother Court," the series follows lawyers just beginning their careers as either Assistant United States Attorneys or Public Defenders. They handle the most high-profile and high-stakes cases in the country as their personal lives intersect and the deep-seated rivalries between the two sides of the court flare up. The prosecution, headed by Roger Gunn (Ben Shenkman), includes Leonard Knox (Regé-Jean Page), the ambitious son of a US Senator; Kate Littlejohn (Susannah Flood), an analytical but seemingly emotionless perfectionist; and Seth Oliver (Ben Rappaport), an awkward lawyer who used to work for a private firm before joining the mother court at the same time as his girlfriend Allison. The defence, headed by Jill Carlan (Hope Davis), includes Sandra Bell (Britt Robertson), a driven crusader for truth and justice who hates to lose; Allison Adams (Jasmin Savoy Brown), Sandra's best friend who joined the court at the same time as boyfriend Seth; and Jay Simmons (Wesam Keesh), a laid back and awkward young man supported by his family. Rounding out the cast are as Chief Judge Nicholas Byrne (Vondie Curtis-Hall) Ms. Tina Krissman (Anna Deavere Smith), the no-nonsense clerk of the court.

''For The People'' is a 2018 legal drama airing on Creator/{{ABC}} and produced by Creator/ShondaRhimes.

The first season was ten episodes long, but was renewed for a second season on May 11, 2018.

* BlackBestFriend: Allison for Sandra and Leonard for Kate.

* BiTheWay: Kate starts a relationship with a female ATF agent, but clearly has an attraction to Leonard.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: As pointed out in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mHWVaZweGI this video by Legal Eagle]], the pilot episode, which is portrayed as a case of entrapment and general miscarriage of justice, was anything but, with the defendant in question had already made the decision to attempt to destroy the Statue of Liberty, and taken the predicate acts to do so.

** The attorneys that had just started working at the US Attorney's Office and Public Defender's Office would not be sent to deal with big cases on their own straight off. Instead, they would work under supervision of a more experienced attorney, as simply one part of a team. Of course, [[RuleOfDrama this would not be so dramatic]]. They would also not be starting with cases that go to the mattresses for trial, but rather taking lots of minor cases that usually will end in guilty pleas to lesser sentences (and again, not as dramatic).
*** A lot of the questions witnesses get asked are things which they couldn't know, and would thus be objected to. Inappropriate arguments are allowed in closing too. Cases also take far more time until they get to trial.

** The attorneys that had just started working at the US Attorney's Office and Public Defender's Office would not be sent to deal with big cases on their own straight off. Instead, they would work under supervision of a more experienced attorney, as simply one part of a team. Of course, [[RuleOfDrama this would not be so dramatic]]. A lot of the questions witnesses get asked are things which they couldn't know, and would thus be objected to. Inappropriate arguments are allowed in closing too. Cases also take far more time until they get to trial.
** Only $9,000 of fraud from insider trading is also not something a US Attorney would bring to trial. Lampshaded by Chief Judge Nicholas Byrne, who takes off his glasses and asks, "''[[LampshadeHanging This]]'' [[LampshadeHanging is what Roger Gunn is prioritizing in the US Attorney's office nowadays?]]" The insider trading case actually gets a lot of the other matters of law correct, such as having the lawyers argue from behind counsel table instead of pacing inside of the well (the area between counsel tables and the judge's bench), and the arguments for why exactly the defendant is being prosecuted are also sound (some people need to be reminded that there are consequences to breaking the law).

** ''The Vast, Immovable Object'': [[spoiler:The evidence to prove that the client didn't strangle the girl, that he was coerced into confessing and that the victim had a stalker who fit the physical build of the killer while the client didn't is perfectly able to display his innocence. The jury convicts anyway]].
** ''Moral Suasion'': [[spoiler:After how much trouble Allison has had throughout the episode getting her client bail, through the means of everyone in the client's life having no faith in him, Allison's own rich parents refusing to help her and the client being beaten while in prison, Allison is finally able to convince the client's grandmother to give him another chance and provide the bond. Allison then finds out the client decided to [[DrivenToSuicide hang himself]] and it's ultimately too late.]]

* CrusadingLawyer: Both sides often see themselves as fighting for justice, though Sandra takes the cake as she gets very emotionally invested in defending the downtrodden.

** Only $9,000 of fraud from insider trading is also not something they would bring to trial. It certainly annoys Chief Judge Nicholas Byrne, who takes off his glasses and asks, "''This'' is what Roger Dunn is prioritizing in the US Attorney's office nowadays?" The insider trading case actually gets a lot of the other matters of law correct, such as having the lawyers argue from behind counsel table instead of pacing inside of the well (the area between counsel tables and the judge's bench).

* RogueJuror: When Judge Byrne is called for jury duty and gets selected (the defense lawyer didn't even pay attention to his responses) he's delighted at the idea of seeing the criminal justice system by another angle. He soon becomes the lone holdout when the rest of the jury votes "guilty" though. After his attempting to explain why the prosecution didn't prove the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, he gets them to understand even so. They come around to his view and acquit. Unlike in most examples, he admits that most likely the defendant is guilty, but since the prosecution didn't prove it, he should go free.