Other than doctors, and possibly media workers with unreasonably large New York apartments, few professions are quite as attractive to scriptwriters as lawyers. Lawsuits provide ready-made drama, and even for shows that don't revolve around the courtroom, dropping in a lawyer raises the stakes, or at least ensures you'll get a really good speech.

Of course, what makes a great lawyer in real life doesn't always amount to a great lawyer on TV. First and foremost, we want to be entertained, and sometimes hapless, incompetent lawyers who couldn't win a case if the entire courtroom was drunk make for the best characters. Then again, sometimes we just want to watch someone open a can of legal whoopass in a fictional courtroom. So for the purposes of this list, we've compiled on the following pages, in no particular order, the fictional lawyers of the small screen with the most memorable characters, the ones who made an impression, whether they were onscreen for several seasons, or only a few episodes.

Thanks to our Twitter followers who told us their favorite fictional lawyers. Did we miss your favorite TV lawyer? Let us know @insidecounsel.