I have realised I have no favourite legal KDs (or for that matter from anywhere else) because overwhelmingly they distort the salient features of legal systems including procedures so much for the sake of entertainment that they become nonsensical. My BP suffers as I can’t compartmentalise while watching and just enjoy for the sake of entertainment. Even EAW for all of its positive attributes had the same shortcoming/s. And, we won’t even mention “The Good Bad mother”! Soooo ridiculously farcical at times even if its ‘legal’ heart was in the right place.

My *favorite* legal drama was 'Misty'. The legal drama that most impressed me was 'Stranger' (Forest of Secrets). The legal drama I have the most affection for is 'War of Prosecutors'.

I haven't watched many legal dramas but I think my vote would have to go to Juvenile Justice. I can't think of any complaints about it (except maybe the ex mother in law) but I just think it's a good drama, through and through. I understood all the perspectives and the cases were sometimes rough to watch because it does make you wonder what is the right choice to make? Can these kids really be rehabilitated? The main character is awesome and I just want her to find contentment. Her compassionate coworker is someone I think is needed in that world and was a good balance to her. I think the cases were based on real cases and the laws discussed are still topics of discussion to this day.

Sidenote: I think I watched this drama around the same time I was reading a webtoon [Get Schooled] with a similar premise: dealing with delinquent kids & adults. One of the questions in it is "how far is too far?"

Once again, I wish I were able to better articulate my thoughts.

Attorney Woo will hold a special place in my heart just for how wonderfully a person with a disability was portrayed. I live with one so I know a bit. Just lovely!

Suits is a surprise. I am glad that it mentioned. An excellent legal drama in a corporate law firm setting, elegantly and smartly produced. But the best legal drama is I Can Hear Your Voice, where cases presented are well developed. The courtroom drama is well bound with the drama unfolding in the story. All the others mentioned above are also excellent legal dramas, except for Hyena that I did not like.

This is a no brainer for me. Forest of Secrets of course. The show is just perfect and It has everything that I love.
Social and political issue ✔
Superb acting ✔
Brilliant script ✔
Great directing/editing ✔
No silly character/unnecessary filler✔
No exaggeration✔
And those qualities makes it the best series I've ever watched.
Have I mentioned that I rewatch it regularly and still brings the same feeling? You bet I have, somewhere here. Lol.

I watch legals for the legals and any other thing comes secondary. All my legals strike a chord for various reasons but I simply like legals that teach me, ones that are not super powered, and ones that tackle social issues or make commentaries, and legals that deliver captivating closings to their cases(Strangers Again). That's why Forest of Secrets 1&2, Juvenile Justice, Strangers Again, and While You Were Sleeping are high up in my head.
I'll have to use a cheat code here. My favorite has subsections - through the eyes of case makers or defenders, or the eyes of the Judge.

Through the eyes of case makers, my favorite legal drama is Forest of Secrets. Why? It tackled the justice and police system. And it taught me a few things. The punishment for some crimes(basic misdemeanors) are a slap in the wrist, even though sometimes the result of that crime is something heavy and a huge loss. You can't punish them enough and they know too. You can't equally keep them arrested beyond 48 hours, they know too. FoS used season 2 ep 1&2 to show me how to hold someone accountable even though I know I'll let them go at the end of the day. You can't just leave without knowing what what you did has caused. This is minus the social commentary it made throughout season 2. I followed S1 solely through the recaps so my memory is quite hazy in that area.

Eyes of a judge : Juvenile Justice. Thanks to a particular series, my interest was piqued to look at law through the lens of a judge and I've been hooked ever since. I'm counting down to fall for the part 2 of a particular legal series to air after a 1½ year+ hiatus since the mid-finale. A scene in my 2nd most favorite legal drama(I've only got 2 favs btw and I ain't adding to them) said that :"When you're down there defending your clients, you see the case from one side. But when you're up here, it's a different ballgame. The pressure is higher and you're seeing more than the accused, you're also seeing the complainant/plantiff, and you have to hear both of them. It's challenging...". I've forgotten the rest of her words. In Juvenile Justice, the system is quite different as there's no prosecutor, the judge is the prosecutor and judge of the cases brought to the judge's courtroom. So it was kinda a different ballgame for me.
And, yes I agree with the first social commentary Juvenile Justice made that struck a landing in head and has never left since : "How far is too far?", "Overcompensating or undercompensating".

All the debates from the opposing sides. All the gavels sounds I hear in the courtroom will never be enough for me.

Why are you doing this to me? That is one of my favorite genres. Aside from the ones that went awry midway, my all-time favorite is EAW. It was a drama with a heart and not just a case-of-the-week format.
Runner Up: While you were sleeping, my first drama to make me feel warm while watching

Thank you Mistyisles for bringing up SUITS. It has two of my favorite actors, Jang Dong Gun and Chad Jung Ah. This is the kind of modern drama so well made that I may be tempted to watch again, and again.

I rarely watch legal dramas, but the drama hooked me was ‘Stranger’. It wasn’t a courtroom drama yet it had me glued. It was a perfect drama for me.

Hyena is a close second.

This is one of my top 3 favorite genres, even for books (bought/borrowed too many scott turrow and john grisham books). Also, grew up watching all those Law&Order seasons. i know that kdramas (and even hollywood dramas) do not actually reflect realities but my favorites were Law School and Diary of Prosecutor.

This is a genre that I usually enjoy, so I was surprised to find myself stumped trying to come up with an answer and realized I don't really have a favorite legal Kdrama.

I'm tempted to go with I Hear Your Voice simply because it's the last one I remember watching and enjoying. I started Extraordinary Attorney Woo, but never finished it. There was a lot to like about it, but it just never completely engaged me. Maybe I'll pick it back up again later.

I've heard a lot of good of things about Juvenile Judge so I may give that one a try as well.

Why Her?

Stranger 2 or Forest of Secret 2

I think the second was more interesting on the procedural side. There was the discussion between Prosecutors and Police, both side fighting for more power.

The investigation was very interesting.

And of course, the duo of characters/actors! Cho Seung-Woo and Bae Doo-Na were really great in their role.

Don’t have to think twice about this one: LAW SCHOOL. Because the other legal dramas, even the ones with an entertaining story line, are simply that. Entertaining. With little basis in reality. But when I watched Law School, many of the scenes caused me to have PTSD flashbacks to my time in law school. The cut throat competitive system, worrying about grades, and of course, the dreaded Socratic Method were realistic portrayals. Add to that an engaging storyline and top notch acting and you have a winning verdict. ⚖️👩🏻‍⚖️

Somehow I don't think of Forest of Secrets as a legal drama (I feel like it transcends genre), which is my excuse for picking Memory. I also want to throw out a favorite lawyer moment: amnesiac hospital patient Kim Myung-min dispensing free legal advice in A New Leaf.

I'm one of the - apparently - few people here who sincerely likes the genre (always did - smart people doing serious smart stuff fascinated me even more when I was younger) and thus have trouble making only one choice. Not all of them are good and it's not like I know that much about how law works (this probably helps to avoid constant secondhand embarrassment lol), but kdramas do legal shows with love, pathos and style I usually enjoy. HYENA and k-SUITS did exceptionally well in styling regard, while EAW had a lot of heart... well, initially, then it all went downhill fast for me because of excessive preaching pathos. IHYV was the best as thriller, neither legal parts not romance touched me, sorry. Special shot-out to LAWLESS LAWYER for combining multiple things I'm into - legal angle, action, campy humor and LJG. This one is probably the winner for me because it never took itself too seriously - huge mistake that almost every other legal drama does at some point. There were moral lessons too ofc, but it didn't overpower the rest of elements thankfully (I'm looking at you, AGAIN MY LIFE!). Maybe I should ditch all the 100500 shows I'm currently stuffing myself with and go for another rewatch because it's THAT fun...

I agree that Forest of Secrets was top notch- but I confess that my all time fav (to date) ‘legal’ drama is Suspicious Partner. Those office meetings 🤣! And pouty Ji Chang Wook ❤️❤️❤️

There are so many dramas I love that have a lawyer, prosecutor, or judge as the main lead that I guess this is a favorite genre of mine.

Pride and Prejudice was a great mix of personal stories, backdoor machinations, crime investigations and romance, all the while showing how the prosecution works.

Confession had riveting court scenes (Junho!).

Your Honour showed how judges work. And my anticipation would be always be high as to what Yoon Shi-yoon would do now.

*For the most engaging “legal” parts: Stranger
*For the best “will they; won’t they:” Strangers Again
*For the best “case of the week” treatment: Extraordinary Attorney Woo
*For the best kiss: Hyena
*For the most satisfying “comeuppance” for the villain(s) and delightfully adorable win for the protagonist in the end: Divorce Attorney Shin

Legal dramas are not my favorite ones, so I have not watched many.

My pick is Solomon's Perjury (k-drama), which I liked and the ending even moved me. All the young actors made a great job, the story went right to the point (there wasn't almost any filler content), there were surprises and it was all about an only case, not a procedural (I'm not a fan of procedurals of any genre).

Runner-up: Extraordinary Attorney Woo. It took me about seven episodes to start enjoying this drama, but in the end I liked it because of Woo and some secondary characters.

I am not THAT into legal dramas, but Suspicious Partner had some good cases and especially when mister Byeon himself got involved in a drunk driving accident. but also because you saw them really go through piles and piles and piles of papers till the point they looked homeless.
Plus I really liked all characters, especially officer Bang and Ji Hae.
still a bit pissed thatb we didnt see epic bromance and reconciliation between Eun-Hyuk, who tried so hard to show that his best friend was more important to him than anything, and Ji-Wook.

So hard! Extraordinary Woo Young Woo or Hyena or Stranger-

I had to stop myself. You can tell I'm not in the law industry because I wouldn't have this problem otherwise. I'm pretty sure there's another drama I've forgotten but I had to choose one

As Stranger / Forest of Secrets has already been mentioned by so many:

The Devil Judge

I loved the "new format" of trials and the overall stylishness. Nothing was as it seemed and all of the bad guys got their comeuppance.

Having never been a fan of legal dramas per se (Law and Order was never my thing, though I love the movies), I will give it a go if I get invested in the characters, though I seldom finish it. For me Extraordinary Attorney Woo tops anything that I have seen. The cases were meh, some of them downright boring (those two episodes spent looking at a tree?) but the characters drove the show so beautifully that I didn't need to be invested in the case at all. As @dramaddictally mentioned, it gave us one of the most memorable female characters ever. I want to add that it also gave us one of the cutest romace ever (who can resist Kang Tae Oh?). But the thing I love most about EAW was the thematic representation of whales to help us connect with Young Woo's emotions. So very beautifully done. As a lover of animals, this show will always hold a special place in my heart. It's also a show that I have watched multuple times, and made my friends watch it too. The other one I love is Suits, it was a surprise. Not only the cases were interesting, I liked the fact that the resolutions were not black and white. The learning curve that Go Yeon Woo (I just realized both EAW and Suits have the same names differently spelled) went through to realize what kind of person he truly was is something the show did splendidly. It also gives an all time awesome bromance. The last scene between the two is drama gold.

Hats off to each of the DB staff who shared their reasons for their choices. I have watched every one of the mentioned dramas and loved them so I am disqualified from giving an answer due to the fact that they want only one and I for one cannot choose just ONE. I enjoy them and will watch them for different reasons depending on the story told and actors involved in telling said story.

This is an easy one for me: EXTRAORDINARY ATTORNEY WOO.

But, even though most of the characters are not lawyers, and it is a family weekender MY FATHER IS STRANGE is actually the runner up in this category. Even how the judge's rule on the titular Father's punishment was spot on.

This is one of those "you can only pick one" where I realized I have seen most of the dramas mentioned, and not because I know anything about the law--especially Korean court procedure. I just assume that it is pretty much a fantasy setting, operating by kdrama rules. But "legal" dramas are often a stand-in for battles against sinister government or corporate corruption, detective investigation of criminal cases, illustrating personal growth, exploring love between men, or between men and women.

And of course legal dramas all too often bring up one of the most popular themes in kdramas--revenge and personal justice, which is ALWAYS framed as this great moral question--should we go outside the system or use extralegal means of punishment:
"But the rich can always skirt the law and criminals get off scot free--lets just shoot him and let him rot in hell!" "No, no--that makes us just as bad as him! We can follow proper legal procedure, and ensure the system is just for all!" etc. etc.

My favorite legal drama, however, is not one that deals with the epochal nature of vengeful justice, but rather Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and not because of the character's autism, which I found at times somewhat problematic in its portrayal. (Ironically partly BECAUSE of its noble intentions, and because Park Eu Bin is SO charismatic in whatever she does.) Nor would I pick it because the court cases were, as @dramaddictally says, cleverly pegged to her personal development, although I liked that part pretty well, and give great credit to the writer for this juxtaposition.

Instead, it was because the cases involved really interesting contemporary issues that could be argued either way, such as how should development be weighed against historic/environmental preservation; should teachers be allowed autonomy or should parents wishes always prevail; how should consensual sexual activity be defined; what are the rights of religious organizations in governing public use; and who should be held responsible for security breaches on the Internet. These are not mundane cases, but ones that I think are as central to a just society as issues of revenge and punishment, and actually involve the law as it shapes social priorities. That makes it a great legal drama in my book--although I also appreciated Park Eu Bin's dazzling smile, the romantic kiss scene, and Kang Tae Oh's muscular forearms.

It's a tie between Hyena and Extraordinary Attorney Woo...I love legal dramas as long as there don't try to force SJW propaganda.

The drama with the highest note and a law theme in my viewed list is The devil judge.
And it's true that it does have several case (of the week), even though these are not what I remember most.
Then, is Stranger legallier drama ? Can Taxi driver and Vincenzo compete ?
I have not seen yet a drama where the characters are the background for the several cases of the week. Because it's a kdrama feature to focus on the relationship between the personnages, and this makes them less legally in my opinion.
The verdict is that I like big production and well-finished dramas. And there are a lot of legal dramas for me to watch !

Enjoy reading this post and everyone's recommendations. Loved Stranger and Attorney Woo just like everyone else. I would like to add to the list a really enjoyable and lesser known drama about a clerk at a law firm who failed the bar exam 9 times in a row, it's called Magerarenai Onna (The Woman Who Never Compromises)

This is an easy one for me: Extraordinary Attorney Woo
Without this show I wouldn’t have starting going down this Kdrama rabbit hole. I wound have never found this site. This was the show that showed me that there is a lot more quality writing and acting done outside Hollywood. There might be “better” shows out there, but the show that started this journey for me will always be special.

The first show that popped into my head for this category was The Good Wife. The courtroom scenes with Jeon Doyeon against Yoo Jaemyung (playing Michael J Fox’s sly, brilliant, annoying character with respect and sensitivity) and an exasperated judge in between them were my favorite part of the show.

If the sole criteria for being a 'legal drama' is to have a prosecutor in it, one show that comes to mind is 'The Guardians' or 'Lookout'. Particularly the amazing performance given by Kim Young-kwang as the prosecutor, long before 'Secret Life of my Secretary' and 'Call It Love'.

Call me weird but my favorite legal dramas:

1. While you were sleeping
2. Miss Hammurabi
3. I hear your voice

Really though, anything with Lee Jung Sun is typically good for me. I’m not sure why? 🤔

There are quite a few dramas I haven’t seen among those people have named. Of the ones I HAVE seen, it’s no contest: Hyena. It’s smart, it’s original, and it features one of my all-time favorite K drama couples. (I love the actors individually, too.)

Can't really argue with Forest of Secrets.

But there is a dearth of really good courtroom dramas (though Attorney Woo gets an honourable mention in that category), which is why I've opted for the mad-as-a-box-of-frogs prosecutor drama Punch.
A rollercoaster ride of absurdity, but brilliantly plotted, and takes itself just seriously enough.

Don't make me choose 🤧

Funny thing is, I'm a lawyer in active practice and I cringe regularly at A LOT of the scene which are played up for dramatic effect but I still love my imperfect legal dramas.

In no particular order 😉, here are my favorite legal dramas:

Law School (it reminds me of my law school days 🤣, drama and all)

Witch's Court (I love the pairing here)

While You Were Sleeping (some of the scenes are accurate but I love Lee Jong Suk's awkwardness 😊)

Judge vs Judge (I LOVE this drama, don't ask me why 😅)

Miss Hammurabi/The Devil Judge (I can't decide which of the two I love more)

Secret Forest (This has to be the most accurately told legal dramas ever)

Juvenile Justice (very interesting take of judges and impartialty)

Hyena / Diary of a Prosecutor (Ahnng 🤩🤩🤩)

Attorney Woo for me! Not only is it the *only* legal kdrama I've seen, but it's too special to me, I could never pick another one.