The legal eagles of Suits are flying high — over a decade after the show ended. Suits is currently riding a wave of popularity on Netflix, and has been hovering at the top of its Top 10 shows list in multiple countries. That might be because it’s Meghan Markle’s last acting gig, but it also could be the fact that Suits is a good show worth watching. Whatever the reasons, interest in Suits has been renewed.
Suits follows Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), a college dropout with a photographic memory who talks his way into a job working at a law firm for the shark-like closer Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht). While trying to keep his lack of credentials a secret, Mike becomes embroiled in cases, office politics and a relationship with paralegal Rachel Zane (Markle).
After you binge all nine seasons, you might crave more of Suits’ effervescent mix of law-adjacent drama, witty banter and compelling characters. Here are seven shows like Suits that you can stream right now in Australia.
The Practice
David E. Kelley puts his background as an attorney to use in creating popular legal dramas, the first of which was The Practice (Ally McBeal, also on this list, came later). All of them balance thought-provoking cases and ethical quandaries with light-hearted comedy, much like Suits.
And just as Suits features a fantastic ensemble cast, so does The Practice. Dylan McDermott starts as senior partner Bobby Donnell, who heads a cracking team including receptionist/paralegal Rebecca Washington (LisaGay Hamilton), Eugene Young (Steve Harris), and associates Ellenor Frutt (Camryn Manheim) and Lindsay Dole (Kelli Williams). The Practice’s brand of legal dramedy was so well-liked that it yielded a spinoff, Boston Legal.
Watch on Disney Plus
Franklin and Bash
One of the best things about Suits is the bantering buddies dynamic between Harvey and Mike, which can also be found between Jared Franklin (Breckin Meyer) and Peter Bash (Mark-Paul Gosselaar). They start out as maverick lawyers, but when they defeat the big firm Infeld & Daniels, they are recruited by managing partner Stanton Infeld (Malcolm Macdowell).
Jared and Franklin’s unconventional methods definitely feel akin to the wheeling and dealing of their Suits counterparts. Plus, they’re also surrounded by an eclectic group of characters, like Kumail Nanjiani’s agoraphobic Pindar and Rhea Seehorn as an assistant DA.
Available to buy on iTunes
The Good Wife
Like Suits, Robert and Michelle King’s legal drama runs through a case every week with fast-paced dialogue, attractive attorneys and a host of quirky clients, witnesses and judges. The guest starring credits read like a who’s who of Broadway stage productions, mostly because the show filmed in New York though it was set in Chicago (Suits filmed in Toronto, but was set in NYC).
While Alicia Florrick (Juliana Margulies) isn’t hiding a big secret, she’s definitely an untested novice at the firm. Her husband Peter (Chris Noth) is a former state’s attorney serving time in prison for a corruption and sex scandal. Now, it’s up to Alicia to be the breadwinner for her two kids. And though she’s just reentering the workforce, she’s determined to be a great lawyer.
Watch on Stan
Better Call Saul
It’s as odd to call Better Call Saul a legal drama as it would be to call Breaking Bad a chemistry show. Sure, Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) used to be a con man and we all know he ends up being the shadiest criminal lawyer this side of anywhere. But for now, he’s a respectable attorney — even if he bends the rules and runs roughshod over people sometimes, a la Harvey Specter.
Jimmy starts out on the up-and-up, thanks to the influence of friend and fellow attorney Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn). But his burning ambition and greed won’t go away, though, and he soon ends up involved in the area’s drug scene along with the likes of Nacho Varga (Michael Mando), Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) and Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito).
Watch on Stan
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
Mike Ross wows Harvey Specter with his photographic memory of complicated legal texts and treatises. Woo Young-woo (Park Eun-bin) is similarly blessed with total recall. And where Mike has to deal with issues brought on by his big secret, Young-woo faces a different kind of difficult situation because of her autism.
She’s seen as awkward, odd and overly blunt by her neurotypical peers at their Seoul law firm. But her unique perspective also allows her to handle cases in unexpected, yet successful ways. Just as Mike has Harvey, Attorney Woo has her own mentor, senior partner Jung Myung-seok (Kang Ki-young). And perhaps she has her own Rachel Zane in colleague Lee Jun-ho (Kang Tae-oh).
Watch on Netflix
Ally McBeal
As much as Suits focuses on its episodic cases, it wouldn’t be as great as it is without the complicated web of interpersonal relationships. Ally McBeal, arguably David E. Kelley’s most famous (and controversial) legal drama, goes beyond complicated to absolute mess.
The eponymous lawyer (Calista Flockhart) takes a job at a firm founded by former classmate Richard Fish (Greg Germann). On her first day, she discovers to her horror that one of her new colleagues is ex-boyfriend Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows). Even worse, his wife Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith) also joins their team. Along with her law degree, Ally may just need some math tutoring to figure out this love triangle.
Watch on Disney Plus
White Collar
Though White Collar isn’t about lawyers, we included it on this list because, structurally and tonally, it’s a spiritual sibling to Suits. Matt Bomer stars as Neal Caffrey, a renowned con artist and forger who’s captured by FBI Special Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) after a long cat-and-mouse hunt.
Burke offers Caffrey a deal: He can get released early if he helps the FBI apprehend white collar criminals like himself. Bomer and DeKay share a crackling chemistry as the reluctant new partners hit the streets of New York City to bust frauds, thieves, smugglers and corporate spies.
Watch on Disney Plus
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