This was the best legal show that Hollywood ever produced, what real courtroom fighting is all about, it was closest to reality that TV show can be. You wont find black & white picture of the life in and around the court in this one, where good guys, relying on "the Law", tough but impartial and objective judge and honest infallible jurors always win, instead you will be hit with reality and dirty nature of the courtroom, procedures, and petty little personal agendas and vanity. You wont see "the Law" as ultimate, unmistakable, perfect, God given, instead you will be presented with sort of law-market where lawyers on the both side of aisle sell and buy, you wont meet knights in shiny armors on "peoples" side, nor on the side of defense, especially not on the bench, but marketeers and traders in a dirty trade we call Law - so, forget the fantasies like Law & Order (although another first grade show), The Practice, LA Law, especially Boston Legal or Fairly Legal, not to mention Ally McBull(sh.t), etc. Stories are mostly simple every day life stories, real and very interesting, the plot solid, acting mostly solid....It's a shame it was canceled ! To me it's a complete mystery why viewers actually rejected it, something so different that breaks every cliché ?! Unbelievable .... 10 of 10

I can understand why most people didn't connect, which resulted in the series being canceled. The idea of a law series that centers on "average" defendants (poor people who are stuck in the system by a combination of circumstances and poor choices, and sometimes only the first) is not something we are accustomed. We want to see either the bad guys being chased by the good guys or saintly lawyers and defendants who are unquestionably innocent (like in "To Kill a Mockingbird"). But crime and punishment in real life are far more complex, and that is why the day-to-day of public defenders is a premise that makes such good drama.(Not that the series is ultra-realistic in every sense; most of the relationships among the characters are less than believable, very made for TV, but they had to be there if the series had any chance of success.) The bottom line is that there is something remarkably true in the stories of Raising the Bar, something that no other cop or law show ever came close to achieving. The situations of the defendants came straight from David Feige's experience as a PD in the Bronx, and not from stock characters and plots, which puts the human element far higher.It is impossible not to compare it to Law & Order, the only other series to have 50% of its cast made of public prosecutors. Bar doesn't have the excitement of its competitor, but it is far, far superior in terms of human content. Whenever any of the L&Os versions tries to give us some moral complexity and tackle social issues, it feels spoon-fed and artificial, like a plug for a political agenda. After all, it is basically a show about catching the bad guys and finding the truth, not one about ambiguity - actually, the LESS moral dilemmas you see in L&O, the better the episode.The same does not happen with Raising the Bar. The focus is on the work of Public Defenders - one of the most unjustly maligned professions in the world - and their clients. The moral complexity springs from the premise, it is not inserted in the story. It is there because the situations regular people face when charged with a crime are complex, and "guilty" x "not guilty" are two terms not always easy to apply. After watching and thinking about it, you imagine yourself as a policeman, prosecutor or judge, and you wonder if you can arrest/prosecute/sentence a person for any crime without any doubts whatsoever regarding what is done. Society suffers less crime if more people who break the law are imprisoned, that's true. But does it have less victims? Hard to say.There are other shows out there that have more thrill, but none in the legal genre that are that compelling. I hope more people, like another commenter and myself, find this great series on Netflix.Great job, Feige & company.

The reviews of "Raising the Bar", totally miss the point of this series. This series offers great insight into the politics of justice as opposed to the principles of justice, whereby personal agendas of judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers intrude into the judicial process to over-ride the truth of a case. This is the reality of "justice" which is generally ignored or brushed aside. No other series exposes this reality as well as "Raising the Bar", if they try do it at all.The inner workings of behind the scene trading of favors in "deals" is fully exposed. The truth of a case is often a secondary consideration with judges and opposing attorneys. Such political skewing of principle is the corruption that exists in all human transaction - economic, political, or judicial. However, we often ignore this and wish it away, as a part of our ignoring much of reality that is uncomfortable to us. This series can shake up your perceptions of the law and government.

One name... Jerry Kellerman. He is probably just the cherry on top for this show. The writing is excellent, it's funny and witty and makes you giggle and it is also serious and thought provoking.You just can help but fall in love with Jerry and his personality and Gosselaar plays his part with no flaws.Doing legal myself, i enjoy how this show ACTUALLY tackles some of the real issues with the legal system and it does so without bias as it shows the defendants point of view as well as the prosecution and this is well balanced. Casting is superb. The actors all play their part and even the minor characters such as the defendants who change for every episode are very believable. And the inner stories within the series amongst the main characters are balanced and do not overshadow the legal issues of the series.It's a shame this show only lasted 2 seasons as i see an amazing t.v show that REALLY should have gone for longer.i recommend to anybody who is interested in the area of law and by all means, this is just my opinion. There are flaws in the show obviously but it ticked all my boxes so 10/10