Fisk: Television Legal Dramas for Educating Lawyers

The popular Australian television series Fisk is more than just entertainment: it offers important insights into lawyers’ professional responsibilities, and it can help both law students and new practitioners learn about legal ethics and professional standards.

Introduction
The acclaimed Australian legal drama Fisk, which has aired for three seasons since its debut in 2021, transcends mere entertainment. It merits our consideration for its depiction of lawyers and the judicial system. Centred on the life of Melbourne solicitor Helen Tudor-Fisk, who works in a boutique wills-and-probate firm, this ABC-produced comedy garnered five Logie Awards in 2025, and its Season 3 premiere attracted an impressive three million viewers. This article delves into the educational value of Fisk from the viewpoint of both a graduating law student (Catherine) and an experienced law teacher (Ben).

The roles of lawyers, courtroom interactions, and various facets of the legal system are prominently featured in popular culture, spanning novels, theatre, and diverse film genres. Given that the general public does not frequently engage with lawyers, much of their perception of the profession is shaped by media portrayals. Although television legal dramas often present exaggerated versions of their subjects, they can nonetheless convey significant cultural truths. Such dramas can be particularly valuable for fostering deeper understanding of lawyers’ ethics, competencies, and professional identities.

Australian viewers have a long-standing interest in legal dramas, including Suits, Law & Order, and Rumpole of the Bailey. Critics argue that these international series tend to romanticise the profession while overlooking the everyday realities of legal work. Legal dramas seldom depict the monotony of research, paperwork, and case preparation. Fisk, contrastingly, offers a more understated and realistic portrayal of lawyers’ quotidian lives, and as an Australian production, offers insights more applicable to our legal practices and professional standards.

In the first part of our article, we examine lawyering issues presented in Fisk and in the subsequent part we elaborate on Fisk’s significance for training lawyers, whether in academic settings or continuing professional education.

Lawyering Issues in Fisk
Fisk chronicles the journey of solicitor Helen Tudor-Fisk, employed at a small firm, Gruber & Gruber, which is initially managed by siblings Ray and Roz, alongside their probate clerk, George. In its third season, Tudor-Fisk ascends to the role of partner, leading to the firm’s rebranding as Gruber & Fisk. Kitty Flanagan, the series co-creator, also portrays the character of Tudor-Fisk. The series explores various legal issues, encompassing navigating ethical dilemmas, client advocacy, and professional identity.

Navigating Ethical Dilemmas
Legal dramas can be educationally valuable by presenting ethical dilemmas in ways that are both memorable and relatable. Lawyers who are solely trained in procedural rules may risk perceiving ethics merely as a routine checklist, rather than as an integral aspect of their ingrained professional identity.

Helen Tudor-Fisk confronts many ethical challenges. One casual encounter, in Season 3, Episode 1, is when Helen’s neighbour solicits legal advice while mowing the lawn; Helen responds by providing her business card and recommending a formal consultation, thereby highlighting the significance of establishing boundaries and maintaining clarity in professional relationships. Another enlightening moment, in Season 3, Episode 2, is when Helen is approached by Stefan, a financial advisor who regularly refers clients to her—many of whom don’t genuinely require legal assistance. Stefan emphasises the transactional nature of their relationship with his remark, ‘You owe me some referrals, Helen. Call me’. The scene humorously illustrates how financial-referral pressures can blur professional boundaries, and the tension inherent in balancing business interests with and client needs.

Also instructive is a scene in Season 1, Episode 6, when Helen demonstrates ethical professionalism in her interactions with Phil, an elderly client with a lengthy list of items to be included in his will. His inventory encompasses everything from kitchen utensils to the contents of Phil’s linen closet; however, rather than exploiting its complexity, Helen offers a flat fee, thereby avoiding unnecessary hourly charges. Her interaction with Phil is insightful for ethical professionalism with vulnerable clients: it prompts reflection on billing transparency, the duty of care, and the lawyer’s responsibility in safeguarding clients at risk of exploitation.

Fisk thus illustrates that ethical lawyering seldom involves a straightforward choice between right and wrong: it necessitates an understanding of boundaries, the management of expectations, the cultivation of trust, and the exercise of professional restraint. Helen’s choice to prioritise Phil’s well-being over financial profit exemplifies the type of ethical reasoning that practitioners ought to adopt.

Client Advocacy and Access to Justice
Our system of justice posits that the law ought to be available to all individuals, irrespective of their background or identity. While legal dramas frequently emphasise the theatrics of the courtroom, Fisk illustrates that effective advocacy encompasses listening, guiding, and supporting clients beyond formal legal settings. These representations enable us to appreciate that the role of a lawyer extends beyond merely winning cases; it also involves fostering trust and ensuring the law is accessible. By prioritising care and patience, Helen’s approach challenges the idea that effective advocacy must be dramatic or confrontational. Furthermore, Fisk highlights the necessity for lawyers to navigate bias, prejudice, and everyday obstacles to advocate effectively on behalf of their clients.

Illustratively, in Season 3, Episode 1, Helen proposes to take on a case pro bono; however, the client refuses, expressing a desire for justice rather than ‘charity’. This interaction highlights the perception among some clients that free legal services may lack the rigour associated with paid representation, thereby prompting considerations regarding dignity, trust, and the perceived worth of pro bono efforts. Additionally, Roz Gruber’s exit from the firm to establish Conch Mediation Services in Season 2, Episode 2, emphasizes the importance of alternative dispute resolution as a vital skill for lawyers. This narrative underscores the professional obligation of solicitors to inform clients about more affordable and often more effective alternatives to litigation.

Across many episodes of Fisk, viewers discover that effective advocacy requires empathy, sound judgement, and commitment to making the law accessible to all.

Professional Identity
Professional identity is shaped not solely by knowledge or ethics: it also comprises how lawyers speak, dress, and meet societal expectations. American academic Menkel-Meadow observes that legal dramas visually portray professional identity, influencing how lawyers see themselves. Wishing to avoid spectacle, Helen Tudor-Fisk represents a subtle form of professionalism based on consistency, empathy, and dependability, thereby challenging some preconceived notions of legal practice.

There are several aspects to professional identity in Fisk. Firstly, there’s presentation. Helen exemplifies understated professionalism. She dresses modestly, speaks plainly, and evokes a calm and approachable demeanour. Her career progression suggests that professionalism can take many forms and that authenticity can be just as powerful as performance. Secondly, there is lifestyle. Helen’s lifestyle is unpretentious – she resides in an Airbnb, drives a modest Honda Jazz, and drinks $1 coffees from the convenience store.

Memorably, in one scene, when asked by her neighbour ‘What’s with the crappy car? I thought a big-time fancy lawyer with loads of money would be driving like a Mercedes or a Beamer,’ Helen simply replies, ‘I’m not a big-time fancy lawyer. I’m just a wills and estates lawyer’ (Season 3, Episode 1). This exchange invites viewers to reflect on the social misconceptions of all lawyers as wealthy, polished, and powerful, while Helen’s appearance serves to subvert this stereotype.

Another seminal aspect of professional identity is the lawyer’s office. In Australia, these are more than workspaces – they’re status symbols. Think of the wood-panelling and conspicuous library of books and journals in barristers’ chambers. Helen’s office suggests otherwise. In the opening series, she is tucked away in a converted storage cupboard, her name written on a sticky label -a quiet sign she’s yet to be fully accepted by her colleagues. In a later series, she occupies one of the partner’s offices, with her name written in sharpie beneath the old signage. This is a simple but effective way of accentuating Helen’s personal and professional growth, where space can quietly signal credibility, not through prestige, but through persistence.

Educating Lawyers Through Legal Dramas
Fisk can be instructive for all audiences, from lawyers themselves to those who use their services. It’s particularly relevant for those training to be lawyers, where issues about lawyer’s professional responsibilities and identities are taught.

The educational value of popular culture has traditionally been marginalised in legal academia, where teaching rules and reasoning is prioritised. Guy Osborn, an early advocate for integrating popular culture into legal study, observes that traditional ‘black-letter’ approaches assume that law is a ‘rational and coherent body of rules that, once identified and applied, will provide the answer to the problem.’ These methods inculcate skills in legal reasoning but don’t address the social and emotional dimensions of legal practice. Legal dramas can help fill this gap. Through character-driven storytelling, they bring legal rules and protocols into everyday context and encourage students to reflect on what it means to act responsibly and ethically.

In recent years, a few scholars have begun promoting legal media such as film as a valuable pedagogical aid. Julian Hermida argues that integrating popular culture into teaching fosters students’ ‘deep learning.’ Carrie Menkel-Meadow suggests that television series (as well as novels), which develop their plot and characters, allow viewers to more critically reflect on the broader implications of a lawyer’s actions than traditional case law studies. Alexander Scherr and Hillary Farber argue that film can help teach professionalism, bridging the gap between the formal rules and ideals of professional behaviour.

Legal education in Australia is often rigorous in its technical demands, emphasising how to interpret cases, apply rules, and draft legal submissions. However, apart from bespoke clinical legal education programs, this model may fail to connect this technical knowledge with the lived experience of lawyering. Moreover, the dominant pedagogy of ‘talk and chalk’ lectures and textbook readings rarely encourages students’ engagement with the realities of professional practice. This limitation, however, has been recognised for several decades; in 1993 the NSW Law Reform Commission warned that it’s ‘inadequate to teach legal ethics and professional responsibility as if these are matters of etiquette which must simply be transmitted, committed to memory and recalled on the appropriate occasions’ (paragraph 5.24). More recently, in 2010, the Australian Law Reform Commission noted that legal education often ‘does not equip… lawyers to know how to put ethics into action in real-life… contexts, or even to recognise ethical issues when they arise’ (paragraph 4.236).

Today, many law schools across Australia have embraced a variety of non-traditional learning methods to teach legal ethics and other subjects. Socratic discussions, for example, can be used to explore ethical conundrums. Some law teachers are also introducing film to enrich such methods. At Strathclyde Law School in Scotland, a course on Law, Film and Popular Culture serves to challenge assumptions about gender, class, and cultural identity. At Villanova University, Joseph Dellapenna uses film in his comparative law course to help students engage with legal systems in their cultural context. And locally, Monash University has offered a course Lawyers, Literature and Cinema, with similar pedagogical aims. To realise their potential, films need to be curated and guided by teachers: simply telling students to watch an episode of Fisk is unlikely to engender meaningful learning. Whilst about one-third of law students in Australia do not intend to practise law, one should not assume this preference will affect their interest in legal ethics or professional lawyering skills. Legal education inculcates valuable, generic skills and knowledge that are transferable to many careers and contexts beyond legal practice.

Legal dramas like Fisk show how the law isn’t just a system of rules, but a profession shaped by human frailties and ethical complexity – how lawyers deal with relationships, emotions, conflicts of interest, and prejudice in their everyday work. Fisk draws viewers in with humour, tension, and rich characterisations. Its stories evoke more than just legal outcomes: they show lawyers dealing with difficult situations, making tough decisions, and facing the consequences.

And Fisk’s fictional scenarios offer students a unique opportunity to explore complex choices without real-world consequences. The Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner has endorsed this kind of learning, recommending that legal education include ‘safe spaces’ where students can explore uncertainty without fear of being wrong. Legal dramas, by capturing students’ interest and emotions, create a positive and low-pressure space where meaningful learning can thrive. Helen Tudor-Fisk isn’t a perfect model, but that is what makes her so relatable. Through viewing her actions and decisions, students can safely imagine how it might look and feel to be a lawyer in practice, not just in theory.

Conclusions
Television legal dramas have emerged as a widespread and impactful depiction of legal practice, alongside their representations of the broader justice system. Popular culture should not be viewed as separate from legal education or as irrelevant to the public’s perception of lawyers. Today’s students navigate a streaming environment, encountering portrayals of lawyers on platforms like Netflix, Stan, or ABC iView, often before they read textbooks. Regardless of their accuracy or exaggeration, these legal dramas play a seminal role in shaping the imaginative framework from which students develop their understanding of law and justice. Characters such as Helen Tudor-Fisk influence expectations regarding lawyer behaviour, values, and legal practice. Furthermore, Fisk’s Australian contexts, accents, institutions, and social norms enable students to contextualise legal concepts within familiar and relatable contexts.

The pertinent question, therefore, is not whether legal drama should be incorporated into legal training, but rather how it can be thoughtfully integrated to enhance and complement conventional teaching approaches. While legal dramas may be fictional, their significance is tangible. They encourage us to engage with law as a profoundly human endeavour and to contemplate the implications of acting with care, integrity, empathy, and creativity. As artificial intelligence increasingly takes over routine and analytical tasks previously performed by lawyers, the skills that remain vital are those that machines cannot emulate – ethical judgment, empathy, and human insight. By depicting law as a lived and emotional experience, Fisk can help ensure that these essential qualities remain prominent and appreciated both in educational settings and within the legal profession itself.

January 2026

Catherine Krueger, Law Graduate and
Professor Benjamin J. Richardson
Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania