Three Leading Names in Legal Analysis

Since the 1990s, there has been a major increase in television
legal analysts.
Image:  Shutterstock

From the early 1990s, the legal analyst emerged from the obscure, if not rare, television appearance (with enormous hair) into a key and familiar component of viewers’ diet of news.

At the onset of CourtTV, critics argued there would be insufficient programming to fill a 24-hour channel, let alone content to keep an audience interested. Time has proven them wrong. From the Menendez Brothers to Casey Anthony; there has been enough drama, strategy, and face-palming to keep us glued through the commercial break.

But who is the Television Legal Analyst? What about them lend the air of: professionalism, compassion, and media savvy? These personalities cut through the bluster and spin and deliver simple understanding of courtroom procedure and process. So, how?

First, It helps if they’re lawyers. People who went to law school, passed the bar exam, and practice law probably have a great degree of understanding of legal issues. It also seems to help if you got your lawyerly chops in the US Attorney’s office as well. Secondly, a media friendly personality gives one a big boost over a grumpy-Gus who slouches and mumbles.

Lastly, a legal analyst need posses a willingness to speak succinctly about the law. Not as an intangible thing, but as something we deal with in one way or another during our day: at work, at home, even the labels on our shampoo are a result of laws.

Let’s take a look as some of the eminent legal practitioners we let into our houses:

After receiving a law degree with honors from the University of Florida, Kendall Coffey became a top ranking litigator. Five years after opening in his own practice in1988, he became a US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Since returning to private practice he has become a renowned trial lawyer as well as legal analyst for MSNBC, CNN, NBC, and NewsMax.

Sunny Hostin anchors “American Morning” on CNN, appears on ABC News’ World Now and has appeared on FOX. Upon receiving her law degree from Notre Dame and working in private practice, Hostin joined the U.S. Justice Department in their Antitrust Division. Moving to become an Assistant US Attorney for D.C. receiving Special Achievement Award for her successful prosecution of sex offenders.

A Harvard Law School magna cum laude graduate, Jeffrey Toobin worked as an associate counsel to Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh during the Iran-Contra affair and Oliver North's criminal trial – cutting his teeth early in his career. Toobin served as an Assistant US Attorney in Brooklyn, New York. In 1993 Toobin left the practice of law to pursue his current role as Legal Analyst for the New York Times and commentator for CNN.

A law degree and clever turn of phrase doesn’t necessarily guarantee a position as a network legal analyst. Of course, those attributes are helpful but a keen knowledge of the law, with the passion and ability to convey it’s most intricate nuances into digestible information to viewers will serve you better than any quip.