Fairly Legal

Fairly Legal (formerly known as Facing Kate) is a USA Network television series starring Sarah Shahi, Michael Trucco, Baron Vaughn, and Virginia Williams. The one-hour drama premiered on January 20, 2011, and has been renewed for a second season. It centers on Kate Reed (Shahi), a lawyer who changes professions and becomes a mediator instead, allowing the writers to take a new look at tropes about the law and lawyers.

Tropes used in Fairly Legal include:
  • Adorkable: Leo.
  • Adult Child: Kate can be extremely childish, such as when locking her naked ex-husband out on his balcony.
  • Beleaguered Assistant: Leo. Not that Kate is incompetent, she just has a lot of trouble sticking to her schedules/appointments etc., leaving Leo to clean up the mess. Now it seems that Ben is trying to poach Leo, forcing him to deal with Ben's crap, in addition to Kate's.
  • Black and Nerdy: Kate's assistant Leo.
  • Blatant Lies: Leo tells Ben that Lauren used to be a porn star.

Leo (laughing): That last part's untrue. But you believed it, right? It's like a vibe.

  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Kate is an excellent mediator always willing to go the extra mile for a client, however she is constantly late if she even shows up at all, disrespectful to her boss who is also her step-mother and sometimes going the extra mile for a client means bending or breaking the law. In the season one finale, this is subverted; Lauren is finally fed up with Kate's shenanigans and fires her
  • Brainy Brunette: Kate.
  • California Doubling: Subverted. Although the series is actually set in California (San Francisco, in fact), most of the filming is in Vancouver.
  • Cool Boat: Kate lives out of one. See also Houseboat Hero.
  • Defrosting the Ice Queen: Lauren, second season.
  • Family Versus Career: The reason given for Justin and Kate's marriage breaking up is that she prioritised her work before their relationship.
  • Fan Service: Not gratuitous, but one memorable scene has Kate walking out of Justin's kitchen in his shirt, and he tells her he intends to wear it to work. {{[[[Toplessness From the Back]] so she takes it off}}.
  • A Father to His Men: Coach Gardner.
  • Going Commando: Kate's ex drops by late at night. She greets him while wearing an undershirt and pauses before she realises she isn't wearing a bra.
  • Gold Digger: Averted by Kate's former stepmother Lauren. She really did love her husband, and her depth of emotions are reflected in the episode where she cannot even bear to enter his office. When the emotion becomes too much for her during the work day, she locks herself in the bathroom and submerges her face in ice water. She also tells Judge Nicastro she's terrified that if she appears to be moving on in any way, people will think she never really loved Teddy (Nicastro perceptively points out that by 'people' she means 'Kate').
  • Hey It's That Girl: Wow, Dani Reese has sure changed careers...
  • Ice Queen: Lauren. Definitely defrosting as of Season 2.
  • Idiot Ball: As an intelligent, experienced former attorney Kate really should know better than attempt some of the stunts she pulls. She seems to think that mediation can solve everything and seems surprised when quite often it will blow up in her face and make the situation worse.
    • In one case she tries to mediate a dispute where her client has nothing to offer and the other person has all the power since the client is in the country illegally.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kate's ex-husband Justin. Kate also qualifies.
  • The Judge: Judge Nicastro.
  • Married to the Job: Kate.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Justin (aka Anders) has a number of shirtless scenes, and one scene where he goes totally nude on his apartment's balcony as a karmic punishment to his neighbor for regularly doing the same.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Kate and Lauren. In addition to that mentioned above, Kate routinely wears tight/short skirts and heels. And despite Lauren's iciness she almost always wears extremely flattering dresses and heels. Not to mention the almost absurdly tight dress she wears on her date with Helo.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In "Bo Me Once", Kate meets Bo's producer Beth, in her office. Then Beth tells her her father, the real Bo, was abusive. Then Kate apologizes; she invited Beth's father to the office to hash it out, and offers to sneak her out the back wa--whoops, he's already there.
  • Only in It For the Money: Usually what an be broken down for Ben's reason for helping anyone, which he admits. Which, while it is his job and nothing wrong with caring about it professionally, pushes him to intentionally screw the rules at times if it means he can get a bit more money.
    • Kate is tasked with helping a woman who is an illegal immigrant and unintentionally committed identity theft (she thought the identity was fake rather than stolen). She screws up and the woman ends up getting arrested and set to be deported. Everything Kate does to help only makes the situation worse.
  • Product Placement: Leo plays World of Warcraft rather conspicuously in the pilot.
    • He also mentions in the pilot having to sell most of his Planeswalker cards for a hot tip.
    • The iPad features notably in one episode as a potential birthday present for Kate.
  • Real Song Theme Tune: Iyeoka's 'The Yellow Brick Road Song'.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure:
    • Judge Nicastro, with shades of Bait and Switch Tyrant. The twist is he's a bait and switch tyrant in each individual episode: he starts out tyrannical, but softens by the end. As opposed to being tyrannical in the beginning but softening in later episodes.
    • As little as Kate might like to admit it, Lauren is also this. Everything she does is quite reasonably calculated to keep the firm alive (which is on the ropes since the death of Teddy Reed, Lauren's husband and Kate's dad).
    • Lance, the bank foreclosure rep is more than happy to accept a viable alternative rather than force people into bankruptcy.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right:
    • This is how Kate lives her life. In order to right a wrong she will any rules that stand in her way and will not care for the personal, business or legal consequences.
    • Ben mixes this with Amoral Attorney. If he thinks that he can get a client a better deal, he will not let things like legal ethics stop him.
  • Smug Snake: Ben, full stop.
  • Stealth Pun: Most of Kate's phone contacts are have ID pics and ring tones based on The Wizard of Oz characters.
    • Her assistant, Leo, is the Cowardly Lion.[1]
    • Justin's ID pic is the Tin Man, which upsets him when he finds out. "You think I don't have a heart?" The obvious twist being that, although the Tin Man doesn't have a heart, he didn't need one to be warm and caring, etc. Just like, it is heavily implied, Justin.
    • Lauren's is the Wicked Witch of the West, obviously...
    • Her father was the Wizard. An entirely appropriate metaphor, it turns out, since Kate and Lauren discover that Teddy wasn't nearly so moral as he held himself out to be, founding the firm with embezzled money and seeking places on various boards of directors for the sake of power, in the same way the Wizard is a fake.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: Kate's boat.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Ben. Though he has showed hints of heart of gold and genuine good qualities, he is above all else an Amoral Attorney who will do whatever he feels with increase his profit.
  • Wham! Episode: The first season finale: David Smith is leaving town, and Lauren buys out his share of the firm and uses her new majority holding to fire Kate. Then, a pregnancy scare proves to be the last straw for Justin, and he leaves Kate apparently for good. And finally, Kate's boat runs out of gas...
  • Wham! Line: Several.

Lauren, to Kate: You're fired.
Justin: I slept with another woman.
Leo: I told her to fix that stove.

  • Working with the Ex: This is a primary source of drama and romantic tension on Fairly Legal. The main character is a mediator and her ex-husband works for the DA, so naturally they butt heads.
  • Your Cheating Heart:
    • Justin has a one night stand while still married. Whoa.
    • Ben's fiance cheated on him shortly before they were to be married. He forgave her and then cheated on her to get revenge.
  1. ↑ "Leo" is Latin for "lion". Leo also has a mini-Afro that slightly resembles a mane.
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