Summary

• Being a lawyer isn't glamorous - Suits glamorizes the legal profession.
• The show fails the Bechdel test, focusing on male-led storylines.
• Harvey hiring Mike defies logic and realistic hiring processes.

There are several reasons why Suits is a bad show in the eyes of many viewers, despite the rejuvenated success the legal drama has found on streaming platforms like Netflix. Deciding if a show is good or bad is always subjective, and while many people hated the fact that, for example, Suits didn't the Bechdel test, others didn't let that bother them. The show still succeeded, even after the departure of major characters. Gabriel Macht’s Harvey Specter proved he could keep the show afloat without the aid of Mike and Rachel.

To the delight of fans, Suits kept going through nine seasons and even had a finale that brought back several characters to give the show the sendoff it deserved. There was even a short-lived spinoff in Pearson. There was a lot that Suits got right, from its casting to its breezy approach to the genre. However, Suits succeeded despite several shortcomings audiences seemed content to overlook, from the storytelling to the depiction of the legal profession. While these inconsistencies don't necessarily make Suits a bad show, it's difficult to argue that many viewers have to willfully ignore them.

20 Harvey And Mike Are Experts In Every Area Of Law

Real Lawyers Specialize In Specific Types Of Cases

While Suits presented an incredibly entertaining picture of the daily lives of high-flying lawyers, the way Harvey and Mike work doesn't resemble the real world in a key way — real lawyers specialize in a specific area of law, and none simply work whatever case comes their way. There is no way Harvey Specter and Mike Ross could’ve represented most of their clients throughout Suits’ first seven seasons.

If the showrunners of Suits were going for accuracy, Harvey and Mike would be forced to refer a lot of their work to one of their peers.

In the real world, the only lawyers who personally cover multiple areas of law operate out of small, general practices. Successful attorneys like Harvey and Mike, who work for large firms, practice one specific area of law, such as being transactional or litigation experts. Plot developments like Harvey poaching a client from rival Louis Litt simply wouldn’t happen. If the showrunners of Suits were going for accuracy, Harvey and Mike would be forced to refer a lot of their work to one of their peers.

19 How Does Mike Maintain His Secret So Long?

Mike Working Without Credentials Could Never Have Realistically Happened

The core of Suits’ premise is that Mike Ross never qualified to practice as a lawyer. This causes headaches for Mike and Harvey — along with anyone else they share his not-so-little secret with. Yet this really shouldn’t have been such a long-running issue, since Mike should have been publicly outed as a fraud by the end of Season 1. Harvey and Mike vet opposing counsel in the lead-up to a trial, probing for any weakness to exploit — and it stands to reason their opponents do the same.

How did nobody discover Mike hadn’t earned his college diploma or participated in any undergrad work programs? While Mike working as a lawyer without having ed the bar made for an incredibly entertaining show, there's simply no way this could have happened in real life. Given how prestigious his firm is, Mike would have had background checks run on him regularly, both by rival firms and his employer, and he would have been found out incredibly quickly.

18 Pearson Hardman’s 'Harvard Only' Hiring Policy

This Seems To Hold Hardman Back

Plenty of real law firms only hire candidates who graduate from Ivy League schools, whether they openly it it or not. That doesn’t mean Pearson Hardman’s “Harvard only” associate recruitment policy holds up to scrutiny. It drastically reduces the number of potential candidates the firm has access to. This firm by-law also belittles the academic chops of other top-flight institutions to an absurd extent, even when “school pride” is taken into .

It doesn’t fit that Peason Hardman would perpetuate a policy that excludes other universities — especially Yale, whose law school arguably has a better reputation than Harvard.

While it sounds like something that would be realistic, the "Harvard only" rule simply wouldn't fly in real life. It doesn’t fit that Peason Hardman would perpetuate a policy that excludes other universities — especially Yale, whose law school arguably has a better reputation than Harvard. While there is likely a bias for Ivy League schools, and for Harvard especially, real law firms would most likely consider candidates from any institution provided they had the right qualifications.

17 Being A Lawyer Is Not Glamorous

​​​​Suits Makes Being A Lawyer Look Much Better Than The Reality

Suits makes the life Harvey and Mike lead look almost like Entourage, with them both having the funds and the time to enjoy the finer things in life. ittedly, every movie and TV show set within the legal industry perpetuates the myth that lawyers lead rock-star lifestyles, but Suits takes things to another level. Sure, there are perks to working for a big firm — healthy paychecks and dining out at exclusive restaurants with clients come to mind — but there are plenty of drawbacks, too.

For fans of legal dramas who didn't quite gel with the series, an often-cited reason why Suits is a bad show is this specific lack of realism.

The majority of legal work involves many hours of research work in drab offices connected by corridors that are cluttered by boxes of files. This doesn’t quite match the day-to-day routine enjoyed by Harvey Specter and his high-flying peers in Suits. For fans of legal dramas who didn't quite gel with the series, an often-cited reason why Suits is a bad show is this specific lack of realism.

16 Everyone Is So Young

The Senior Partners Should Be Much Older

Ageism has no place in any workplace, but an unavoidable reality is that it takes decades of experience to reach the career level of Harvey, Mike, and the other senior associates in Suits. It stands to reason that Mike and Rachel — a freshly hired associate and senior paralegal, respectively — are played by young actors in Suits. They were just starting in the industry, so it's only natural that they would skew toward the younger end of the age spectrum favored by TV shows. Their bosses’ apparent ages are much less natural, however.

When Suits first introduces Jessica, Harvey, and Louis, they’re all in their early 40s, at the oldest. It’s highly improbable (although technically, not impossible) that the trio would have ended up in such senior roles and as name partners given how relatively young they are. Becoming a senior partner in a law firm, especially one so prestigious, usually takes decades of work.

15 Why Does Harvey Risk It All On Mike?

Harvey Risked His Career On A Stranger

Harvey Specter is a maverick who possesses a level of self-confidence that regularly spills over into outright arrogance. It’s in character for him to view himself as above the Pearson Hardman by-law that stipulates that associates must be Harvard Law School graduates. Even so, Harvey hiring Mike Ross — who didn’t attend any law school, let alone HSL — was a big gamble.

Were Harvey Specter a real person it's much more likely that he wouldn't have taken a chance on Mike, no matter how brilliant he was.

Harvey was looking for someone who possessed similar qualities to himself, but even if Mike ticked all the right boxes, recruiting him meant risking his career and possibly even jail time. Would Harvey stake his entire future on someone he’s only just met? Were Harvey Specter a real person it's much more likely that he wouldn't have taken a chance on Mike, no matter how brilliant he was. The risk would simply be too great.

14 All The Rapid-Fire Casework

The Law Doesn't Move This Fast In Real Life

Part of the appeal of Suits was that it depicted the law as moving at breakneck speed. This made for an entertaining show filled with nail-biting moments, as Harvey and Mike tried to outmaneuver their opponents in time. The current legal system doesn’t work that way. On the contrary, in the real world, complex litigation tends to move at a far more glacial pace.

While the environment is undeniably stressful, it’s mostly more of the “slow burn” than pulse-pounding variety. This applies to even the most interesting, high-profile legal matters — so, despite the fact the pair fly high throughout Suits, Harvey and Mike might not be cut out for the real-life legal world. That being said, depicting the legal business in a lifelike manner could well have made Suits a bad show, so the decision to speed things up is somewhat understandable.

13 Mike's LSAT Scam Wouldn't Work

This Could Never Happen In Real Life

Before ing Pearson Hardman, Mike Ross paid bills by sitting the Law School ission Test on other people’s behalf. He did this for quite some time, as he only gave the game away in the pilot episode after a proctor recognized him as someone who sat the exam. Realistically, Mike would have struggled to pull off this scam once; getting away with it repeatedly is out of the question.

With this in mind, Mike's LSAT scam would have been discovered incredibly quickly.

Mike’s scheme involves wearing a hat pulled low to hide his face, and discreetly dropping off the completed test paper as he exits the room. In reality, participants are banned from wearing non-religious head coverings, and papers are collected by officials. With this in mind, Mike's LSAT scam would have been discovered incredibly quickly. Plus, there's the fact that, no matter how low a hat is worn, it doesn't actually do much to disguise somebody — although Suits is far from the only show or movie to pretend otherwise.

12 There Wasn’t Enough Fallout From The Mike Reveal

Mike Should Have Barred Him From Legal Work In The Future

Suits season 5 finished with Mike arrested for conspiracy to commit fraud — which is in line with how someone who’d illegally practiced law for several years would be charged. The following season, he goes to prison. However, by the end of season 6, Mike finds work at a legal clinic after serving a reduced sentence, and Harvey brings him back to the firm in season 7.

Mike’s criminal record would prohibit him from working within the legal profession in any capacity, whether that be a legal clinic or a firm. That’s not the only issue, either. Every case Mike ever worked on should have been reopened and re-tried. Once again, realism is the reason why Suits is a bad show in the eyes of many detractors who expect their legal dramas to be a little more grounded.

11 The Amount Of Backstabbing And Infighting

A Real Law Firm Would Have Cleaned House

Open conflict, covert betrayals, and complex internal politics are part of working at a prestigious law firm in the real world. Better still, this aspect of the professional environment is a recipe for compelling drama. Unsurprisingly, Suits leans heavily into this side of things. At the same time, it’s remarkable that a firm as dysfunctional as Pearson Hardman (in all its different iterations) could remain in business, much less thrive.

While Suits created many exciting and gripping stories with its Game of Thrones-level betrayals, backstabs, and double-crosses, this simply wouldn't be the case in a real law firm

The constant upheaval in senior management — and the continual firm rebranding — would have far more negative widespread (internal and external) consequences than what is seen in the series. While Suits created many exciting and gripping stories with its Game of Thrones-level betrayals, backstabs, and double-crosses, this simply wouldn't be the case in a real law firm, especially one as prestigious as Pearson Hardman. While this doesn't make Suits a bad show, it is one of the most unrealistic things about it.