The Real-Life Inspiration Behind Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer

In the niche genre of courtroom dramas, "The Lincoln Lawyer" has become something of a titan. Michael Connelly's popular Mickey Haller novels have spawned both a Hollywood film adaptation (starring Matthew McConaughey) and a more recent Netflix series (starring Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). But just as those screen versions have pulled from Connelly's "Lincoln Lawyer" books, so too did the author pull from real life in his creation of the now-iconic character.

Per Netflix Tudum, the streamer's official in-house publication, Connelly initially based Mickey Haller on two different real-life attorneys. The first was David Ogden, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who died in 2020. A friend of Connelly's, Ogden worked at a number of courthouses and locations around the LA area, leading him to hire a driver to make his work more efficient. This practice gave Connelly the idea for a character who'd practice law in the backseat of a Lincoln.

According to Tudum, Connelly also drew inspiration from Dan Daly, a Florida defense attorney and good friend of the author. While Daly spent less time in the back of his car for cases than the fictional Mickey, he often shared his on-the-job stories with Connelly, giving him inspiration for future novels.

Every version of "The Lincoln Lawyer" dramatizes the legal world, be it the original books, the 2011 movie, or the Netflix "Lincoln Lawyer" series. The stories are fiction — there's no doubt about that. But even so, Michael Connelly did take inspiration from real-life casework, imparted to him through stories from his good friend Dan Daly.

"When Mike [Connelly] moved to Tampa around 2001, I think, I routinely invited him to join my partner, Roger Mills, and I for cocktails after work," Daly told Tudum. "Roger and I and other lawyers who joined us would tell war stories about cases we handled because that's what lawyers do when they get together. Mike paid attention and took notes on napkins."

Clearly, hanging around a bunch of veteran attorneys paid off in the storytelling department. "The Lincoln Lawyer" spawned a franchise that's become one of Connelly's biggest hits, which is really saying something for an author who's sold over 85 million books.

As for the famous on-the-road format of Connelly's Mickey Haller novels, Daly says it's not so far from the truth. "There is nothing at all absurd about working out of the back of a car," the veteran lawyer told Tudum. "I took cases in Fort Myers years ago. Although I drove myself, I listened to audio tapes of statements and recorded events, such as drug deals. I also made phone calls that I needed to make. There was very little time that wasn't billed while I was driving."