The Lawyer is a 1970 American courtroom drama film loosely based on the Sam Sheppard murder case in which a physician is charged with killing his wife following a highly publicized and sloppy investigation.

A major case lands in his lap when he is asked to defend a young, prosperous physician who expects to be charged with the bludgeoning murder of his socialite wife.

The film was announced in 1966 and was inspired by the true life case of neurosurgeon Sam Sheppard, whose conviction for the murder of his pregnant wife was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court and who was acquitted in a 1966 retrial.

[1] Barry Newman, who played the Bailey-inspired character, was unaware of this initial approach and openly admitted that he made the performance his own rather than a facsimile of Bailey.

[3] In order to capture Bailey's mannerisms Furie, Buchman, and producer Brad Dexter followed Bailey on other cases in order to document his "performative" style in the courtroom, this prompted the crew to shift focus from the central murder to more on the character of the lawyer which was reflected with the title change where the original title The Sheppard Murder Case was instead replaced with The Lawyer.