Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is an American animated television series comedy created by Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter for Adult Swim. The show revolves around the activity of the Sebben & Sebben law firm, which is staffed mainly by superheroes and other characters who had originally been featured in classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons, most notably Birdman and the Galaxy Trio.

Harvey Birdman's pilot first aired on Cartoon Network on December 30, 2000. On September 2, 2001, the series moved to Adult Swim, continuing for four seasons and 39 episodes before ending on July 22, 2007. The show is also a spin-off of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, where Birdman got his first name from.

Premise

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law features ex-superhero Harvey T. Birdman of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio as an attorney working for a law firm alongside other cartoon stars from 1960s and 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. Similarly, Harvey's clients are also primarily composed of characters taken from Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the same era. Many of Birdman's nemeses featured in his former cartoon series also became attorneys, often representing the opposing side of a given case.

Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law (video game)

Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law is a video game developed for the Wii,PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable by High Voltage Software released on January 8, 2008. It was published by Capcom and is based on the Adult Swim cartoon of the same name with collaboration of the show's writers and voice actors.

Gameplay

The game is played like the Ace Attorney Capcom court-themed series, but with the Harvey Birdman type of humor and feel. The game also include cameos of Capcom characters within the 5 cases. A trailer for the game shown at the 2007 E3 Convention confirmed that the game included the mechanics of cross-examination and evidence lists from the Ace Attorney series, as well as cameos by many Street Fighter characters. Thanks to the show's simple flash process, the game was able to closely mimic the show's animation.

Plot

Harvey Birdman

Harvey Birdman is a fictional character based on the superhero Birdman from the Hanna-Barbera show Birdman and the Galaxy Trio. He is depicted as an attorney on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.

Character history

Birdman and the Galaxy Trio

On the 1960s Hanna-Barbera show Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Birdman was the main character of two out of three of the show's segments. This incarnation of Birdman was voiced by Keith Andes, and he did not use the name Harvey. Instead, Birdman's real name, in the show, was Raymond "Ray" Randall. The original Birdman was a regular, non-comedic super-hero with an eagle sidekick named Avenger. His powers came from the energy of the sun's rays, and he was able to fly using his wings.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast

In the 1990s Cartoon Network decided to base new comedy shows on older characters (although in many cases, that simply meant creating a more or less original character sharing their basic name and appearance). Their earliest show of this style was Space Ghost Coast to Coast, where Birdman appeared in four episodes, voiced by Scott Finnel. On the show he was portrayed comically; depressed, out-of-work, and desperate for money. Birdman hosted the show in the episodes "Pilot" and "Sequel," and was fired on both occasions. It was here revealed, contradicting the original Birdman show, that his first name was Harvey.

Attorney at law

Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the preferred term for a practising lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including South Africa (for certain lawyers), Sri Lanka, and the United States. In Canada, it is used only in Quebec. The term has its roots in the verb to attorn, meaning to transfer one's rights and obligations to another.

Previous usage in Ireland and Britain

The term was historically used in the jurisdictions of England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. The title has been replaced by solicitor, but still appears in old statutes, in these jurisdictions.

England and Wales

The term was also used in England and Wales for lawyers who practised in the common law courts. They were officers of the courts and were under judicial supervision.Solicitors, those lawyers who practised in the courts of equity, were considered to be more respectable than attorneys and by the mid-19th century many attorneys were calling themselves solicitors. In 1873, the Supreme Court of Judicature Act abolished the term "attorney", and attorneys were redesignated solicitors. Attorneys did not generally actually appear as advocates in the higher courts, a role reserved (as it still usually is) for barristers.

Attorneys in Sri Lanka

Attorneys at law form a legal profession in Sri Lanka. Attorneys at law are the only individuals authorized to represent others in all courts of law and are also authorized to give advice regarding any matter of law. There were two groups of legal practitioners in Sri Lanka before 1974 as advocates and proctors. Like barristers and solicitors in England. Under the Administration of Justice Law No. 44 of 1973 of the National State Assembly one group of practitioners were formed as Attorneys-at-law. After the aforementioned law came into operation both advocates and proctors are considered as Attorneys-at-law for all purposes. Senior trial attorneys may be appointed as President's Counsel. Advocates did not have offices and they could not visit an office of a Proctor. They had no power to act as notary-publics. Advocates appeared in civil & criminal cases under the instructions of a Proctor. Any person who wished to get the service of an Advocate he had to get it via a Proctor.

Attorneys in the United States

An attorney at law (or attorney-at-law) in the United States is a practitioner in a court of law who is legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in such court on the retainer of clients. Alternative terms include counselor (or counsellor-at-law) and lawyer. As of April 2011, there were 1,225,452 licensed attorneys in the United States. A 2012 survey conducted by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell determined 58 million consumers in the U.S. sought an attorney in the last year and that 76 percent of consumers used the Internet to search for an attorney.

The United States legal system does not draw a distinction between lawyers who plead in court and those who do not, unlike many other common law jurisdictions (such as those of the United Kingdom which distinguishes between solicitors who do not plead in court and the barristers of the English & Welsh system and advocates of the Scottish system who do plead in court), and civil law jurisdictions (such as Italy and France, which distinguish between advocates and civil law notaries). An additional factor which differentiates the American legal system from other countries is that there is no delegation of routine work to notaries public.