With today being International Women's Day, we have the many feminist heroines of television on our minds. Diane Lockhart, star of the CBS All Access drama The Good Fight, fits that bill and adds some extra complexity. Lockhart (Christine Baranski) is a partner at the majority black law firm Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart, where she uses her decades of legal expertise to become a powerful ally to the firm’s diverse group of attorneys and clients. She approaches each client, regardless of their background, without bias or presumption of guilt.
Throughout the first two seasons of The Good Fight, Lockhart managed to earn her status at her new firm as a well-respected senior member of the partnership, all while struggling with a myriad of personal challenges. An outspoken critic of the president (as many of the firm's partners are) Lockhart must walk a fine line between her personal convictions and her professional reputation. At the end of Season 2, Lockhart faced her biggest challenge yet: Federal prosecutors revealed that they were in possession of out-of-context audio recordings of her ranting about the president and his administration’s policies, to the point of potentially implicating her in an alleged assassination threat.
As Season 3 gets underway, it’s a good time to be reminded of why Lockhart inspires us to #JoinTheFight. Read on to discover why this fierce lawyer inspires our confidence, and tune in to The Good Fight, returning to CBS All Access March 14.
1. She Supports Other Women
Diane Lockhart is a feminist icon. Her deep empathy for vulnerable women, paired with her exceptional legal acumen, makes her the ideal person to have on your side when fighting #TheGoodFight. She takes on clients whose cases seem unwinnable, and through her fierce knowledge of case law and her powerful, passionate arguments in court, she makes them winnable. Best of all, she empowers those around her to do their best work just by trying to keep up with her.
2. She's Not A Victim Of Her Fate
Lockhart’s survival instinct is one of the most compelling things about the show. Season 1 of The Good Fight began with her life suddenly turned upside-down. While preparing to cash in on her well-earned retirement, it was revealed that her close friend Henry Rindell (Paul Guilfoyle) stood accused of running an elaborate Ponzi scheme. The scheme resulted in the total loss of Lockhart’s savings, making retirement out of the question. With her safety net gone, and having already signed an exit deal with her firm, her fate hung in the balance. While most people would be paralyzed by such a traumatic incident and surrender to their fate, Lockhart sprang into action, securing a partner position at a rival firm within days.
3. She Fights For Women's Rights In Court
One of Lockhart's toughest legal battles was a fertility case in which a woman sought to regain ownership of an egg she donated for research after the contract for use of the egg expired. Due to many twists of fate, the woman ultimately ended up in a battle for ownership of the egg against a British couple who had already fertilized it with plans for implantation. The case was nearly decided against the woman, when Lockhart had a flash of brilliance. Recalling an obscure British law concerning the maximum price that can be paid to acquire an egg, Lockhart returned to the judge with an 11th hour plea to reconsider. The judge sided with Lockhart and her client, and the woman regained possession of her egg — and with it the shot of having a child of her own.
4. She Channels Her Righteous Anger For Good
In Season 2, Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart was approached by a consultant from the Democratic National Committee to represent them in a possible impeachment trial against the president of the United States. The DNC’s consultant advised the firm that the committee liked them for their “passion” and “pugnacious” approach. Coded in the consultant’s language was that the DNC liked the optics of a majority-black firm taking on the case — and that the DNC wanted the firm to take a decidedly “street” approach to their public arguments. Lockhart, who was by then already at her wit’s end when it came to the president’s policies, saw the DNC’s provocation as an opportunity to play up her own outrage over the administration. In a bravura performance for the consultant, Lockhart produced an impassioned speech against the administration. Whether her increasingly vigilante — like promises to “take to the streets” were all for the benefit of the DNC contract is uncertain — but it’s clear that when Lockhart’s personal fury has a professional target, she is unstoppable.
5. She Practices Self-Defense
Toward the end of Season 2, Lockhart finds herself on a list of lawyers targeted through a “Kill All Lawyers” deck being peddled online. The list isn’t an empty threat; a partner at her firm, Adrian Boseman, is gunned down in a shooting likely related to the list. Just as she begins to realize how vulnerable she is, Lockhart stumbles upon an Aikido class on her way home from the office. Though Lockhart’s initial instinct is that she has no time for a new hobby, she is quickly convinced otherwise by the trainer, who sees the fighter in her. This style of fighting seems the perfect antidote to the feeling of powerlessness that plagued Lockhart all season. And when it comes to using your enemy’s strengths against them, Lockhart is a seasoned pro.
6. She Might Choose Justice Over The Law
Season 2 of The Good Fight came to a surprising end. It turns out, federal prosecutors had been tracking Lockhart for some time, even bugging her phone and private residence because of the exasperated remarks she made about her frustration with the president in her meetings with the consultant from the DNC. From this set-up, the show poses a dark question via Lockhart and her fellow partners: What if, in service of justice, you have to knowingly tell a lie? Is one’s perceived sense of justice more important than the application of the law, even if one is an attorney? By the end of the season finale, Lockhart seems to have made her choice, but I have a feeling that Season 3 will be throwing us a few curveballs right away.
This article is sponsored by The Good Fight, a CBS All Access Original Series.
