''Just Cause'' is a Canadian
legal drama
A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...
television series produced by Mind's Eye Entertainment. Filming was done in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
but the series is set in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
Plot
Five years ago, Alexandra DeMonaco (
Elizabeth Lackey
Elizabeth Lackey (born 2 March 1971), is an Australian actress sometimes credited under the name Lisa Lackey.
Career
Lackey grew up in Orange, New South Wales, and attended Orange High School. Lackey was working as a model before she was cas ...
) went to prison for a crime she didn't commit. Unaware that her no-good husband was running a medical insurance scam, she became a scapegoat for a publicity-hungry District Attorney, while her husband disappeared with five million dollars and their daughter.
Instead of wasting time on self-pity while incarcerated, Alex goes to law school on the internet and gets her law degree. Now out on parole, she has two goals: to find her daughter and to become a lawyer. But a convicted felon can't practice law. So Alex goes to Hamilton Whitney III (
Richard Thomas), a successful, well-respected San Francisco attorney, who also happens to be a friend of the governor. Alex wants Whitney to help her petition the governor for a pardon. To pay her way, she goes to work in Whitney's law firm as an office assistant. Her sassy, brash personality bumps hard against Whitney's stuffy, reserved Waspyness, and their relationship is not always smooth.
Their view of the law is different as well. Whitney is more interested in how much his well-heeled clients are willing to pay, while Alex is determined to use the law to help people like herself who have been abandoned by the system. Gradually Alex's idealism wins Whitney over. Now they work together to champion underdog cases and achieve justice for the less powerful.
Cast
*
Elizabeth Lackey
Elizabeth Lackey (born 2 March 1971), is an Australian actress sometimes credited under the name Lisa Lackey.
Career
Lackey grew up in Orange, New South Wales, and attended Orange High School. Lackey was working as a model before she was cas ...
as Alexandra DeMonacco
*
Richard Thomas as Hamilton Whitney III
*
Shaun Benson
Shaun Benson (born January 16, 1976) is a Canadian actor and director.
Early life
Benson was born in Guelph, Ontario. He is the son of Eugene Benson, an English professor and a prolific novelist, playwright and librettist."Just Cause for Benson: ...
as Patrick Heller
*Khaira Ledeyo as Peggy Tran
*
Mark Hildreth as Ted Kasselbaum
*Jason Schombing as Dave Kaplan
*
Roger R. Cross
Roger Cross (born October 19, 1969) is a Jamaicans, Jamaican-born Canadian actor who has made numerous appearances in several films and television series, mostly on productions shot in Canada. He is known for his work as Curtis Manning (24 char ...
as C.J. Leon
Episodes
Awards and nominations
Helen Shaver
Helen Shaver (born February 24, 1951) is a Canadian actress and film and television director. She has received Emmy and Saturn Award nominations, among other honours.
Early life
Shaver was born and raised, with five sisters, in St. Thomas, O ...
won a
Gemini Award
The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...
for Best Director in a Dramatic Series for her work on the episode "Death's Details", and Richard Schwadel won the Leo award for Best Picture Editing on the episode "Above the Law".
Additionally, it was nominated for another Gemini and Leo, and a Directors Guild of Canada award.
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, 0324861, Just Cause
2002 Canadian television series debuts
2003 Canadian television series endings
2000s Canadian crime drama television series
Canadian legal television series
English-language television shows
PAX TV original programming
Television shows set in San Francisco