Plot

Ben Matlock is a very expensive criminal defense attorney, who charges one hundred thousand dollars to take a case. Fortunately, he's worth every penny, as he and his associates defend his clients by finding the real killer.

In this legal drama, Andy Griffith plays Ben Matlock, a criminal-defense lawyer based in Atlanta. Matlock typically identifies and confronts the perpetrator in a dramatic courtroom scene. His goal, most often, is to prove reasonable doubt of his client's guilt. Rumor suggests that the character is based on lawyer Bobby Lee Cook, Georgia's colorful "dean of criminal-defense attorneys."—writermaia

"Matlock" features criminal defense attorney Ben Matlock seeking to prove the innocence of his client as he takes on his/her case, of which most involve murders. He does this with the help of a team of people, which changed from season to season but included over the years Conrad McMasters, daughter Charlene Matlock, and Cliff Lewis.—grwallace

Ben Matlock is a Georgia bred, Harvard educated defense attorney. His fee is $100,000 but he's worth every cent of it as he defends his clients not only in Atlanta but all over the country. He is cantankerous and gruff and often uses colorful language, but beneath it all he has a heart of gold. He is assisted in his work by his daughters Charlene and Leanne (who are also attorneys) and his investigators Tyler Hudson, Conrad McMasters and Cliff Lewis, who happens to be the son of Ben's boyhood friend/rival Billy Lewis. Ben's girlfriend is associate D.A. Julie March and his contact on the Atlanta police is Lt. Bob Brooks.—Brian Washington <Sargebri@att.net>