Lionel Hutz

Lionel Hutz J.D. is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman, and his first appearance was in the season two episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Due to the death of Hartman, his final speaking role was in the episode "Realty Bites". Hutz is a local lawyer in Springfield, albeit an incompetent one who is always desperate for cases, few of which he wins. Hutz is often depicted as being financially unsound, extremely poor and willing to do anything for cash.

Personality
Hutz is an inept ambulance chaser and, to quote Lisa Simpson, a "shyster" whom the Simpsons nonetheless repeatedly hire as their lawyer (a fact remarked on by Marge Simpson in a typically self-aware aside ). He claims to have graduated from Princeton School of Law, although Princeton Law School closed in 1852. His legal practice, located in a shopping mall, is named "I Can't Believe It's A Law Firm!" and also offers "expert shoe repair". He often tries to entice potential clients with free gifts, including a "smoking monkey" doll, a pen that looks like a cigar, a business card that "turns into a sponge when you put it in water," and even a half-empty Orange Julius he once had handy.

Hutz is characterized as both a grossly incompetent lawyer and an unethical individual in general; for instance, in the season 4 episode "Marge in Chains" he described the following as his "problem" with Judge Snyder:
 * Well he's had it in for me ever since I kinda ran over his dog... Well, replace the word "kinda" with "repeatedly" and the word "dog" with "son,"."

Hutz was a recovering alcoholic; also in "Marge in Chains", he hastily left the courtroom after handling a bottle of bourbon in order to consult his sponsor, David Crosby. Beyond the law, he also tried his hand at selling real estate, and out of desperation for work, babysitting, where he produces a flick-knife on awakening suddenly after nodding off to sleep, and also burns a lot of presumably incriminating documents in the Simpsons' fireplace, then claiming he is now "Miguel Sanchez". Hutz's incompetency and financial situation sometimes lead him to resort to rooting through dumpsters, claiming they are client-related. Hutz was briefly married to Selma Bouvier, although this storyline was not shown in an episode. Hutz has also been known to use a phone booth as an office, among other inappropriate places.

Lionel Hutz doesn't seem to care about conflict of interest as he once represented clients in a lawsuit against the producer(s) of a local play of A Streetcar Named Desire for not giving them any roles in the play, although he had a role himself.

Another display of his incompetency takes place in The Boy Who Knew Too Much when, while representing a French waiter who's accusing Mayor Quimby's nephew Freddy of battery, he's surprised when the opposing counsel mentions that Hutz's client is an immigrant (despite the client's French accent). Hutz then tells his client to tell him everything from then on.

Cases won
Although Hutz loses almost all of his cases, he did win several cases for the Simpsons, for instance representing Homer in his case against the Sea Captain and the Frying Dutchman restaurant over its "All You Can Eat" offer. He was able to gain the sympathies of a mainly-obese jury, and show that Homer did by no means eat all he could at the restaurant. He was also able to win a case for Bart Simpson, by proving that Itchy was created by an old man named Chester J. Lampwick - though the deciding factor of the case was mainly done by Bart's footwork to collect the crucial piece of evidence, rather than Hutz's competency. Hutz had initiated the trial with zero credible evidence.

The only other case technically won by Hutz was in "Treehouse of Horror IV", where he represented Homer Simpson against the Devil (represented as Ned Flanders). At issue was the rightful owner of Homer's soul. Since Hutz quickly fled the scene upon realization of the case's difficulty, the case was not won so much for Hutz's skill as an attorney, but by Marge's introduction of the relevant evidence (a photo with a note from Homer on the back, granting his soul to Marge). In a purportedly-deleted scene for this episode, as subsequently seen in "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular", Hutz's slogan was "Cases won in 30 minutes or your pizza is free". After he thinks he has lost the case, he gives the Simpsons their pizza. However, Marge informs him that they did win. Then, he tells them that the box was empty anyway. In the video game The Simpsons Hit & Run, billboards can be seen around Downtown Springfield promoting Lionel Hutz' free pizza offer.

Retirement
After Hartman's death in 1998, Hutz and Hartman's other main character Troy McClure were retired out of respect. The last episode to feature Hutz speaking was the season 9 episode "Realty Bites". Since the Simpson family frequently appears in court, other characters have represented the Simpsons in legal matters since the retirement. For example, in "Sweets and Sour Marge", the equally-incompetent Gil Gunderson stepped in. The Blue Haired Lawyer has also served as the family's attorney. Lionel Hutz still appears infrequently in clip shows and flashbacks, as well as crowd scenes, but only in non-speaking roles. Hutz and McClure still appear in Simpsons Comics.

Reception
Entertainment Weekly named Hutz as one of their fifteen favorite fictional television and film lawyers.