Differences in legal systems: China's legal system is quite different from that of common law countries, especially in the litigation mode. China adopts the civil law system, the proceedings are relatively rigorous, and the trial is not easy to be dramatic. The adversarial litigation mode in Anglo-American law system makes the trial process more dramatic and easier to attract the audience.
Subject limitation: Legal drama involves many aspects such as law, politics and society, but in China, film and television works involving politically sensitive topics are censored to some extent. Producers and screenwriters may choose more conservative themes in order to avoid risks.
Audience demand: In China, the audience of legal drama is relatively small and its market share is limited. Compared with romance, suspense, history and other themes, the audience attraction of legal drama may be lower. Therefore, producers are more inclined to produce film and television works with a wide audience base.
Production level: the production level of domestic legal dramas is uneven, and some works are insufficient in plot, performance and legal professionalism. This also led some viewers to question the quality of domestic legal dramas, which affected the market share.
Policy factors: the government's policy of supporting the film and television industry and guiding the theme has also affected the number of domestic legal dramas to some extent. Policies tend to support the theme of positive energy and promote the main theme, while legal drama has relatively little advantage in this respect.
Cost and benefit: the production cost of legal drama is relatively high, including hiring professional lawyers and renting court scenes. Compared with other themes, the benefits of legal drama may not be obvious. Therefore, after weighing the costs and benefits, producers may choose other themes with more market potential.
To sum up, the reasons for the lack of domestic legal dramas mainly include legal differences, subject matter restrictions, audience demand, production level, policy factors and the balance between cost and income.