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Jeffrey Paul Rake^[1] is an American television producer and writer. He is known for his work on Boston Legal and creating the NBC shows Manifest, The Mysteries of Laura and Miss Match.^[2]

Rake was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Encino, Los Angeles.^[3] He attended Harvard-Westlake School and graduated from Columbia University in 1990.^[4][5] He was the president of Columbia College Student Council during his senior year.^[6] At Columbia, he was also a classmate of television producer Gina Fattore and Academy Award-winning film producer Dede Gardner.^[7]

He received a J.D. degree from UC Berkeley School of Law, where he was a finalist in the James Patterson McBaine Honors Moot Court Competition and an executive editor of the California Law Review.^[8][9]

After graduating from law school, Rake clerked for two federal judges ^[which?] and joined one of L.A.'s top law firms^[which?]. During his tenure as a lawyer, he took a leave of absence and wrote the musical Hound Dog: A hip hOpera, an alternative history of Elvis Presley starring Wayne Brady.^[10] The play premiered in 1996 in Los Angeles.^[10]

Rake then entered the television business and co-created the Fox series The Street in 2000. He then put his legal knowledge to work by writing and producing episodes of Boston Legal and The Practice.^[3] He co-wrote the pilot for Boston Legal, co-created the series Miss Match and The Mysteries of Laura.^[11]

In 2017, he created Manifest. The show was initially cancelled, but was picked up by Netflix and became the third show to reach 100 days in Netflix's Top 10 charts.^[12] In August 2021, the show was renewed for a fourth season.^[13][14]

Los Angeles Times called him a member of the "Ex-Lawyers Club," a group of television showrunners, producers, and writers who were once lawyers before switching careers and joining the entertainment industry. Other ex-lawyers named by the Times were David E. Kelley, Carol Mendelsohn, Richard Appel, and Stephen Engel.^[15]

Rake is married to Paulette Light, executive director of the Charles Bronfman prize, who he met in college.^[4][16]

• Jeff Rake at IMDb