A running gag throughout the Ace Attorney series involves the protagonist and his assistant having a conversation about the difference between a ladder and a stepladder. First occurring in "Turnabout Samurai", the third case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, a stepladder has appeared in at least one location in each game to date (with the exception of The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures) for the sole purpose of continuing the tradition. The conversation generally goes as follows: after examination, the protagonist and one of their partner characters engage in a debate about the usage of the words "ladder" and "stepladder", and the difference between the two. Usually, one will accuse the other of being too absorbed in the details instead of looking at the big picture to realize that they both serve roughly the same function, to which the latter's response will often vary. Additionally, similar gags in regards to other items in the series have also been used, particularly in The Great Ace Attorney games, which primarily use a variant of the debate involving the difference between a shovel and a spade instead.

Within the various re-releases of the Ace Attorney games, an achievement is added that can be unlocked for engaging in every "ladder vs. stepladder" debate within the games featured in that collection. In the case of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, a second achievement for engaging in every "shovel vs. spade" debate within the two games is also included.

In regards to the localization, Janet Hsu approached The Great Ace Attorney games as a story, like all other Ace Attorney titles. In particular, historical and cultural background research was needed to base the translation on, with a desire to preserve the "period feel" of the setting. For example, in regards to the Court Record's subtitle system, Hsu asked the programmers to create a new UI system that would allow her to add subtitles to pieces of evidence, rather than redoing the textures in English. This was done for the sake of preserving the flavour of the Meiji Japan setting.

Head localizer Janet Hsu struggled with the inclusion of real-life Japanese novelist Natsume Sōseki when localizing The Great Ace Attorney games. While Natsume is recognizable to Japanese players (his books are required learning in Japanese schools), his character relied on a natural cultural warmth towards him. This made it difficult to make the character as lovable for an audience who would likely not know who he is.

Due to long-standing copyright issues regarding the character Sherlock Holmes brought about by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's estate (which had previously delayed the games' release), the international release of The Great Ace Attorney games changed his name to "Herlock Sholmes". According to series creator Shu Takumi, this was done as an allusion to "Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes", a story collection by Maurice Leblanc.

Following the announcement of the name "Herlock Sholmes", various memes came about surrounding the character and the circumstances for the renaming in regards to copyright law. This got to the point where major news outlets began covering it, with some noting that the goofy-sounding name "fit with the comedic and sometimes irreverent tone of the Ace Attorney series, even if it does leave a few things lost in translation."