As a brilliant celebrity criminal defense attorney who must help her girlfriend beat a murder charge, Emayatzy (pronounced M-aye-AHt-see) Corinealdi is the complicated Jax Stewart in Hulu’s “Reasonable Doubt.”

Conceived by “Scandal” writer Raamla Mohamed, loosely based on the experiences of a real-life celebrity attorney, the series has been shepherded by “Scandal” star Kerry Washington.

Season 2 launches Thursday with Jax – for Jacqueline — starting to “pick up the broken pieces of her life,” Corinealdi, 44, said in a phone interview.

“She had this traumatic experience at the end of Season 1 with Damon” – Jax’s client recently released from prison – “killing himself in front of her! We saw how that affected her marriage, her mental health, just everything.”

As S2 starts, “Jax is trying to figure out who she is as a result of all that. Jax is a woman who’s always in control of herself. Always aware of what’s going on. She likes to be 10 steps ahead of everyone else.

“Now she’s beating herself up, trying to figure out how she even allowed this to happen. Why didn’t she see it coming? All of these questions.

“We see her doing a lot of the healing as a result of everything that is happening. She’s in therapy, trying to figure it all out.”

Beautiful, smart and complicated, does Corinealdi feel she’s representing working women trying to juggle a private life, parenting and work?

“Absolutely. Jax is the representation of the successful modern working woman who, in a lot of cases, maybe is the primary breadwinner, trying to juggle it all.

“Trying to make sure that she’s a present mother, the best she can be at work and still present in her friendships.

“Jax is a representation of that and there is a responsibility to accurately portray that.”

S2 begins with fireworks as Morris Chestnut joins the show as another super successful celebrity defender who clashes with Jax.

Is this a gender war – the male celebrity attorney versus the female one?

“It’s a little bit of that but you’ve got to remember, we really got to see who Jax was in this first season. She’s not someone who would easily give up a case.

“The only reason she’s able to do it now is because she knows she’s not in the right state of mind to fully take on what she knows will be a lot of responsibility representing her friend.

“At the same time, just being the woman who she is, she likes to be in control. Frankly, it’s very difficult when she sees he’s doing things different from how she would do them.

“She’s a walking contradiction. But aren’t we all?”