TV series
The professionals who will take you into the jungles of American justice
L.A. Law is an American television legal drama series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off-the-wall humor. It reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights, homophobia, sexual harassment, AIDS, and domestic violence. The series often also reflected social tensions between the wealthy senior lawyer protagonists and their less well-paid junior staff. The show was popular with audiences and critics, and won 15 Emmy Awards throughout its run, four of which were for Outstanding Drama Series.
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Checked Jul 22, 2026
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L.A. Law is an American television legal drama series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off-the-wall humor. It reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights, homophobia, sexual harassment, AIDS, and domestic violence. The series often also reflected social tensions between the wealthy senior lawyer protagonists and their less well-paid junior staff. The show was popular with audiences and critics, and won 15 Emmy Awards throughout its run, four of which were for Outstanding Drama Series.
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Episode 1
Facing financial woes, the firm is forced to share office space with an entertainment lawyer; Van Owen's high-profile client is charged with murdering her abusive husband.
Directed by Rick WallaceWritten by Patricia GreenGuest stars Betty Buckley, Earl Boen, Tom Verica, Brad Sherwood, Keith Mills, H. Richard Greene, Sam Anderson, Jeanie Hackett
Episode 2
Van Owen elicits emotional testimony from Elsa Chandler; the Government's handling of the MIA issue following the Vietnam War comes under fire in a family feud over a presumed-dead Air Force captain.
Guest stars Robert David Hall, Robert Duncan McNeill, Gina Hecht, Betty Buckley, Tom Verica, Lauren Lane, John Mariano, Joseph Brutsman
Episode 3
Brackman is the unwitting victim in a gay-bashing incident; Kelsey defends a logging-company executive in a case involving a tree-spiking activist; C.J.'s father comes to town on a bender.
Directed by Michael KatlemanWritten by Carol FlintGuest stars David Hemmings, Ray Girardin, Michole Briana White, Tom Verica, Scott Bryce, Josh Taylor, Marsha Clark, Carlton Wilborn
Episode 4
Zoey's case threatens to move a death-row schizophrenic closer to an execution date; a splenectomy patient challenges a doctor's right to profit from her donor cells; Bloom bulldozes Roxanne in a battle over office turf.
Directed by Michael FrescoWritten by Matt Kiene, Joe ReinkemeyerGuest stars Steve Buscemi, Andrew Bryniarski, Tom Verica, Tom Virtue, Greg Kinnear, Thomas Kopache, Concetta Tomei, Steven Williams
Episode 5
A tenant at a housing project where guns have been banned sues for the right to defend himself; a recovering addict faces reproductive restrictions; McKenzie arbitrates a divorce between two animal trainers.
Guest stars Nicholas Pryor, Ismael 'East' Carlo, M.C. Gainey, Earl Billings, Anita Finlay, John Hancock, Susan Barnes, Lili Flanders
Episode 6
As new D.A. Ruby Thomas takes office, the firm's reputation is tainted when Frank Kittredge defends a mob boss; Markowitz challenges an exhibition-basketball team's firing of its female opponents.
Guest stars Joseph Ruskin, Tom Verica, John Towey, Nancy Giles, Art Metrano, James Luisi, Lynne Thigpen, Brad Sherwood
Episode 7
Brackman's former sister-in-law sues to get the school board to pay for her disabled son's private education; Bloom defends an overweight man accused of assaulting a refreshment-stand owner; an overworked Gwen fights Becker's hypocrisy.
Guest stars Robert Picardo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Aaron Lustig, Earl Boen, Michael Ensign, Lauren Lane, Robert Harper, Marge Kotlisky
Episode 8
C.J. takes a personal interest in a case involving a friend, a divorcée whose lesbian affair foments a custody battle for her kids; Brackman can't seem to muster staff enthusiasm for the annual holiday party.
Directed by Paul LazarusWritten by Patricia Green, Carol FlintGuest stars Tom Verica, Scott Bryce, Irene Cagen, Brad Sherwood, Jeff Allin, George Coe, Elizabeth Kemp, B.J. Jefferson
Episode 9
Mullaney is pitted against Zoey in his defense of an accused serial killer and rapist; a client's sanity comes into focus during the handling of a movie deal; Bloom finds evidence of McKenzie's indiscretion.
Guest stars Timothy Carhart, Kevin Spacey, Lynne Thigpen, Mark Roberts, Stevie Vallance, Stanley Grover
Episode 10
A patient paralyzed after surgery sues her physician; Benny petitions for custody of a homeless youth; not everyone is supportive of Brackman's courting Veronica.
Directed by Elodie KeeneWritten by Steven Bochco, David MilchGuest stars Maggie Baird, CCH Pounder, Dean Tarrolly, Tom Celli, Michael Tomlinson, Joanna Frank, James Larson
Episode 11
C.J.'s client accuses the Government of negligence in the rape-murder of his wife; Becker's ego is cut down to size over the airwaves; Mullaney's presence stirs up trouble between Zoey and Rollins.
Directed by Richard ComptonWritten by Alan Brennert, Judith FeldmanGuest stars Bryan Cranston, Gary Grubbs, Leonard Stone, Frank Runyeon, Megan Cole, Lotus Weinstock, Susan Byun, Jack Heller
Episode 12
Mullaney co-chairs a suit by Honduran farmers who claim U.S. pesticides made them sterile; Zoey helps a co-worker confront her repressed memories; Markowitz meets the actress of his childhood dreams.
Guest stars Ken Kercheval, Paul Soles, Miguel Sandoval, Anne Jeffreys, Lynne Thigpen, Brad Sherwood, Anthony DeSando, Veronica Cartwright
Episode 13
Sifuentes visits the firm and finds that his failed relationship with Van Owen demands his attention; Kittredge takes on a legal dispute involving a perfume queen and her protégé.
Guest stars James Larson
Episode 14
Flanagan brings suit against her father; McKenzie arbitrates a dispute between a cookbook author and her student; Rollins' dad comes to him for help.
Directed by Michael FrescoWritten by Alan Brennert, Judith Feldman, Anne Kenney, Sarah Woodside GallagherGuest stars Madge Sinclair, Robert Guillaume, Philip Sterling, William Windom, Doreen Lang, Wayne Duvall, Concetta Tomei, Bonnie Bartlett
Episode 15
A Jewish philanthropist halts funding for a medical researcher who is using data from Nazi experiments; the Markowitzes anticipate the worst from a girl claiming to be Stuart's daughter; Becker's fidelity is put to the test by Julie.
Guest stars Linda Emond, Theodore Bikel, Lauren Lane, Daniel Benzali, Wayne Federman, Alison Tucker, Mary Gordon Murray, Carmen Argenziano
Episode 16
The partners disagree about Van Owen's defending a celebrity baseball player on rape charges; DePalma becomes embroiled in a sting operation on a corrupt judge; Markowitz offers Sarah a job at the firm despite Kelsey's reservations, then tries too hard to win her affections; Roxanne moves out after Rayburn deceives her about Becker's fidelity.
Directed by Elodie KeeneWritten by Carol Flint, Alan Brennert, Steve BrownGuest stars Eric Server, Allan Miller, John Capodice, Art Metrano, Lauren Lane, Lynne Thigpen, Enrique Castillo, Jerry Hardin
Episode 17
Becker's shrink drops dead; the Brackmans use Alexander to call one another's bluff; Kelsey fires Ned after he makes a pass at her; McKenzie chastises DePalma for how he participated in the sting operation, but comes to the young attorney's aid when a member of the bench exacts his own punishment for DePalma's role in exposing Kelton; during Susan Bloom's wedding, Alexander and Sam get into trouble, and Gwen and Kittredge get closer; Kelsey is taken into custody when she protests the I.N.S. arrest of Matthew's new nanny; Becker tries to regain Roxanne's trust.
Directed by Win PhelpsWritten by Alan Brennert, Paul Manning, Anne KenneyGuest stars Nicholas Pryor, Allan Miller, Lauren Lane, Charles Cioffi, Paul Raci, Lynne Thigpen, Gibby Brand, Brad Sherwood
Episode 18
A multimillionaire tries to buy his way out of a murder charge; parental concerns compound for the Brackmans and Benny when Alexander and Sam end up in juvenile court; and an INS review interrupts Bloom's marital bliss.
Directed by Paul LazarusWritten by Robert Crais, Carol Flint, Judith FeldmanGuest stars Daniel Davis, Lillian Lehman, John F. O'Donohue, Lynne Thigpen, David Cromwell, John Towey, Joanna Frank, Anthony DeSando
Episode 19
Mullaney works with a feisty young prosecutor when he takes an out-of-town assignment as the lead prosecutor in the case of a missing woman presumed murdered by her co-worker during a theft from the bank where they both worked; Markowitz represents a condom manufacturer whose flag-emblazoned wares were seized by Customs under federal obscenity laws; Becker's representation of a woman with Alzheimer's whose daughter is vying for conservatorship rights with her mother's much-younger new husband gets torpedoed by Frank Kittredge when he leaks Gwen's pillow talk about the case to the woman's daughter, with whom he's also having an affair; Zoey wonders about the future of their relationship when Jonathan considers whether to accept the offer of a short-term appointment to the city council that could lead to a long-term future in politics.
Directed by Elodie KeeneWritten by Alan Brennert, Paul ManningGuest stars David Garrison, Marilyn McIntyre, Frances Bay, Karen Young, Lewis Arquette, Jonathan Hogan, Joel Brooks, Joanna Frank
Episode 20
Frank is fired for his role in destroying Becker's case; C.J. represents a movie executive who's being sued by an actress for insisting that she get breast implants that later proved faulty; Zoey faces off against a jailhouse lawyer in the trial of a convict accused of murdering another inmate, and unwittingly helps to shape her adversary's future; Sarah comes running to her father when she has an argument with Karen over her new, older boyfriend, leading to fireworks among the women in Markowitz's life; Bloom hides her true feelings about the future of her marriage from her new groom.
Directed by Tom MooreWritten by Carol Flint, Paul Manning, Charles H. EgleeGuest stars Rachel York, Becky Ann Baker, David Rasche, James Morrison, Terry O'Quinn, Rondi Reed, Lynne Thigpen, Barbara March
Episode 21
A widower sues a psychic, claiming he was bilked; C.J. grows friendly with the opposing cousel in the breast-implant case.
Directed by Win PhelpsWritten by Judith Feldman, Anne KenneyGuest stars Rachel York, Don Lake, David Rasche, Scott Bryce, Michael Fairman, Stanley Grover
Episode 22
Jonathan dumps Zoey; the Brackmans decide to reconcile and remarry; Victor Sifuentes returns to reclaim Van Owens' hand; Zoey's decision to advance her career by perjuring herself on the stand has tragic consequences when her testimony tips the scales in the case of a former inmate who sues the federal prison system after he contracts AIDS from a prison rape; Roxanne learns a hard lesson about Becker's selfishness and lack of responsibility when they discover that one of his former lovers is dying from AIDS.
Directed by Rick WallaceWritten by Alan Brennert, Charles H. Eglee, Channing GibsonGuest stars Geoffrey Blake, Nick Searcy, Tony Rosato, Matt O'Toole, Lynne Thigpen, Meg Register, Joanna Frank, Anthony DeSando
Episode information updated Jul 24, 2026
Corbin BernsenArnie Becker
Harry HamlinMichael Kuzak
Jill EikenberryAnn Kelsey
Susan DeyGrace Van Owen
Alan RachinsDouglas Brackman
Michael TuckerStuart Markowitz
Susan RuttanRoxanne Melman
Blair UnderwoodJonathan Rollins
NBCUnited States
20th Century Fox TelevisionUnited States
Steven Bochco ProductionsUnited States
