The Best Episodes of L.A. Law

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
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   10.0/10(1 votes)

   #1 - The Grace of Wrath

   S1:E192/26/1987

   Sifuentes tries to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat by responding to the advances made by an attractive juror after his elderly pot smoker client is found guilty, but soon comes to realize that his losing streak with women is continuing when she reveals her true colors; Brackman considers wearing a toupee when the prospect of aging starts to weigh on him heavily; Rogoff assigns Van Owen to desk duty as it becomes apparent that she's become more traumatized by the shooting than she's willing to admit; Melman provides a source of strength and comfort to a client struggling with his emotions during a painful divorce.

   Director:Helaine Head

   Writer:William M. Finkelstein

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   Director:Helaine Head

   Writer:William M. Finkelstein
2. 

   8.0/10(1 votes)

   #2 - Sidney, the Dead-Nosed Reindeer

   S1:E1212/18/1986

   La Rosa digs up the ammunition Kelsey needs to succeed in representing an inventor in a contract dispute over patent royalties; Kuzak is horrified as he witnesses a severely depressed Hershberg commit suicide in court; Becker gets caught in a compromising position when he's propositioned by a client's soon-to-be ex-wife; Perkins spends Christmas with her son; when his pre-trial depositions reveal that the Emmons case is a winner, Kuzak is able to negotiate a favorable settlement for his client.

   Director:Jonathan Sanger

   Writer:William M. Finkelstein

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   Director:Jonathan Sanger

   Writer:William M. Finkelstein
3. 

   8.0/10(1 votes)

   #3 - Divorce with Extreme Prejudice

   S2:E912/17/1987

   Van Owen has mixed emotions about successfully prosecuting a teenager who murdered his abusive father; seeking to get out from under his brother's blackmail, Brackman confesses his infidelity to his wife, who exacts a stiff penalty for the crime which leaves her husband breathless; Becker enlists Melman's support in making the holidays in Palm Springs bearable; when Sevilla is arrested for the murder of her husband, Sifuentes gets the case dismissed, but his inability to believe her version of the events surrounding the fatality permanently dooms their relationship.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
4. 

   8.0/10(1 votes)

   #4 - Dummy Dearest

   S3:E612/15/1988

   Rollins represents a man who, after a devastating childhood trauma, can only talk through a caustic dummy, and is charged with assaulting the police officer who confiscated the dummy after being subjected to a storm of verbal abuse; Becker sets up Kelsey and Markowitz with a baby broker; Kuzak is subpoenaed to testify in the Mathers fraud case; Kelsey represents an actress suing a tabloid for printing lies which caused irreparable damage to her reputation and career; the firm loses a major client after the disciplinary board of the state bar slaps Kuzak with a public censure and a one month suspension.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Robert Cochran

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Robert Cochran
5. 

   8.0/10(1 votes)

   #5 - Outward Bound

   S4:E215/10/1990

   A gay cop sues when the secret of his sexuality is revealed in the press by a journalist; McKenzie seeks a star litigator to fill an opening at the firm; Benny fumes after seeing Alice kiss someone else; and Corrinne pops the question to an unsure Becker.

   Director:Edwin Sherin

   Writers:William M. Finkelstein, David E. Kelley

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   Director:Edwin Sherin

   Writers:William M. Finkelstein, David E. Kelley
6. 

   8.0/10(1 votes)

   #6 - God Rest Ye Little Gentleman

   S5:E812/13/1990

   A disfigured doctor charges a clinic with discrimination; Benny anticipates the holidays with his new roommate; Van Owen defends a former colleague.

   Director:Tom Moore

   Writer:David E. Kelley

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   Director:Tom Moore

   Writer:David E. Kelley
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7. 

   8.0/10(1 votes)

   #7 - The Nut Before Christmas

   S6:E812/19/1991

   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.

   Director:Paul Lazarus

   Writers:Patricia Green, Carol Flint

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   Director:Paul Lazarus

   Writers:Patricia Green, Carol Flint
8. 

   8.0/10(1 votes)

   #8 - Back to the Suture

   S6:E101/16/1992

   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.

   Director:Elodie Keene

   Writers:Steven Bochco, David Milch

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   Director:Elodie Keene

   Writers:Steven Bochco, David Milch
9. 

   7.3/10(3 votes)

   #9 - Pilot

   S1:E19/15/1986

   Becker begins the day dealing with some irate clients and finds himself at the wrong end of a gun; Melman discovers a dead partner; Kuzak finds a creative way to see that justice is done when he defends an unsavory client accused of rape and assault on a terminally ill woman; Brackman challenges Kelsey about taking on an insurance case; the firm takes on a new associate; a Chaney eulogy takes a shocking turn; Becker opens the eyes of a woman who mistakenly thinks she has a good divorce settlement; Perkins's marital problems become public knowledge; Kuzak encounters a judge who takes traffic violations seriously; Kelsey propositions Markowitz.

   Director:Gregory Hoblit

   Writers:Steven Bochco, Terry Louise Fisher

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   Director:Gregory Hoblit

   Writers:Steven Bochco, Terry Louise Fisher
10. 

    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #10 - Auld L'Anxiety

    S2:E611/19/1987

    McKenzie overcomes his fear of aging, as well as a little vanity, in successfully representing a client in an age discrimination case; Van Owen is devastated when a witness she has forced to testify against a gang banger is slain, and the woman's young son murders the gang member who ordered his mother's execution; Rollins defies the direct orders of McKenzie and Brackman not to prolong a property settlement conference in a divorce case, but Becker is elated when Rollins's tactics yield a lucrative settlement for their client; Kelsey politely rebuffs Markowitz as he bears gifts and apologies about the prenup, until he finally wears her down and gets her to admit that controlling and manipulative behavior is another thing they have in common; Brackman's sanctimonious pontificating about the sanctity of marriage to litigants in the court room doesn't carry into his own behavior in his chambers with Vasek.

    Director:Nell Cox

    Writers:William M. Finkelstein, David E. Kelley

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    Director:Nell Cox

    Writers:William M. Finkelstein, David E. Kelley
11. 

    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #11 - Placenta Claus Is Coming to Town

    S4:E712/14/1989

    Kuzak makes a last-ditch try to have his client's sentence lightened; Markowitz panics when Kelsey goes into labor early; Benny has a holiday surprise for Alice; the holidays could be lonely for Becker.

    Director:Rob Thompson

    Writer:William M. Finkelstein

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    Director:Rob Thompson

    Writer:William M. Finkelstein
12. 

    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #12 - Christmas Stalking

    S7:E812/17/1992

    Kelsey represents Markowitz in court and gets the charges suspended with Mullaney's support; suspecting that Morales may be her stalker, Taylor gives him the cold shoulder until Melman sets her straight; Paros wins her child abuse case with a little behind-the-scenes help from McKenzie; after Becker gives Flicker an ultimatum about Schuller, Flicker arranges for Becker to be carjacked and abandoned in the desert, where he comes to the rescue and offers Becker a ride home and a high-level job at the studio; a caring physician uncovers that the cause of Markowitz's strange behavior is a brain cyst that can be treated with medication, and he's released from the psych ward of the hospital; after Brackman coldly rebuffs the partners' gift of a new pocket watch, Lincoln finally offers up the original, to Brackman's joy and relief; Romney unsuccessfully pursues both Taylor and a job at the firm; Mullaney and Melman ride out a few rough patches on the road to parenthood.

    Director:Unknown

    Writers:Julie Martin, John Masius, John Tinker

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    Director:Unknown

    Writers:Julie Martin, John Masius, John Tinker
13. 

    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #13 - Rhyme and Punishment

    S8:E912/16/1993

    Mamie Van Doren is a guest at the firm's Christmas party; the son of an aging comic believes his father is being exploited by a mistress; Roxanne asks Mullaney to surrender parental rights.

    Director:Unknown

    Writers:Julie Martin, William M. Finkelstein

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    Director:Unknown

    Writers:Julie Martin, William M. Finkelstein
14. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Those Lips, That Eye

    S1:E210/3/1986

    Kuzak pursues a very attractive deputy district attorney, Grace Van Owen, even though she's engaged to marry the man managing her campaign for a seat on the bench; Perkins is beaten by her drunken husband after she files for divorce and sole custody of their son; Kelsey continues to clash with Brackman, as well as McKenzie, over the insurance case until her hardball tactics succeed in earning a windfall fee for the firm; Sifuentes comes to regret the plea agreement he negotiates for a man who took justice into his own hands after watching his son's killer freed on a technicality; Weston is infuriated when Becker sandbags her chance to be offered a position as an associate after he tires of their affair; Markowitz courts a hesitant Kelsey; feeling passed over for promotion by Sifuentes's hiring, Taylor quits; Perkins becomes the default winner of an associate position; Chaney's will brings out the beast in Brackman.

    Director:Gregory Hoblit

    Writers:Steven Bochco, Terry Louise Fisher

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    Director:Gregory Hoblit

    Writers:Steven Bochco, Terry Louise Fisher
15. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - The House of the Rising Flan

    S1:E310/10/1986

    Sifuentes is outraged when he learns that the motive behind an invitation to dinner at the Brackman house was to enlist his aid in perpetrating an immigration fraud; Kuzak continues to pursue Van Owen; Perkins is devastated when her ex-husband kidnaps their son, and quickly becomes frantic when it appears that the police cannot help her find him; Kuzak discovers that his client's suit against an amusement park for injuries his son suffered is based on a fraudulent claim; Markowitz fears that he will lose his job when he declines to run a scam on an alcoholic I.R.S. agent to mitigate his client's tax bill, but luck is on his side when the adverse I.R.S. ruling turns into a financial coup after his client's wife sues for divorce.

    Director:Unknown

    Writers:Steven Bochco, Terry Louise Fisher

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    Director:Unknown

    Writers:Steven Bochco, Terry Louise Fisher
16. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - The Princess and the Wiener King

    S1:E410/17/1986

    McKenzie's disappointment in the greedy law school students whose class he addresses leads him to offer a clerkship to a student who appears to be more socially responsible; in defending a young teenager who murdered her abusive brother, Sifuentes suspects that the abuse may have begun with the girl's father; Kelsey forces Perkins to realize that she may never see Eric again; Van Owen is furious when she discovers that Kuzak has arranged a lunch date with her fiance to scope out his competition; Kelsey finds out about Markowitz's secret life; McKenzie suggests a course of action after Hubbard expresses her frustration with their business and personal relationship; a lovesick Lewis fights to keep his princess, despite Becker's advice; Van Owen pays Kuzak a late night visit and reveals her true feelings.

    Director:Sharron Miller

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Sharron Miller

    Writer:Unknown
17. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Simian Chanted Evening

    S1:E510/24/1986

    Kuzak fights for his terminally ill client's right to be cryogenically preserved after death; Becker whets his appetite for entertainment law when he brokers an extremely favorable divorce settlement for his movie producer client; Markowitz and Kelsey are offered partnerships in the firm; Melman takes Becker to task over his romantic entanglements with clients; Kelsey represents a man fighting to keep his toy company from being taken over by a corporate giant; refusing to give up on the woman he loves, Kuzak goes ape and disrupts Van Owen's wedding.

    Director:Rick Wallace

    Writers:Steven Bochco, Terry Louise Fisher

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    Director:Rick Wallace

    Writers:Steven Bochco, Terry Louise Fisher
18. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Slum Enchanted Evening

    S1:E610/31/1986

    Van Owen faces hairy jokes from her colleagues and the anger of her ex-fiance after bailing out on her wedding; Kuzak represents a television news anchor suing for sex discrimination and wrongful termination when her employer fires her after having second thoughts about the series of reports on her breast cancer surgery that they assigned her to produce; Sullivan is busted for dealing drugs out of the office; Taylor successfully represents a tenant's association suing Brackman for being a slumlord, and gives his former boss a taste of his own medicine when Brackman threatens to prolong the case with a series of appeals to avoid paying the judgment levied against him; Hubbard applies to law school; Kelsey does business with a very agreeable banker offering excellent terms on her partnership buy-in loan; Brackman faces a stunning and humiliating defeat when he foolishly decides to take on McKenzie in the partners' meeting.

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown
19. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - Raiders of the Lost Bark

    S1:E711/7/1986

    Kuzak slyly sticks Sifuentes with a dog of a case, but it's Sifuentes who's sitting pretty after he discovers the teeth in the matter, and pulls out an unexpected win; Abby rebuffs an admirer; Becker's gamble on the Mishkin fee agreement pays off financially but dooms the relationship; after Kuzak wins the discrimination case, he discovers that his client had an ulterior motive for not accepting a generous settlement offer; Brackman takes a new approach to life and dealing with people in the wake of his double barreled defeats in the court room and the partners' meeting; Becker is oblivious to Melman's feelings for him.

    Director:Jan Eliasberg

    Writer:David E. Kelley

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    Director:Jan Eliasberg

    Writer:David E. Kelley
20. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - Gibbon Take

    S1:E811/14/1986

    Van Owen's ex-fiance gets his revenge by humiliating her during a campaign appearance, thus sabotaging her race for the bench; when Kelsey shakes a trust's money tree to benefit the homeless, she also creates a windfall for the firm and herself; an ugly divorce case hits too close to home when Abby tries her hand at marital law; Sifuentes adds to his chair collection as he settles a slander case against a prosecutor who took losing the Sullivan drug case on a technicality too personally and too publicly; Van Owen experiences an extremely embarrassing case of mistaken simian identity.

    Director:Sharron Miller

    Writer:John Schulian

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    Director:Sharron Miller

    Writer:John Schulian
21. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - The Venus Butterfly

    S1:E911/21/1986

    Becker, Markowitz and Kelsey bicker over who will inherit Chaney's office; Van Owen prosecutes a man charged with the mercy killing of his terminally ill lover; to Kelsey's undying gratitude, Markowitz learns the secret of a serial bigamist's success with women as Becker and Markowitz represent the man's eleven wives in their divorce actions; Abby is devastated when a dead boy matching Eric's description is mistakenly cremated before he can be identified.

    Director:Donald Petrie

    Writers:Steven Bochco, Terry Louise Fisher

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    Director:Donald Petrie

    Writers:Steven Bochco, Terry Louise Fisher
22. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Fry Me to the Moon

    S1:E1012/4/1986

    Kuzak gets nightmares over handling an appeal for a man sentenced to death; Van Owen helps Gilliam get a reprieve for Appleton; Melman comforts Becker when his parents try to put him in the middle of their divorce dispute; Sifuentes resigns after McKenzie sandbags his representation of a woman who could potentially embarrass one of McKenzie's clients; Perkins rescues a stray dog who wins over Brackman's heart; Van Owen intercedes for an inebriated Kuzak who's about to be arrested for disrespecting the police.

    Director:Janet Greek

    Writer:David E. Kelley

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    Director:Janet Greek

    Writer:David E. Kelley
23. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - El Sid

    S1:E1112/11/1986

    An increasingly unstable Hershberg asks Kuzak to take over the case of a woman who shot a police officer; Rogoff reassigns Van Owen to night court as punishment for helping Appleton; Perkins makes a deal with the devil to have her son returned to her safely; things get heated in another court when the men of McKenzie, Brackman engage in a contentious basketball game with a rival firm; Markowitz redecorates Chaney's office and gives it to Kelsey as a Christmas present; after McKenzie apologizes, Sifuentes agrees to return to the firm.

    Director:Allan Arkush

    Writer:David E. Kelley

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    Director:Allan Arkush

    Writer:David E. Kelley
24. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - Prince Kuzak in a Can

    S1:E131/8/1987

    Overburdened with Hershberg's caseload, and haunted with guilt over his death, Kuzak snaps at his colleagues, pays a heavy price for the way he handles a manslaughter case, and ruins Van Owen's plans for the weekend; Sifuentes's whiz kid client develops a crush on Melman as he fixes the firm's malfunctioning telephone system; Kelsey wins a major account for the firm and faces a jealous Markowitz, who correctly guesses that the client has more than a professional interest in his new attorney; after initially spurning Sifuentes's offer to help with Hershberg's caseload, Kuzak finally enlists his aid, allowing Sifuentes to talk the judge and prosecutor into a sweetheart deal for the client.

    Director:Rick Wallace

    Writer:David E. Kelley

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    Director:Rick Wallace

    Writer:David E. Kelley
25. 

    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - The Douglas Fur Ball

    S1:E141/15/1987

    McKenzie gets Kuzak sprung from jail; after Brackman's wife discovers his infidelity and serves him with divorce papers, he begs her to take him back when he discovers that she's represented by Lisa Weston, who intends to go after a share of the partnership's profits in the settlement; Sifuentes confronts a judge after Putnam's computer analysis uncovers a racist bent to the jurist's sentencing determinations; Markowitz's jealousy prompts him to keep too close an eye on Kelsey's relationship with Cromwell, which creates friction between the attorneys; McKenzie represents a jurist friend who is arrested after taking desperate measures to resolve a deteriorating financial situation when the firm declines to offer him the partnership he seeks; Melman goes out to dinner with Putnam; Weston has it out with Becker over his mistreatment of her and discovers to her discomfort how much they have in common.

    Director:Donald Petrie

    Writer:William M. Finkelstein

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    Director:Donald Petrie

    Writer:William M. Finkelstein