7.8/10361 votes#1 - Causa Mortis
Season 7 Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1996
McCoy's new second chair, ADA Jamie Ross, is determined to prosecute as harshly as possible a carjacker who took the life of a teacher as she pleaded for her life on an audio tape discovered at the crime scene.
Director: Edwin Sherin
Writer: N/A
8.1/10386 votes#2 - I.D.
Season 7 Episode 2 - Aired 9/25/1996
The cops tackle identifying a corpse left in an elevator, and McCoy finds his prosecution of the suspect later hampered by a vindictive judge who resents Ross's in-court rebuke for sexual harassment.
Director: Constantine Makris
Writer: N/A
7.5/10342 votes#3 - Good Girl
Season 7 Episode 3 - Aired 10/2/1996
Briscoe and Curtis have to break the mutual alibi of two girlfriends as they try to find the killer of a young black man, whose angry parents pressure McCoy to indict a young woman who claims the victim had raped her.
Director: Jace Alexander
Writer: N/A
7.9/10358 votes#4 - Survivor
Season 7 Episode 4 - Aired 10/23/1996
Briscoe and Curtis's investigation of the murder of a rare coin dealer nets them a millionaire as a suspect, but Ross has to play detective too as the DA's office tries to establish a provenance for the missing coin collection.
Director: Vincent Misiano
Writer: N/A
8.3/10364 votes#5 - Corruption
Season 7 Episode 5 - Aired 10/30/1996
Curtis, angered by the attitude of an old colleague of Briscoe's, looks beyond the findings of an IAB investigation and turns up evidence of police corruption that puts the DA's office into competition with an ambitious judge and Briscoe under investigation for stealing evidence from a police lockup.
Director: Matthew Penn
Writer: N/A
7.9/10316 votes#6 - Double Blind
Season 7 Episode 6 - Aired 11/6/1996
The murder of a janitor in a university laboratory building leads back to a student employee whose participation in a drug study may have prompted the crime.
Director: Christopher Misiano
Writer: N/A
7.7/10307 votes#7 - Deadbeat
Season 7 Episode 7 - Aired 11/13/1996
The murder of a deadbeat father whose son is dying of leukemia presents McCoy and Ross with a sympathetic suspect and a moral dilemma.
Director: Constantine Makris
Writer: N/A
7.3/10305 votes#8 - Family Business
Season 7 Episode 8 - Aired 11/20/1996
The murder of Richard Speigel, chief financial officer for an exclusive, family-owned department store goes from the sitting room to the bedroom and into the board room as suspicion shifts from co-workers to family members.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.0/10280 votes#9 - Entrapment
Season 7 Episode 9 - Aired 1/8/1997
The case against Huey Tate, a young man accused of shooting the well-known leader of the African-American Congress comes undone when the New York authorities learn that their chief witness was once an informant for the FBI, and is still under their protection.
Director: Matthew Penn
Writer: N/A
8.1/10351 votes#10 - Legacy
Season 7 Episode 10 - Aired 1/15/1997
The sidewalk shooting of a young husband uncovers the fact that his wife's first husband died in a inadequately investigated accident, and that they may have been having an affair before it happened.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.8/10305 votes#11 - Menace
Season 7 Episode 11 - Aired 2/5/1997
The detectives face a difficult struggle getting witnesses to a girl's apparent suicide to come forward while Ross tries to prove that a known bully is the one really responsible for her actions.
Director: Constantine Makris
Writer: N/A
8.0/10309 votes#12 - Barter
Season 7 Episode 12 - Aired 2/12/1997
An unpromising case of murder suddenly develops new leads when the cops explore the possibility that the victim was mistaken for someone else. McCoy walks a thin line in the matter of ethical conduct as he tries to make a case against a lendor who uses unscrupulous methods to collect the money owed to him.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/10331 votes#13 - Matrimony
Season 7 Episode 13 - Aired 2/19/1997
The discovery of a would-be thief refocuses a murder investigation, leaving the prosecutors the task of making a conspiracy case against the deceased's attorney and the pretty young widow.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/10306 votes#14 - Working Mom
Season 7 Episode 14 - Aired 2/26/1997
The murder of an ex-cop with a penchant for blackmail and illicit sex brings feminist lawyer Lanie Stieglitz into court against McCoy to defend a suburban wife and mother.
Director: Jace Alexander
Writer: N/A
7.9/10344 votes#15 - D-Girl
Season 7 Episode 15 - Aired 3/13/1997
A headless corpse fished out of the river sends Briscoe and Curtis out to Los Angeles to obtain a blood sample from their chief suspect while McCoy and Ross back in New York try to obtain a court order for the procedure.
Director: Edwin Sherin, Constantine Makris
Writer: N/A
8.1/10338 votes#16 - Turnaround
Season 7 Episode 16 - Aired 3/20/1997
Back in New York with their suspect, Briscoe and Curtis try to pin down his schedule on the night of the murder, but find instead that another man was in the area at the right time and more importantly, might have a motive for the crime. But after the issuance of a new arrest warrant, McCoy and Ross have to fly to LA to defend their warrant against attacks by the man's defense counsel, Ross's former husband Neal Gorton.
Director: Edwin Sherin
Writer: N/A
8.4/10350 votes#17 - Showtime
Season 7 Episode 17 - Aired 3/27/1997
The trial of Eddie Newman begins but the prosecution's chances of conviction are hampered by a "dream team" of defense attorneys, Gorton's personal pressures on Ross, the public questioning of the relationship between Curtis and Lisa Lundquist, and a surprise accusation.
Director: Edwin Sherin
Writer: René Balcer, Ed Zuckerman, Gardner Stern
8.2/10369 votes#18 - Mad Dog
Season 7 Episode 18 - Aired 4/2/1997
McCoy becomes obsessed with nailing a serial rapist recently released on parole and pushes the cops perilously close to harassment as he attempts to connect the man with a new rape and murder matching his previous M.O.
Director: Christopher Misiano
Writer: N/A
8.3/10333 votes#19 - Double Down
Season 7 Episode 19 - Aired 4/16/1997
The cops' best hope of finding a kidnapped hired car driver alive is one of the armed robbers who grabbed him after a job, but the immunity deal he demands in return would effectively preclude his prosecution for the shooting death of an off-duty cop, placing McCoy in a difficult position as he seeks to placate the cops, who want the guy prosecuted, and the kidnapped man's wife, who wants every avenue of saving her husband explored.
Director: Arthur W. Forney
Writer: Shimon Wincelberg
8.2/10339 votes#20 - We Like Mike
Season 7 Episode 20 - Aired 4/30/1997
A young man who claims to have helped a murdered young man change a flat tire is first the cops' primary suspect, then the prosecutors' chief witness.
Director: David Platt
Writer: N/A
7.4/10275 votes#21 - Passion
Season 7 Episode 21 - Aired 5/7/1997
Briscoe and Curtis investigate the death of a pretty young book editor who was reputedly having an affair with one of her authors, and find themselves focusing on the author's long time companion, who steadfastly denies there was anything wrong with their relationship.
Director: Constantine Makris
Writer: N/A
7.8/10297 votes#22 - Past Imperfect
Season 7 Episode 22 - Aired 5/14/1997
The cops have a definite clue when a bloodstain that's not the same as the victim reveals that the killer was a blood relative, and the prosecutors stumble when their chief suspect claims their chief witness is her lawyer, and his knowledge of the crime represents privileged communications.
Director: Christopher Misiano
Writer: N/A
8.3/10344 votes#23 - Terminal
Season 7 Episode 23 - Aired 5/21/1997
The cops uncover a man with a secret second life as they try to learn who opened fire on a group of people disembarking from a party cruise, but his guilt or innocence becomes almost a second thought as Schiff goes toe to toe with the governor and the States Attorney General over the decision to seek the death penalty.
Director: Constantine Makris
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Law & Order Season 7
Every episode of Law & Order Season 7 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Law & Order Season 7!
In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into...
Genres:CrimeDrama
Network:NBC
Season 7 Ratings Summary
"Causa Mortis" is the best rated episode of "Law & Order" season 7. It scored 7.8/10 based on 361 votes. Directed by Edwin Sherin and written by N/A, it aired on 9/18/1996. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "I.D.".