When police officer Dicky Cobb reveals he can read sign language, he's transferred from the street to the office of deputy district attorney Tess Kaufman.

Kay is as much on trial as the defendant, but with the support of Tess and Dicky she braces herself as the proceedings begin.

Tess and Dicky handle the case of a mentally ill man who attacked a neighbor. Kay gives Dicky an ultimatum while Tess is impressed with her ex's efforts to strengthen their relationship.

Dicky's stuck with an inadmissible confession when a woman confesses to murdering her father, a prominent citizen, and uncovers a scandal involving the mayor and the district attorney. Kay argues with her father over her drinking.

Grieving over the suicide of a friend, Tess investigates the case that drove him to despair. Dicky reconciles with Kay.

Kay tries to cope with the rape, harassment by the police and the impending trial all at once; Bruce drops a bomb on Tess.

Kay remains critically wounded; Bruce's wealthy mother visits him in prison.

Dicky's buddy, a cop, is despondent over his crumbling marriage; Tess becomes an advocate for a disturbed deaf woman.

Maggie refuses to testify before a grand jury against her client, a fraudulent businessman with whom she shares a past.

Tess's prosecution of the young neo-Nazi is roughed up by Judge Booth. Meanwhile, Dicky dogs the defendant's friend to testify to the truth.

Bruce's move on Kay shakes things up with Tess; and a date-rape incident promises many aftershocks.

An activist professor is charged with the murder of a college journalist who crucified him in print; Dicky feels blue as Kay considers moving; Tess feels angry over Bruce's machinations.

Judge Booth makes things difficult for Tess as she prosecutes the neo-Nazi case, while Dicky dogs the defendant's friend; Kay tries to get Weldon on the wagon.

Dicky's hit by a gunshot during a crossfire, but the incident might be a case of a good kid defending himself in a bad neighborhood.

A killer Tess and Dicky know they have dead to rights claims he'll go free because he's got "friends."

While trying to work things out with Maggie, Dicky investigates the killing of a man who was engaged to a high-class woman.

Dicky and Tess search for new evidence to nail a murderer released on a technicality, but their sole lead is a witness who refuses to endanger his new straight life by revisiting his ugly past.

A murder case is dumped on Tess only days before trial, and she's pitted against her mentor; Dicky meets Lila's parents; Bruce gets nasty in the divorce; Kay copes with the aftermath of rape.

Tess starts the wheels turning in the neo-Nazi case, but Judge Booth's obsessive attraction to her throws a wrench into things.

A shopkeeper's trap for burglars does in a druggie, and the legal fallout has political and personal consequences for Gold and Dicky.

A public defender provides a weak defense for a Mexican immigrant couple accused of endangering their daughter; Sean is given a case involving chickens he views as a real turkey.

A tough parole case, the death of her mother and compassion from Dicky turn Maggie's world topsy-turvy.

Dicky awaits the outcome of the brutality investigation; Tess laments that things have hit the skids with Sean; Kay hits it off with her professor.

In the second season opener, Kay is critically wounded by a murderous hood during a holdup at the bar; a burglary case takes some odd twists for; and Bruce's wealthy mother visits him in prison.

Feminists seek a platform to voice their grievances against pornography by attacking a porno emporium.