The BEST episodes of L.A. Law
Every episode of L.A. Law ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of L.A. Law!
On this critically acclaimed drama about a top Los Angeles law firm, some of the best battles take place outside of the courtroom. In the bedroom, in the courtroom, or at McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney & Kuzak's staff meetings, the firm's ambitious, competitive attorneys confront conflict between their own desires, their obligations as attorneys, and their principles as human beings.
#1 - The Accidental Jurist
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/23/1989
Kuzak decides that a private trial with a closeted judge is the best way to win to retain his gay client's multi-million dollar endorsement contract with a cereal manufacturer, but when the verdict goes against him, his client is unwilling to seek another trial based on an ex parte statement revealing the judge's bias because it will force the judge out of the closet; Perkins confronts Ringstrom after Kelsey tells her he's married, and ends the relationship after she fakes a reason to visit his house and meet his wife; Meyer and Melman separate after they arrive at directly opposite solutions to their marital problems, but reconcile after Melman is forced to acknowledge some hard truths during a therapy session; the lack of a good nanny brings Kelsey and Markowitz troubles, and their daughter to the office.
#2 - Happy Trails
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/25/1990
Rollins feels exploited when he's asked to assist on the Chisholm case; a surprise witness testifies in Rosalind's suit; Brackman considers breaking off with sex surrogate Marilyn after one of her clients dies; Murray gets everyone's attention.
#3 - Rhyme and Punishment
Season 8 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/16/1993
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.
#4 - Good to the Last Drop
Season 5 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/21/1991
Zoey scoffs at the legal system when a child-killer goes free; a delinquent taxpayer protests Government spending; Rosalind steps in to help McKenzie with yet another case.
#5 - Come Rain or Come Schein
Season 7 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/22/1993
Kelsey represents a TV weatherman suing for wrongful termination; Morales represents a laborer suing a racist couple who cheated him out of payment for work he did on their patio; Becker represents an agent who uses his ex-wife's desire for a religious divorce as leverage in their property settlement negotiations.
#6 - Bourbon Cowboy
Season 7 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/13/1993
A teenage prostitute claims her boyfriend forced her to rob a man; Becker represents a country music star whose wife's career is better than his; and Gwen's teacher makes another sexual advance.
#8 - Prince Kuzak in a Can
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/8/1987
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.
#9 - Cannon of Ethics
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/29/1987
Kelsey seeks the advice of outside counsel, Kuzak's former mentor Wendell Gleason, in resolving her ethical dilemma about Dr. Warren's guilt, but is none too appreciative when Gleason's terminal illness allows him to accomplish what she cannot; Becker's ardor for Hollander turns to ice when she starts discussing marriage; after the jury hands Sifuentes a defeat in the product liability case, the judge threatens to reverse the finding, prompting the attorneys to reach a settlement, as well as a new-found respect for each other's abilities; Perkins solves a problem for a dying Mrs. Stulwicz as well as the firm when she convinces Brackman to hire Benny Stulwicz as the firm's messenger; Kelsey and Markowitz come into conflict after she takes Brackman on for suggesting that Markowitz resign before the wedding; in commiserating with Gianelli when he feels compelled to join his family's business after failing the bar exam, Perkins jumps to a completely erroneous conclusion about the exact nat
#10 - Izzy Ackerman or Is He Not?
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/16/1989
Perkins and Ringstrom continue their romance and their afternoon trysts; Melman gets arrested and sued after the strains of her diet and her marriage lead her to punch out an obnoxious loud-mouth in her weight loss group; Kuzak is crushed when his failure to perform proper discovery costs his widower client a settlement from the hospital that caused the death of his wife by failing to treat her adequately due to her inability to pay; McKenzie helps a widow retrieve the remains of her late husband after his misidentified body is dissected for research purposes and shipped out to medical facilities across the country; Melman and Meyer visit a marriage counselor; as they leave a restaurant, Kuzak and Van Owen run into Ringstrom -- and his wife.
#11 - True Brit
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/25/1990
Kuzak suspects a barrister is exaggerating his ignorance of American courtroom procedure to influence the jury; Becker yearns for more fanfare from his co-workers; a friend's confession to Diana tests the limits of lawyer-client privilege; Rosalind invades Kelsey's space.
#12 - God Rest Ye Little Gentleman
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/13/1990
A disfigured doctor charges a clinic with discrimination; Benny anticipates the holidays with his new roommate; Van Owen defends a former colleague.
#13 - He's a Crowd
Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/7/1991
Rosalind promises to help McKenzie save an account; a case of multiple personalities confounds Kuzak; Abby collaborates with C.J. to build her practice; Roxanne is subpoenaed in the case of Becker vs. Becker.
#14 - The Douglas Fur Ball
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/15/1987
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.
#15 - How Much Is That Bentley in the Window?
Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/21/1993
The Sandy Morris murder trial begins where Eli acts on his suspicions and calls the murder victim's husband, Jonah, to the stand. Meanwhile, Becker longs to buy a classic $275,000 Bentley Convertible, a dream that could come true pending the outcome of a messy divorce case involving his latest client, Jessie Wilks, and her wealthy CEO husband. Also, Morales' artistic eye puts him in charge of the office renovation and meets with the attractive renovator, Lauren Chase, to discus the costs.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#16 - Three on a Patch
Season 8 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/17/1994
Brackman represents senior citizens threatened with eviction from their retirement community for rambunctious behavior arising from their participation in a clinical study of testosterone patches; Rollins takes on the State Department of Corrections on behalf of an inmate who claims that the conditions in the super maximum security facility in which he is incarcerated violate the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment; Becker learns that a kiss is just a kiss, and nothing more, where Halliday is concerned; the partners's choice of a new associate prompts Morales to resign.
#17 - Sidney, the Dead-Nosed Reindeer
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/18/1986
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.
#18 - The Wizard of Odds
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/22/1987
Brackman begins to get carried away over his judicial appointment until an insulting parrot puts him in his place; Kelsey successfully represents a psychiatrist being sued in civil court for not preventing the murder of one patient by another, and is horrified when her client later confesses to the crime to prevent her from pursuing her suspicions that the wrong man was convicted of the crime; Markowitz covers for Gianelli, protecting him from Brackman's wrath; a wealthy woman wins an evening with Becker in a bachelor charity auction, and intends to get her money's worth; McKenzie hires hotshot young attorney Jonathan Rollins over Brackman's reservations that meeting Rollins's salary demands will cause trouble with the other associates; Sifuentes faces an opponent skilled in manipulating the jury's guilt with ethically questionable antics when they go head to head in a product liability case.
#19 - Ex-Wives and Videotapes
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/22/1990
Kuzak pleads Williams's case before the State Court of Appeals; Rosalind is outraged when the partners decline to take on a potentially lucrative client because the company promotes apartheid; Becker represents a man so embittered by his wife's divorcing him that he intends to ruin her career as a prominent newswoman by distributing a private, x-rated video he made of their intimate moments.
#20 - Bounds for Glory
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/22/1990
To the dismay of Becker and Brackman, Rosalind becomes Abby's strong supporter when a major client leaves the firm after he is unsuccessful in pressuring Abby not to pursue a dismissal of charges against his drug-addicted son, but to convince his son instead to accept a plea bargain that will send him to jail; Rollins's client is sued by the owner of an oversized frog when she disqualifies the amphibian from the jumping contest she's promoting; Kelsey represents the parents of a slain teenager when they sue the parents of the young skinhead who murdered their son; Benny inadvertently sets off a bidding war hampered by attorneys and paralegals when he decides to sell his baseball card collection; as her overbearing manner begins to set the other attorneys on edge, Rosalind mounts a subtle campaign for absolute control of the firm by undermining McKenzie's influence with clients.
#21 - Justice Swerved
Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/29/1990
A couple is accused of murdering their baby; a sobriety test halts Markowitz and Kelsey's lunch-time tryst; thoughts of Sheila wreak havoc with Brackman's sex life.
#22 - Raiders of the Lost Bark
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/7/1986
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.
#23 - I'm in the Nude for Love
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/12/1989
Kuzak returns from his suspension to defend the owner of a nudist colony being sued for creating a public nuisance, and manages to turn the damaging testimony of a witness intent on defrauding his client into a bargaining ship that yields the client a financial windfall; Stulwicz is wounded when he misinterprets Gottlieb's gestures of friendship for something more romantic; Sifuentes successfully represents a hospital treating a young woman who's been in an irreversible coma for two years when her parents petition to have her life support terminated.
#24 - The Mouse That Soared
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/23/1989
Sifuentes duels again with Hamilton Schuyler in a case challenging ""dwarf tossing""; a witness comes forward with testimony Kuzak hopes will clear his client; Kelsey agrees to help a friend sue pro-lifers harassing women at health clinics.
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Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/28/1993
McKenzie urges Eli to join the firm and his restricted men's club; a couple move to sue their travel agent for a nightmare trip; a Chinese financier faces murder charges for the death of an illegal immigrant.