L.A. Law

Synopsis

The series is set in and around the fictional Los Angeles law firm McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak (later McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney, Kuzak and Becker, then McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney, and Becker). Exteriors were shot at the FourFortyFour South Flower building in downtown Los Angeles. The opening credits began with a close-up of a car trunk closing to reveal a license plate reading "LA LAW". For the first seven seasons, the car was a Jaguar XJ Series III; for the eighth, a 1993 Bentley Continental R. Two musical openings were used: a saxophone riff for lighter episodes and an ominous synthesizer chord for more serious story lines.

Series history

The two-hour pilot aired on Monday, September 15, 1986, with an encore on September 27, 1986, replacing Saturday Night Live. The show originally aired Fridays at 10:00 p.m. after Miami Vice, but later moved to NBC's Thursday 10:00 p.m. slot in the Must See TV block, replacing Hill Street Blues. It was eventually replaced by ER. Co-creator Terry Louise Fisher was fired in season 2 and filed a lawsuit that settled.

The season 5 scene where Leland McKenzie is in bed with Rosalind Shays was ranked the 38th greatest television moment by EGG Magazine. The episode "Good to the Last Drop," in which Rosalind dies falling into an elevator shaft, was ranked No. 91 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes. David E. Kelley was hired during the first season and later became show-runner. At the height of popularity, a fictitious sex position called the "Venus Butterfly" generated fan interest.

Reception

L.A. Law influenced how Americans viewed the law and lawyers. The New York Times called it "television's most serious attempt to date to portray American law and the people who practice it." Attorneys reported the show affected how they dressed and spoke to juries, and clients expected cases to be tried within a week. Law school applications rose, partly due to the show's glamorization of the profession. Professors used episodes as teaching aids, and law journal articles analyzed plotlines.

One law professor wrote in the Yale Law Journal that the show conveyed more information about lawyers than all Legal Studies programs combined, though he called it "a massive distortion of reality" with caricatures. Another noted it subtracted most of lawyers' real work lives. Unlike earlier legal fiction, L.A. Law taught viewers basic legal concepts such as torts and ethics.

Accolades

The series won 15 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series in 1987, 1989, 1990, and 1991, with nominations in 1988 and 1992. For the 1988–1989 season, nine cast members were nominated, with Larry Drake winning for Supporting Actor. The show also won a Latino Image Award and was listed as number 42 on Entertainment Weekly's The New Classics in 2008.