Legal Aid workers go on strike; one of the paralegals, Frank Dresner, is run over and killed. When the alleged murderer, Ted Sanderson, is being arraigned, the man has no representation. Since nobody from Legal Aid is available, the judge assigns Rubirosa as his counsel and ends up going up against Cutter.
Tropes present in this episode
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: When Rubirosa advises Sanderson to accept a plea deal for 8 years (he has already served 9) he accuses her of "tanking" his case. She reminds him that he can always take the risk of going to trial. The only reason Rubirosa is Sanderson's attorney is because there was nobody available from Legal Aid to be his lawyer and the judge assigned her.
- Everyone Has Standards: When McCoy hears some of his employees teasing Connie about her work for the defense, he immediately defends her as doing her job and threatens to demote everyone else in the room if they don't leave her alone.
- If I Can't Have You…: Sanderson sent Frank to kill his wife because she was having an affair. He didn't know it was with Frank.
- Miscarriage of Justice: Sanderson served nine years for his wife's murder, which was committed by Frank, the paralegal he stands accused of murdering. However, he's not as innocent as it seems at the beginning of the episode; she was murdered by a man Sanderson had asked to do it.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Rene Balcer, the showrunner at the time, had a Fox Development executive bump into her in his car, and proceeded to yell at her on the picket line of the 2007-2008 Writers Strike.
