# L.A. Law (1986)

> A high-powered Los Angeles law firm's courtroom battles are constantly tangled up with office politics and romance.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/694

## Facts

- Seasons: 8
- Episodes: 171
- Episode runtime: 45 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Steven Bochco, Terry Louise Fisher
- Network: NBC
- Cast: Corbin Bernsen, Harry Hamlin, Jill Eikenberry, Susan Dey, Alan Rachins, Michael Tucker, Susan Ruttan, Blair Underwood
- TMDB rating: 7.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090466/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: brisk, witty, melodramatic, glossy, sardonic

## What critics say

Reviewers and audiences broadly regard the series as a sharp, glossy legal drama whose early seasons were its strongest, with quality dipping in the later middle seasons.

## Synopsis

L.A. Law (1986-1994) is a US network legal drama series created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher for NBC. Set in a glossy Los Angeles firm, the show follows the partners and associates of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak, which handles both criminal and civil cases for high fees. Corbin Bernsen plays dealmaking lawyer Arnie Becker, Harry Hamlin plays idealistic litigator Michael Kuzak, and Jill Eikenberry plays firm partner Ann Kelsey, whose professional and private lives keep colliding. Susan Dey and Alan Rachins round out the principal cast. The engine of the series is the push and pull between a courtroom case each week and the romances, rivalries and power struggles within the office that keep spilling into it. Across eight seasons and 171 episodes, it runs as a mostly episodic case-of-the-week format anchored by recurring characters and an evolving ensemble. Its tone is brisk, witty and sometimes melodramatic, balancing legal stakes with soap-opera personal drama. Fans of The Practice, Ally McBeal and Boston Legal will find resonance in its blend of courtroom drama and workplace romance.

## Shows like L.A. Law

- [Reasonable Doubt (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/127973)
- [Mistresses (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/39901)
- [Damages (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/4671)
- [Harry's Law (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/30093)
- [Murder One (1995)](https://ember.film/tv/3064)
- [Franklin & Bash (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/30639)
- [Shark (2006)](https://ember.film/tv/372)
- [The Practice (1997)](https://ember.film/tv/2901)
- [All Rise (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/77015)
- [Fairly Legal (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/29956)

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