Here are some of the most frequent questions
about the episodes and characters. I hope
the answer you are looking for can be found
here.
How did it all
start? The Characters background
Rebecca graduated from South Technical
High School in June 1987.
She met Bobby when he represented her mother,
Mrs. Bernice Washington. The following is an
extract from Rebecca's letter to Bobby:
" I met you when I went with her to court
-- two times. have worked in restaurants and
grocery stores after school and in the summer
since I was 14. in high school I took basic
typing, advanced typing, short hand, and office
management skills. I tested at 65 words per minute
with only 2 errors. I am good on the telephone
because I used to take orders at a pizza
restaurant that got very busy on weekends. My
mother sent me to a weekend course to learn word
processing, Word Perfect 4.2."
She's said that her uncle Ty practically helped
raise her, that was when he was being represented
by Eugene for tax evasion. I don't recall if she
has any brothers or sisters.
She had an abortion when she was a teenager.
She also dated that cop she represented in
"Blowing Smoke".
Lindsay mentioned she had a brother, and
Lucy mentioned that Lindsay's parents had just
visited Lindsay in hospital when she was stabbed,
but we didn't see them. And Lindsay mentioned her
parents were divorced in Blowing Smoke. She
also graduated in the class of 92. Then she
worked in Boston Legal Aid Society, from September
1992 til the time she was to join The Practice.
In the first death penalty case, the
documentary one, Ellenor mentions her
best friend was stabbed to death on the roof of
her apt building in New York. The old official TP
site also said that she and Eugene knew each other
before they joined Bobby's firm. And we met her
obnoxious female cousin. The prissy one who sued
the travel agent.
She is very proficient in sign language and she
is Jewish. She joined the firm sometime
after Eugene.
Eugene joined the firm in 1995. He
used to be a PI before he became a lawyer.
Jimmy Berluti, Bobby's long time friend,
represented his old girlfriend Susan in "Bay
of Pigs". He worked as a loan agent in a bank
after his initial attempt as a lawyer failed (he
never won a trial before coming to Bobby's firm.)
Helen's grandmother was euthenized by the
morphine drip, and because of that Helen is
strongly against assisted suicide. We know she
went to Harvard with Lindsay, that's where they
met. She has a sister who works in an insurance
company.
Bobby's mother dies when he was about 15
years old. She was terminally ill, and was
the one who disconnected his mother
from a respirator. She was dying of cancer, so he
is in favor of letting people die with dignity.
His dad works in a big fancy law firm as
janitor.
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Yes. In season 2 Helen and Bobby were a couple, but not
for a long time...
Why did Helen and Bobby break up?
It happened because of a case. Bobby was defending Dr.
Jeffrey Winslow, while Helen was representing the Commonwealth. Neither
would back down... Bobby claimed that he couldn't refuse the money as the
firm wasn't financially stable, while Helen was disappointed with where Bobby's
priorities were. He chose the firm over her, so she didn't want to be the
only one sacrificing for the relationship.
Will Bobby and Lindsay get married?
Well they are married now but anyway:
This is what David E. Kelly had to
say in his chat:
"There will be some friction on their way to the
altar. But at this point the plan is that we will still make it to the
altar."
How are Lindsay and Helen related?
They go a long way back to College days. They went to the
same University "Harvard" and became the best of friends. In
season 3 they moved in together.
Uhm, hold on, so Bobby was with Helen AND Lindsay?
Yeap... But not at the same time. :))
Here is their story:
Bobby and Lindsay were sleeping together before he started
dating Helen... Back then the relationship between Bobby and Lindsay was strictly
physical, but it was obvious that they both were all too well in love with each
other... Anyway, since it was only physical relationship, when Helen
showed interest in Bobby, Lindsay encouraged them both to go for it. She
didn't tell Helen about her relationship with Bobby until Helen accidentally
found out when Bobby sucked her elbow. Bobby and Helen broke up over a
case, and later on Lindsay admitted to Bobby that she was in love with
him. But he was all too angry with her partnership request. At the
end of season 3 Lindsay and Bobby got engaged.
Does David E. Kelley write
every episode? No. He has several writing
partners on the show who either co-write the episode with him,
or pen their own.
When did we first notice
Lindsay is in love with Bobby? In the
pilot. There is this scene in which Lindsay is staying late and
discovers Bobby is still there as well. In fact, it is more as
if he lives in the office, and the dialogue between them... Well
it is just obvious she likes him.
Who is Chris Kelton? He
used to be Lindsay's boyfriend during collegue. They used to
have a lot of fun (kind of rough it seems), until they broke.
During season one, Cris offers to give off a case in exchange
for a kiss from her. She denies. During season two, Cris puts
some rape drug on Lindsay's wine to get her more
"loose", she discovers it, regrets going out with him
again, and looks for revenge. She can not accuse him, so she
plays on him a practical joke: shoot him on his left leg!
What happened in Ally cross
over? The Fisher-Cage company has their
first muder case and they asked Bobby to help them out. So,
there was one ep of Ally and the wrapping of the case in a TP ep.
After that, there is another ep in Ally, very near to the
ending, where Bobby tries to go out with Ally. After that, there
are some verbal references to Ally in a couple of eps more.
When did we first find
out Lindsay is having a secret relationship with Bobby? In
ep 206, "Saving the Mule". Bobby is thinking about
going out with Helen, but he needs to find out first whether he
has things in order with Lindsay, so he asks.
What is the issue
between Bobby and Helen regarding euthanesia? Bobby
is the one who disconnected his mother from a respirator. She
was dying of cancer, so he is in favor of letting people die
with dignity.
Helen was the only one in her family against them letting her
grandmother go because her cancer was terminal. Helen was sure
her grandmother would have prefer living, but nobody asked her.
Her family just took the decision. Helen is against letting
someone else decide on terminal ill persons' lives. They have
fight in court against each other on this issue, twice. In both
occasions, Helen has won.
How did Bobby meet Jimmy? They
are friends from collegue, and it also seems they share the same
catholic religion. In the past, Jimmy has proved to be a bad
lawyer, so he ended working for a bank, in charge of giving
loans. Bobby has taken advantage of this situation, until he
pushes his friend too far with a loan in ep. 2 from Season 1 and
Jimmy gets fired because of him, for helping him. Feeling
remords because of this, Bobby hires him. And BTW, guess who
Bobby takes with him to convince Jimmy of giving him the fatal
loan? Lindsay!
I was surprised when Jimmy
announced his mother was gay. Was there a specific episode about
this in the past? Episode 13 of season 2:
"The Civil Right".
In one of the first
episodes there was something about Bank Loan For the
Practice. Can you tell me more about it?
Bobby was facing an eviction notice for the office. He needed
money desperately to pay the firm's bills and salaries to its
members. He went to his friend at the bank, Jimmy Berluti who happens,
conveniently, to be a loan officer at a local bank. Seventy
thousand dollars is all they need to be tided over. SEVENTY
THOUSAND DOLLARS?! The solution, a "construction loan"
based on cancelled renovation drawings gets the needed money,
and Bobby and Jimmy were suddenly out on a limb.
Berluti could not find a way to grant a loan based on
the prospects of the firm's business, so he suggested loaning it
for law firm expansion construction because he knew Bobby had
had plans drawn up a while back. When he asked Bobby to dust off
the construction drawings, Bobby shook his head and said the
space for expansion was no longer available. Jimmy said: "I
never heard that." Bobby said "I never said it."
Bobby and his friend Jimmy got themselves caught shading the
truth about the purpose of the loan. Jimmy did the honorable
thing. Indeed he took a fall which could well have been shared
by Bobby, by covering for him and making it appear as if the
construction loan sham had all been HIS (Jimmy's) idea and
unknown to Bobby.
The bank exercised discretion and elected not to prosecute
anybody, on condition the loan got quickly repaid.
But nerves were frayed all round. Bobby blew up at Rebecca
(definitely not something that should ever be done) for being
candid with the bank. He almost lost her with that outburst. And
Jimmy lost his job. Under the circumstances, Bobby's decision to
take him into "The Practice" was only fair. It
certainly could not come at a worse time though.
I'd like to find out more
about Lindsay's first case. Any help?
You had the opportunity to see the attorneys in "The
Practice" function together in their effort to prepare
Lindsay for the Opening Statement of her life. Never mind that
it happened to be her first jury trial. There may never be
anything like it again. David vs. the tobacco Goliath. A task
which is nearly impossible. As the trial loomed, you saw Lindsay
suffer all of the pressure cascading around her. And although it
appeared she would buckle, in the end, she pulled it out.
And when the trial finally began, Lindsay's opening was
phenomenal. Great television. In summarizing what the Plaintiffs
were prepared to do, Lindsay fully used her opportunity to lay
out the health case against tobacco companies everywhere.
Lindsay's
opening statement for the tobacco case, episode 4:
"Good
Morning. My name is Lindsay Dole. I'm the attorney
representing Mr. Emerson Ray seated over there beside Bobby
Donnell who I know you have already met. We will be
setting out to prove that cigarettes manufactured by the
defendant, TL Michaels, caused Mr. Ray's wife Margaret to
develop lung cancer and vascular disease which then caused her
death in 1994." Lindsay pauses to drink some water.
"I was instructed not to do that, to drink water. Mr.
Donnell told me since none of you have water it's possible you
could resent me for having it, so, I was determined not to drink
it, but, well, this is my very first jury trial, and as soon as
I stood up my mouth went dry. Sorry. The opening
statement as you know, is not evidence. Instead, it's sort
of a preview of the evidence we intend to show you. I'm
sure you're aware that product liability cases can potentially
drag on forever and you might be worried about that.
There's medical information, scientific evidence, technical data
with respect to cigarettes. Are they addictive, do they
cause cancer? Did they cause Mrs. Ray's cancer? Was
that cancer the exact cause of her death? To prove all of
this to an exact certainty we would have to be putting up expert
witnesses for weeks. We are not going to do that. We
don’t need to. Emerson Ray will tell you how his wife
smoked cigarettes on an off for 52 years. Cigarettes
manufactured by the defendant. Her treating doctor will
tell you that they killed her."
"Her
doctor will talk about this photograph which shows her lungs
corroded by the carcinogens of cigarettes. And you will
believe Dr. Clarke because he was the only doctor who actually
treated Margaret Ray. As for weather cigarettes cause lung
cancer we will not be calling witnesses to prove that either.
We will show you what's printed on the cigarette packages
themselves. Smoking causes lung cancer. Cigarette
smoke contains carbon monoxide. These are the warnings of
the surgeon general. Smoking causes lung cancer. We
will present evidence that cigarette companies manipulate the
levels of nicotine. We will be presenting evidence of a
two year investigation conducted by the FDA in which it found
nicotine to be addictive. So much in fact, that the FDA
now regulates cigarettes as drug delivery devices. But
this trial is not about whether cigarettes are addictive, so we
won't be calling witnesses to prove that proposition.
Addictive or not, we're not going to stand before you and
declare Margaret Ray was a helpless victim who had no choice but
to smoke. We won't be saying she was blameless. In
fact, maybe she's a lot to blame. TL Michaels didn’t
force her to smoke. We're not even arguing that
cigarette's should be banned. We live in a free society,
that's one of the things we’re proud of in this country.
It's a slippery slope once you start arguing that people
shouldn't have the right to make personal choices, and Margaret
Ray chose to smoke cigarettes. Make no mistake, she bares
responsibility. Of course she does. All we're saying
is so does the defendant. Not all of it, but some of it.
You see, unlike automobiles, or alcohol, or even guns, this is a
product, even when you use it carefully it can still kill you.
They put out a product, when used as directed causes cancer.
It's the plaintiffs contention that when their product does kill
somebody, they should bare some responsibility. Just a
little." Lindsay pauses for another drink.
"Sorry, was doing pretty well. We will only putting
on three, maybe four witnesses. Unless their cross examine
in perpetuity, we expect to rest out case by Friday. It's
possible the defendant will put up sixty witnesses. That's
how many are on their list. I don't know, or really care.
You see in the end, the strongest part of our case will be you.
Your common sense, your seat of the pants wisdom. And when
their umpteen experts tell you cigarettes are non addictive or
don't cause cancer, you'll know better, we won't have to tell
you. Lastly. This law suit is about compensating Mr.
Ray for his loss. I think we all know you can't really do
that. He lost his wife of 43 years. Her death was
slow and it was painful.. As Mr. Ray's lawyer I suppose I should
attempt to tap into his grief so you people can feel it.
Well, that's another thing I won't be doing in this trial.
I would never presume to be able to articulate his pain.
Nor would I presume your ability to truly feel it. Unless
you've been through it. What I will try to tap into
however, is his anger. The woman he loved died from
smoking their cigarettes and he received no apology, no
condolences, not even the slightest admission that they are at
all blame worthy. Maybe corporations, if they're big
enough, don't have to apologise. Maybe corporations can
put advertisements like this (displays one to the jury) on
billboards all across the country, or like this, enticing people
to use a product that could give them cancer. Probably
will give them cancer. And feel no remorse. The
defendant, TL Michaels, generates revenues exceeding 28 billion
dollars a year. They make more than 76 million dollars a
day, a day."
Professor
Pearson : "Objection, this is totally
irrelevant."
Judge:
"Over-ruled."
Lindsay:
"He just asked us to believe that they money they make has
no relevance. Gee. You will also be hearing from a
scientist who formally worked for the world health organisation.
He will testify that 3million people a year die from smoking.
One person every 10 seconds. One person every 10 seconds.
This case is only about Margaret Ray. This case is only
about her suffering. And his. And yet I still can
not bring myself to call it irrelevant that in the short time
I've been delivering my opening statement, they took in another
million dollars or so, and 50 more people died. There's
something wrong with that picture, and that one, and that one
(indicating pictures shown to the defendant). And if a
corporation makes billions and billions of dollars while it's
product continues to kill and kill and kill, if we just chalk it
up to free society, well there's something wrong with that
picture as well."
This was
roughly 7 minutes, 25 seconds long.
Who is Susan Robin?
She's a girl whose head was found in a bag of
The Practice's client - George Vogelman.
Who killed Susan Robin?
Vogelman said that he thought Eleanor was working that night,
and apparently went to stab her, for the apparent motive that he still harbored
a grudge against her for rejecting him. She wasn't there, so he stabbed Lindsay
for kicks. As for Susan Robbin, apparently that was just his psychopathic nature
coming out to play.
Who is Fred Spivak?
He was Ellenor's love interest back in season 2. He is a
doctor and the first guy Ellenor slept with.
Who is George Vogelman? One
of the firm's biggest client. At first he was Ellenor's
love interest. They met through an ad and talked on the
phone for hours. Once they met, Ellenor felt they didn't
click so George sued her. Later on he was accused of
killing Susan Robin and hence became one of the biggest client's
the firm had.
Who is Joey Heric?
Simply put a brilliant bastard! He is Jewish, he is gay,
and he has a habit of killing his lover's and getting away with
it.
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