Pilot episode for the TV series introduces the lawyers and employees of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak, a Los Angeles law firm, in dealing with their courtroom cases and personal matters out of the courthouse. While the entire office deals with the unexpected death of one of the founding senior partners, Norman Chaney, junior partner Michael Kuzak reluctantly takes on the defense of a wealthy and spoiled young man, accused with two friends, of raping a woman dying from leukemia. While intern Abby Perkins deals with her abusive alcoholic husband, divorce lawyer Arnie Becker takes advantage of his latest client caught up in her divorce. Public defender Victor Sifuentes is also offered to join the firm, while the ruthless managing partner, Douglas Brackman, deals with a surprising revelation from his new secretary.

Kuzak sets his sights on Deputy D.A. Grace Van Owen while he helps Victor defend a Hispanic man from an assault charge after he became enraged when his son's killer, a wealthy man, was set free on a legal technicality. Meanwhile, Kelsey faces criticism from Brackman when she turns down a large insurance settlement for her pro-bono client. Andrew Taylor, a disgruntled associate, tells the senior partner, Leland McKenzie, and Brackman what he thinks of the firm's hiring policies as they pursue the hiring of Victor. Stuart Markowitz, the firm's tax specialist, tries to get Kelsey's attention. At the reading of Chaney's will, Georgia Buckner inherits the majority of his wealth, and Brackman gets Chaney's own personal secretary, Hilda. Abby asks Becker to represent her in suing for divorce from her abusive husband. After Andrew Taylor quits the firm and law clerk Bruce Pollak leaves, Abby is named a full-time associate. Also, Becker also insists to the partners for the dismissal of law clerk Lisa Weston, his secret girlfriend.

Victor suffers through a dinner with the Brackmans when they want him to romance (and marry) their Hispanic maid who is threatened with deportation. Meanwhile, Markowitz finds himself in the middle of a fierce tax-audit between sleazy millionaire Irving Lewis, and alcoholic IRS agent Marv Fletcher in which Markowitz resorts to lying about Lewis' tax claims. Kuzak's personal-injury suit against an amusement park becomes complicated by his young client's greedy, adoptive father. Also, Abby's personal troubles take a turn for the worse when she learns that her husband has kidnapped their three-year-old son Eric.

McKenzie takes a dim view of future lawyers after his guest lecture at a law school which is filled by questions from the students dominated by self-interest. McKenzie's secretary, Iris, takes a dim view of her future with the firm and of the new law clerk, Jeffrey Sullivan, whom McKenzie hires. Meanwhile, Irving Lewis follows Becker's advice concerning his divorce, then blames him when his young wife won't return to him. Victor goes to bat for a young girl facing charges after she shot her brother who tried to rape her. Kuzak meets with Grace's fiancé while continuing to try to win her affections, and Markowitz wows Kelsey with his private life. Abby tries to continue working despite not knowing the whereabouts of her son.

Kuzak represents Harry Finneman, an elderly man who is fighting for his constitutional right to be freeze-dried after his death. Becker pursues Hilary Mishkin, a screenwriter client who is divorcing her director husband. Meanwhile, Markowitz and Kelsey represent a toy company president whose office faces a hostile takeover bid and they receive offers for partnership in return for their successful defense. At the end, Kuzak goes totally ape, literally, when he crashes Grace's wedding dressed in a gorilla suit and proclaims his love for her.

Kuzak represents Stacey Gill, a TV news anchorwoman who lost her on-air job following a broadcast of graphic reports concerning her breast cancer surgery. Meanwhile, Brackman is taken to court when a group of people that live in an inner city housing project accuse him of being a slumlord and their lawyer is Andrew Taylor, the former McKenzie Brackman associate. Jeffrey Sullivan causes concern for Victor when he suspects Jeffrey of dealing drugs within the office. Becker tries to work out a payment plan for his services to Hillary Mishkin.

The Stacey Gill civil suit continues when she baffles Kuzak by rejecting a generous settlement from her former employer. Meanwhile, Victor bets Kuzak his leather office chair that he can win in a no-win dog bite case. Abby meets with another lawyer in the building who takes her out on a date and tries to persuade her to go on with her life. Also, Becker turns to his secretary, Roxanne, for comfort when Hilary Mishkin leaves him. A fully restored Brackman comes to peace terms with his tenants and Andrew Taylor.

Kuzak wants to take his relationship with Grace public, then reporters drag her through the mud during a press conference when her former fiancé tells them that she left him at their wedding with an unknown man (Kuzak) in a gorilla suit. Meanwhile, Kelsey pushes the trustees of a fund intended to benefit the poor and homeless of Beverly Hills into doing something. Victor tries to defend the spoiled Jeffrey Sullivan on drug dealing charges, who is convinced he can buy his way out of the drug rap. Also, Abby's stress over her missing son comes out while she is helping Becker in a divorce case between a couple using their child as a bargaining chip.

Foster Troutman, a charming polygamist, causes an uproar at the firm over Becker and Markowitz's tax audit case of him and his 11 wives, and he offers Markowtiz a new sexual maneuver on pleasing a woman while Becker is attracted to his lawyer, Lynette Pierce. Meanwhile, Grace faces the difficult task of prosecuting Christopher Appleton, a gay man afflicted with AIDS, who's accused of the mercy killing his similarly infected lover. Abby faces an agonizing ordeal with Kelsey in search for her son when she receives news of an battered anonymous child's death. The other partners quarrel over who will get Chaney's desirable office, and with a coin toss, Markowitz wins.

Kuzak stands firm against capital punishment for a convicted rapist/murderer, despite persuasive arguments that his client will kill again if released pending a new trial. Meanwhile, Becker becomes caught in the middle of his parents divorce action when both his mother and father ask him to represent them against the other and Roxanne eventually rescues him from the mess of this situation. McKenzie indirectly forces Victor to withdraw from an unpopular case in which Victor threatens to quit. Grace hands Mark Gilliam, Appleton's lawyer, new defense grounds for a new trial in the AIDS mercy-killing case. Also, Abby brings a stray dog to work which causes nothing but problems, and Brackman eventually adopts it.

Sid Hershberg, a mentally unstable, overworked and underpaid attorney, begs Kuzak to take over one of his many pro bono cases of Nina Emmons, a woman jailed for over five months on an attempted murder charge. Meanwhile, Becker tries to persuade the firm to hire some tall man as a temporary associate to bolster the office basketball squad for an important game after Victor leaves. Kelsey fumes while Markowitz redecorates his new office, but her mood changed when he gives it to her as a gift. Abby tries to start her life over again when her ex-husband returns with their son. Also, Grace is put on night court duty for an indefinite period.

Sid Hershberg tries to make a comeback, but he can't take the pressure and kills himself in front of Kuzak while he is trying to get the attempted murder charges against Nina Emmons dropped. Becker gets caught making out with a client's former wife. Meanwhile, Kelsey faces a mountain of garbage (literally) as she tries to win a contract dispute over an inventor's tea-bag technology. Brackman quarrels with everyone over the annual holiday festivities and McKenzie gives his secretary, Iris, a law book for her future career of studying law. Abby's ex-husband lets their son, Eric, stay with her for the Christmas holidays, and Victor returns to the firm.

Kuzak has difficulty getting over Sid Hershberg's suicide and seems to assume the dead lawyer's identity by taking over Hershberg's cases. Then Kuzak faces a dilemma when his latest client, lacking confidence in the overworked lawyer, arranges an alibi for himself in a vehicular manslaughter case. When Kuzak has an attack of conscious and withdraws from the case, he is thrown in jail for contempt. Meanwhile, Kelsey works to land Cromwell Industries, a key aircraft manufacturer's account. Roxanne comforts Andrew Putnam, a lonely teenage computer hacker and Victor's client, who's hired to fix the firm's telephones.

Brackman (recovering from a broken ankle) asks Becker to represent him after his wife, Sheila, serves him with divorce pagers and she retains Becker's former girlfriend and law associate, Lisa Weston, to represent her. Meanwhile, Markowitz feels very jealous after Kelsey wins the court case for Cromwell Industries and the personal appreciation from Mr. Cromwell himself. Judge Hood, a retiring superior court judge, pressures McKenzie for a job at the firm, and Victor uses statistical evidence as he accuses another judge of bigotry for his Hispanic client. Also, Roxanne reluctantly agrees to go out on a date with the insecure Andrew Putnam.

While McKenzie is dealing with Judge Morris Hood facing bribery charges, he's asked by another senior partner from a national firm in New York, named Marshal Taft & Associates, to merge their two organizations which raises many expectations. Meanwhile, Roxanne and the other secretaries resent the intrusion of two efficiency experts from Marshal Taft. Also, Abby has her first solo court appearance and gets burned for her poor preparation.

Grace returns to day court and has problems keeping the prosecution of a man accused of stealing bull semen on the serious side. Meanwhile, Victor goes beyond professional bounds in urging a troubled family to seek redress for the death of their son in a car accident. Becker insists to Carolyn, his latest client, on aggressively pursing evidence against her husband's marital infidelities despite her objections, and then regrets it when she attempts to shoot her husband in Becker's office. Abby assists with Victor's case while searching for a suitable escort for a family wedding and winds up with an unexpected volunteer: a district attorney named George Handeman, who grilled her during her first court appearance.

A top pharmaceutical company tries to repackage Kuzak after hiring him to win a product-liability case. But he and Victor show them a few things about swaying a jury during a mock trial. Meanwhile, Roxanne asserts herself and demands a pay raise from Becker. Markowitz learns a lot about Kelsey when he handles her massive tax return. Also, Abby takes another court case when she defends Benny Stulwicz, a retarded man against charges of robbery.

Grace pushes hard for the death penalty against a convicted gang member and murderer of a prison guard in which she gets rewarded with threats against her life by his gang members. Meanwhile, Victor becomes intimately involved with Jocelyn Pennebaker, a dentist he defended in a malpractice suit. Becker suffers trying to go on a date with his new temporary secretary while Roxanne is away on jury duty and holds firm against the acquittal of a man facing an assault and battery charge.

Brackman's sudden self-consciousness about his baldness prompts anxiety in the other men of the firm as well. Meanwhile, Grace's brush with death at the hands of a gang member leaves her fearful and resentful of Kuzak's and everyone's protective attitude. Roxanne inspires strength in Becker's timid client, but warns her about rebound romances. Also, Victor gains a courtroom admirer after he defends a man's use of marijuana as a religious sacrament.

Brackman's quarrel with an eccentric neighbor's complaint about his barking dog escalates dramatically when the fight turns ugly and physical. Meanwhile, Kuzak faces a tough opposing counsel when he represents a young woman suing a football jock in a date rape civil suit. Kelsey and Markowitz argue over the sale of her condominium, and Abby tentatively tries a new romance with George Handeman.

Kelsey takes Markowitz on a camping trip in the hills which turns disastrous. Meanwhile, Kuzak tries to help Ron Messer, a fisherman who lost his boat when the IRS confiscated it in a tax dispute. Becker falls hard for a young model, named Lucinda, but later discovers that she's only using him to make her current boyfriend jealous. Grace's addiction to pills and hard liquor catches up with her. Also, Brackman involves Victor and Abby in his continuing dispute with his neighbor over the death of his dog, and Iris worries when an unusually moody McKenzie hesitates to see a doctor.

Victor and Abby defend a woman accused of murdering her baby. Kuzak's fisherman client, Ron Messer, wins his case against the IRS, but loses his boat anyway to bank foreclosure. Meanwhile, Kelsey and Markowitz wind up in Las Vegas while celebrating their six-month anniversary together, complete with an Elvis impersonator at a wedding chapel. Becker's client makes some astounding accusations against her husband, a kiddie-show TV host, concerning the family pig. Also, Grace leaves Kuzak for a while to sort out her feelings. McKenzie finally clears the air with Iris about a minor medical condition of his.