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The Law & Order spin-off gavels the proceedings to order with a simple charge: to dramatize the goings-on as the prosecution and defense prepare and argue a case before a jury, and to venture into the jury room to eavesdrop on the deliberations. Bebe Neuwirth stars as Manhattan ADA Tracey Kibre, whose no-nonsense demeanor sometimes ruffles feathers. For instance, while prosecuting a nanny for allegedly killing the infant in her care, Kibre is admonished by a judge for violently shaking a doll while demonstrating her theory of what happened. DA Arthur Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson) serves as Kibre's boss, and she's assisted by a younger ADA, by-the-book Kelly Gaffney (Amy Carlson). In addition to relying on the police for follow-up detective work, she has DA investigators Hector Salazar (Kirk Acevedo) and Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), a retired NYPD detective long familiar to Law & Order fans, at her disposal. Sadly, Orbach passed away two episodes into filming the show's first and only season. Like Law & Order, the cases sometimes conjure counterparts in real life, from a suspected perp shot 41 times to a basketball player charged with murdering his mistress. Other episodes revolve around a Broadway producer who may have staged a murder and a vigilante accused of offing a child molester. Guest stars include Lorraine Bracco, Bruce Davison, and Annabella Sciorra as defense attorneys, and Candice Bergen as a judge.