List of Boston Legal characters

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The following is a list of characters from the ABC legal drama Boston Legal. Five of the show's characters (Alan Shore, Denny Crane, Tara Wilson, Sally Heep, and Catherine Piper) first appeared in The Practice.

Contents 1 Main characters 2 Former main characters 3 Recurring characters 3.1 Active within the last few episodes 3.2 Not active in the last few episodes

[edit] Main characters

• Alan Shore (played by James Spader) — A crooked lawyer with a heart of gold. Illicit computer hacking, blackmail, disguise, and bribery are all tools he uses without hesitation. Alan is, however, unwavering in his defense of the underdog (unless he is representing the other party) and an indefatigable patron of various left-wing causes such as opposition to Global Warming. He is disappointed and disillusioned with how the country has changed in recent years, and routinely confronts these issues in open court. Wherever he works, he treats his coworkers with levity and refuses to take himself seriously. Alan suffers from night terrors, has a fear of clowns, and in two episodes, suffered from word salad. He has resigned himself to the fact that he will never be made partner at the firm due to his unpredictable behavior and lack of trustworthiness. Is best friends with Denny Crane. Alan is also an obscene womanizer.
• Denny Crane (played by William Shatner) — Founding and Senior Partner of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. Denny considers himself a legend and loves to say his own name to "sign" his verbal utterances. In one of the final episodes of The Practice, he explained that often people don't believe they're in the room with a legend, so he says his own name to let them know it's true. Denny has no problem sleeping with the wives of judges and clients. He is a conservative who believes gun control is for "communists" and refuses to defend anyone who is accused of extremely heinous acts; in one episode, he shoots a client because of the nature of his crime (raping and murdering a child). Denny is also a womanizer. Though he marries another woman in Season 2, he still pines for Shirley Schmidt.
• Shirley Schmidt (played by Candice Bergen) — Founding and Senior Partner of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. Shirley first appeared in the middle of the first season. She used to have a romantic relationship with Denny, a past she now views with sardonic detachment, often making jokes about it. She is portrayed as the ideal woman in the series: smart, sexy, and sought after by many of the men around her, including her ex-husband Ivan Tiggs and fellow lawyers Denny Crane, Alan Shore and Jeffrey Coho.
• Clarence Bell (play by Gary Anthony Williams) - Also known as Clarice, Clavont and "Oprah." In his default persona, Clarence is hopelessly shy and introverted. To deal with this drawback, he role plays as other people who embody the characteristics he cannot. He originally sued his place of employment for gender discrimination. Since then, he has been befriended by Claire and has taken a job at Crane, Poole & Schmidt. He joined the main cast in the eleventh episode of Season 3.
• Jerry "Hands" Espenson (played by Christian Clemenson) - An attorney with Asperger's Syndrome, he has been a recurring character throughout Seasons 2 and 3 and has been given a 1 week trial to see how well he does at Crane, Poole & Schmidt.

[edit] Former main characters

• Lori Colson (played by Monica Potter) (Seasons 1–2) — A junior partner and former prosecutor at Crane, Poole & Schmidt. Lori found herself inexplicably attracted to Alan during the first season. Late in the first season, she nearly filed a sexual harassment claim against Denny. Lori has since left the firm, either under pressure from or fired by Shirley.
• Tara Wilson (played by Rhona Mitra) (Seasons 1–2) — A paralegal at Young, Berluti & Frutt, she graduated from law school in time to go with Alan to Crane, Poole & Schmidt. After a long flirtation on both The Practice and the half of the first season of Boston Legal, Tara and Alan finally began a sexual relationship, but the arrival of an old boyfriend led her to break up with Alan and quit the firm.
• Sally Heep (played by Lake Bell) (Episodes 1–12) — An associate at Crane, Poole & Schmidt. First introduced in The Practice, Sally began a relationship with Alan that crossed over into Boston Legal. However, after he used her to get information from a witness against their client so they could subdue his testimony, she broke up with him. Shortly after Shirley entered the Boston offices, she fired Sally.
• Sara Holt (played by Ryan Michelle Bathe) (Season 2) — Introduced in the second season premiere, Sara is a smart lawyer who isn't above using her own beauty to help her client. She has since disappeared from the show.
• Garrett Wells (played by Justin Mentell) (Season 2) — Also introduced in the second season premiere, Garrett is a brash young attorney who is obviously attracted to Denise. He does go over her head with some clients but aids her by blackmailing her ex-husband's attorney/pastor to get him to back down from his demands for money. Garrett has since disappeared from the show.
• Jeffrey Coho (played by Craig Bierko) (Season 3) — An intense, grandiose criminal defense attorney from the New York branch of Crane, Poole & Schmidt who joins the Boston firm in Season 3, accompanied by Claire Simms. Jeffrey is as comfortable with making enemies as he is making friends. After finding out Denise's baby is not his, Jeffrey leaves the firm in episode 15 of season 3 wearing his Buzz Lightyear costume.
• Brad Chase (played by Mark Valley) (Seasons 1–3) — The man who the others turn to when they need something done, relying on his Marine Corps background to intimidate others. Brad helped Denise Bauer rescue a kidnapped child by extracting information from a priest, accidentally chopping off the priest's fingers in the process. Later, he went undercover to discover if Paul Lewiston's daughter was still using meth. Brad hated Alan initially, but is now slightly more tolerant of him. He was made a partner in Season 2.
• Paul Lewiston (played by Rene Auberjonois) (Seasons 1–3) — Partner and legal advisor of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. Unlike Denny and Alan, Paul generally does things strictly "by the book". He has had several antagonistic run-ins with Denny and Alan over their apparent lack of respect for the law. His middle-aged daughter, Rachel, is introduced in Season 2 as a meth addict, and Paul has her placed in a rehab center and takes custody of her daughter (and his granddaughter), Fiona.
• Denise Bauer (played by Julie Bowen) (Seasons 2–3) — An aggressive young attorney introduced at the start of Season 2, Denise is thrown when her husband files for divorce and insists that she pay him so he can live while setting up his career as a mediocre golf pro. Her distractions over the divorce cause her trouble with some cases. In episode 14 of the third season, Denise discovers she is pregnant, and as of the seventeenth episode she had decided to have the baby.
• Claire Simms (played by Constance Zimmer) (Season 3) — A smart, sexy lawyer who, along with Jeffrey Coho, joins the firm in the second episode of Season 3. She has done undercover work in the Scott Little case and a penchant for flirting with witnesses. She joined the main character list in the eighth episode of Season 3.

[edit] Recurring characters

[edit] Active within the last few episodes

• Bethany "The Badger" Horowitz (played by Meredith Eaton-Gilden) — A feisty dwarf attorney romantic interest of Denny Crane.
• Judge Robert Sanders (played by Shelley Berman) — A serious-minded, crotchety old judge. With increasing senility, in one case he, in response to Shirley Schmidt saying "Whatever you think about..."(in reference to a plaintiff), calls the plaintiff "an ass". He also called the defendant, a doctor who was alleged to have stolen the right to the plaintiff's blood, a "Vampire Doctor". At the end of that case, he reveals that he didn't have a clue what on earth they were talking about during the whole case, and then ruled in favour of "The Doctor" because he thought, as said earlier, the plaintiff was an ass. He refuses to allow "Poopycock" (most likely Poppycock) or "Jibber-Jabber" in his courtroom, and both Alan, who Sanders called "Alan Shoop" rather than Shore on one occasion, and Denny have used his crankiness to their advantage. When Alan was charged with advising a client to run because it was very likely the client would lose and go to jail for a long time, Judge Sanders greeted him with a sorry shake of the head. When Alan began too speak out, Sanders told him he "did not want to hear another poop (peep) out of him". When Alan spoke out again, he said "You have spcifically been told not to poop". When marrying Brad Chase and Denise Bauer while Denise was in labour, he called Denise "Dennis", and when the baby began to come out shouted "What's that there?" and later made several criticisms of her (the baby, who was a girl) and said "It's not cute at all!". When the umbilical cord was cut he exclaimed, horrified, "You don't circumcise a girl!!!"

[edit] Not active in the last few episodes

• Catherine Piper (played by Betty White) — Alan's former assistant, first introduced in The Practice. A church-going woman who enjoyed being privy to the goings-on at Crane, Poole & Schmidt, Catherine took to the matricidal Bernard Ferrion in an attempt to introduce him to God. Convinced Ferrion would kill again, she later murdered him. With Alan's representation, Catherine was acquitted of the crime, but was subsequently fired by Shirley. However, Catherine returned and was hired as a food delivery person at Crane, Poole & Schmidt.
• Edwin Poole (played by Larry Miller) — The third Senior Partner at Crane, Poole & Schmidt. Edwin arrived at a partners meeting pantsless and was sent to a psychiatric hospital in the first few minutes of the pilot. He later escaped, much to Denny's concern, and he successfully participated in one case before deciding to go back. He returned again for one episode in Season 2 after being released, focusing his efforts on finding someone to sue. Edwin returned to the hospital on Shirley's advice.
• Frank Ginsberg (played by Currie Graham) - An assistant district attorney with political ambitions. He wants to get elected district attorney, and has tried to further this goal by promoting himself to the public with cases of questionable merit. Some instances of his misguided intentions include prosecuting a sexual surrogate and her patient for prostitution, trying to imprison a homeless person who cannibalized a dead body when death by starvation became imminent, and attempting to put Denny behind bars for illegally handing medical waste. On each occasion, Ginsberg's plans to use his cases as sensational self-promotion were ruined (typically by Alan Shore) when his targets were acquitted.
• Bernard Ferrion (played by Leslie Jordan) — A small man who first met Alan when he whacked his mother over the head with a frying pan. She proceeded to die from that blow, but Alan got Bernard off because the police had no evidence on him. Later, Bernard intentionally whacked a neighbor over the head with a frying pan to keep her from contacting the police regarding the incident with his mother. Alan refused to represent him, claiming him "evil", and instead turned him over to Tara Wilson, who proceeded to keep him out of prison, again due to lack of evidence. Catherine Piper met Bernard shortly after and tried to introduce him to God, but could not reach him. Convinced he would kill again, Catherine struck Bernard down with a frying pan, killing him.
• Daniel Post (played by Michael J. Fox) — Denise's love interest with terminal lung cancer. Daniel is a hugely wealthy businessman who initially goes to Denise for help winning a case against a man who is suing him for using his influence to get a test drug that might save his life. Their relationship develops until he restarts his radiation therapy and then goes off to Europe, presumably to die. Daniel returns in the season finale, alive, and proposes to Denise. In the third season, he died during a lung transplant, however, and his remains were lost on the black market. Denise was able to recover his head in Salem, Massachusetts.
• Chelina Hall (played by Kerry Washington) — Prior to coming to work for Crane, Poole & Schmidt in Boston, Chelina worked on behalf of death row inmates for the Texas Innocence Project by petitioning the Texas High Court to reconsider execution sentence. She lost her temper during her final appearance before the court, calling the chief judge "a disgusting, fat pig." Later, when one of her previous cases comes up for appeal, Chelina fears this incident may have prejudiced the judge against her and convinces Alan to argue the case in her stead. She was originally intended to appear in several episodes near the end of the first season, but when these episodes were retooled to appear at the beginning of the second season, her burgeoning romance with Alan was apparently cut short. Alan reencounters Chelina in the second season episode "Race Ipsa", (actually a holdover from season one) and in a comment that broke the fourth wall, Alan says that that she has left the show "to be in movies" (which she did in real life), also making reference to the change in the show's airing time.
• Marlene Stanger (played by Parker Posey) — A stone-cold, ruthless attorney. Known at her old firm as "The Squid" (in mythology, the only animal that can kill a shark), Marlene is not above using underhanded tactics to win cases, and specializes in undermining her associates. She finds herself very unnerved by Alan, and eventually had a bout of sex in his office. Her hostile relationship with Denise led to the ruining of Denise's chances for Partner. At the end of Season 2, Marlene was made Partner but in the third season premiere, she transferred to the New York office.
• Donny Crane (played by Freddie Prinze, Jr.) — A young lawyer who was believed to be Denny's illegitimate son, the product of an affair with an anonymous woman. Denny, however, did not see him for fifteen years. Denny later confessed to Alan that when Donny's mother slapped him with a paternity suit, he settled, and Donny's mother later admitted that he wasn't the father. Many jokes were made about the closeness of Donny and Denny's names. When Donny found out that Denny was not his biological father, he was crushed, and his relationship with Denny became very strained. Just like Denny, Donny uses his own name as an exclamation at inappropriate times.
• Ivan Tiggs (played by Tom Selleck) — Shirley Schmidt's ex-husband and a womanizer. After announcing his engagement to his sixth wife, Missy, he attempted to rekindle his former relationship with Shirley, saying he would dump Missy if Shirley would take him back. When Shirley refused, he married Missy and later lied about leaving her to reunite with Shirley. The ploy worked, and he and Shirley were briefly reunited. When Shirley learned of his deception, she drafted a "post-nuptial agreement" that would relinquish virtually all of Ivan's possessions to Missy if he were ever caught cheating on her. He attempted to legally void the agreement (with Alan Shore as his representation), but eventually handed everything over to Missy if Shirley would give him another chance. Shirley refused, saying "I can't love you anymore," and Ivan was last seen alone and penniless.
• Missy Tiggs (played by Meredith Patterson) — The eccentric, obnoxious, Broadway musical-loving, singing, snort-laughing, and very young sixth ex-wife of Ivan Tiggs.
• Donald Diddum (played by Kurt Fuller) — A perverted minister who is also a lawyer. He is the lawyer for Denise Bauer's ex-husband who handles his divorce. Donald starts being targeted by Garrett Wells and Sara Holt after they find out he has three sexual harassment complaints. Sara approaches him and coerces him to make a deal in the divorce proceedings in favor of Denise. Eventually, Donald requests a whiff of Sara's panties so that he does not disclose this potentially damaging information.
• Malcolm Holmes (played by Rupert Everett) — An old flame of Tara Wilson's who eventually got her to leave the firm after he started trying to come on to her.
• Al Sharpton (as himself) — He helps Alan twice in cases involving a black Annie and a gay Santa Claus at the request of his old friend Denny Crane.
• Lincoln Meyer (played by David Dean Bottrell) — Neighbor of Marcia Hooper and a peeping tom. He testified against Scott Little in Hooper's murder. During the trial, Jeffrey Coho accused him of killing her, and there has been some animosity between the two. Meyer then sued Jeffrey for accusing him of murder but lost; later, he takes a shovel to the head of the judge who oversaw that case. He refers to Jeffrey as "Mr. Dirty Mouth". He also hits Gracie Jane's head with a shovel and kidnaps Shirley at gunpoint.
• Gracie Jane (played by Jill Brennan) — A grating media personality who presumably works for CNN, occasionally fills in for Larry King, and uses TV as a venue for her own uninformed and rabid opinions of suspects' guilt. She made a complete fool of Denny after his absolute failure to silence her on-air accusations of a client's guilt during a sensational trial that was especially damning for the firm's defense. She is a parody of Nancy Grace.
• Melissa Hughes (played by Marisa Coughlan) — Alan's secretary, hired when Catherine Piper was fired by Shirley, who has various financial problems. Melissa is attracted to Alan, and tried to seduce him, but Alan did not respond to her advances in an unusual show of restraint. She has, however, showed no quarter in pursuing him. Melissa had since been transferred as the secretary of Jeffrey Coho. It is unclear what her role is now that Coho has departed from the firm.
• Clark Brown (played by Henry Gibson) — A 70 year-old judge who still lives with his mother, Judge Brown likes to humiliate criminals he convicts in addition to normal punishment. Although Judge Brown claims to be a "conscientious fact finder", both Alan and Denny are able to appeal to his insecurities to gain favorable rulings. Initially thought to be a virgin, Brown admitted to having relationships with men in the season 3 episode "Selling Sickness".