History Series / LawAndOrder

** In the episode "Mayhem," the detectives are looking for a serial killer with giant, thick glasses and think they've found him when they find Scott Hexter. There are some doubts about his guilt, but he has no corroborated alibi for the murders in question and meets the description. [[spoiler:Near the end of the episode, they find out from his mother and his boyfriend that he was out seeing the boyfriend at the time of the murders and was afraid of being outed as gay to his mom, even though his mom already knew. The detectives hurry back to the prison where he's being held, only to find that shortly before they arrived, Scott had been stabbed to death by another inmate who wanted his bologna sandwich]].

** A first-season episode had [[AbusiveParents a husband and wife who were horribly abusive to their children]]. The two detectives broke into their apartment just in time to stop the woman from "teaching" her three-year-old son to stay away from fire by forcibly burning his hand on a hot stove.

** In the first season two-parter "The Torrents of Greed," an [[spoiler: AffablyEvil Mafia boss (a [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed thinly-veiled version]] of John Gotti) runs a doozy of one on Stone, using two {{Heel Face Mole}}s to feed him false information about a murder the boss ordered and getting Stone to indict him on the basis of their testimony. When the case goes to trial, the boss's attorney melodramatically reveals that all of the evidence against his client is based on perjury and the boss walks. Later, when Stone actually does get ironclad proof tying the boss to the murder, he can't do anything about it because of double jeopardy]].

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the episode "Gov Love", [=McCoy=] is attempting to prosecute a murder but a gay witness might seek the use of marital privilege laws. So Jack goes to the NY Court of Appeals and gets the marriage (and all gay marriages in the state) invalidated, as they were not legal under state law. It completely backfires, as while the witness would have volutarily testified before, he is so incensed at [=McCoy's=] tactics that he refuses to testify now no matter what.

--> '''Briscoe:''' I told you, the amnesty requires the form be filled out in ''triplicate''!
--> '''Random Guy:''' But there's only two copies!
--> '''Briscoe:''' [snatching forms] We'll mail you the other one.
--> '''Green:''' [observing via hidden camera] He's enjoying this way too much.

* SeriesContinuityError: To be expected in a long series, but one in particular was in Season 17 episode "Murder Book", a RippedFromTheHeadlines situation based on the OJ Simpson trial, where [=McCoy=] talks about being unable to get past double jeopardy despite a bribed juror. However, a previous episode, "Jeopardy" dealt with exactly the same situation, and [=McCoy=] was noted for beating double jeopardy, wherein the judge was bribed.
** In Season 5's "Privileged", a judge held that under the current statute, communications between Alcoholics Anonymous members isn't privileged. In Season 11's "Amends", the judge held the exact opposite ruling, throwing out the confession made in AA. It's somewhat justified, however, because in the latter episode, the ACLU and AA used their power to influence the judge.
*** Some TruthInTelevision here: decisions regarding suppression of evidence often vary based on the judge, the times, and who's making the arguments, especially in gray areas like this.
** [=McCoy=] has pulled off extremely unethical and borderline dirty tactics to get perps to confess to their crime or to put them in jail. However, in the final episode of Season 17, he [[spoiler: submits a letter of resignation when Dr. Rodgers admits that she testified as to the incorrect novel from which the murderer may have gotten the idea for a certain crime. Neither did [=McCoy=] suborn this perjury, nor was this fact even remotely that important, yet [=McCoy=] somehow feels overwhelming guilt enough to put 13 successful years as an incredible Executive Assistant District Attorney behind him just for a minor incorrect detail]].
*** This might have actually been done in response to the Andrea Yates trial: see RippedFromTheHeadlines for more info. [=McCoy=]'s fear at giving an attorney even the slightest grounds to appeal may have been influenced by the events of this trial.
** The Season 15 episode "[[Recap/LawAndOrderS15E11Fixed Fixed]]' had the murder of Jacob Lowenstein, the VillainOfTheWeek from the Season 1 episode "[[Recap/LawAndOrderS1E9Indifference Indifference]]". The prosecutors said that Lowenstein got parole after fifteen years because the original prosecutors offered him a plea deal, because they didn’t have a slam dunk case. "Indifference" ended with Lowenstein being convicted by a jury and sentenced to twenty-five to life.

* BittersweetEnding: Many cases that end with a victory for the cast still tend to veer into this, usually because of the guilty being a TragicVillain, or because the circumstances that led to the court case in the first place ([[AlwaysMurder usually via the victim(s) involved]]) lead to a depressing overall circumstance even despite the outcome. There's nary an unambiguously open-and-shut case with a completely positive outcome.

* WeaponOfChoice: Almost all the older detective main characters carry Smith & Wesson model 36 revolvers, while the younger ones tend to carry Glock 19 semi-automatic pistols. This is realistic, as both guns were/are standard issue in the NYPD. The most notable exception is detective Fontana, who carries a Smith & Wesson model 19.

* LongRunnerCastTurnover: The series ended with a completely different cast than when it started. The series lost its last original cast member at the end of its tenth season, when Steven Hill's Adam Schiff retired. So half of its run was done with no one from the first season cast. Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_%26_Order#Casting_and_characters a section]] dedicated to the cast/character changes and overlaps.

** An example overlapping with RealLife occurred after the original airing of “Hot Pursuit”. There was some kind of controversy regarding the episode’s use of "The Velvet Room," possibly because a real Velvet Room exists in NYC, so future airings and the DVD release [[ClumsyCopyrightCensorship have "Vivant Room" dubbed over]] it instead. It’s not too bad if you listen to the dialogue of the emergency technicians in the beginning, but it’s ''very'' jarring to hear Jack keep mentioning the club later on at the trial with the expressive voice of Creator/SamWaterston so obviously redubbed.

* SaltAndPepper: Every single season from the tenth onward.
** Lampshaded when Briscoe and Green go to arrest a major record producer, and [=McCoy=] comments on the irony of a black man and a Jew arresting a neo-Nazi sympathizer.

* AngryBlackMan: In "Bling", [=McCoy=] goes after a black businessman who continually gives him attitude, when in actuality, the killer, who is white, pretends to be timid and frightened to escape suspicion. In the end, when [=McCoy=] realizes his mistake and sees just how racist the killer is, he concedes that perhaps in a racist world, the businessman did have some right to have attitude.

''Law & Order'' is a [[LongRunners long-running]] DramaticHourLong crime/courtroom drama created by Creator/DickWolf, which ran on Creator/{{NBC}} from 1990 to 2010 (20 seasons, 456 episodes).

* CourtroomAntics: Frequently. DisregardThatStatement and ThatWasObjectionable in particular occur innumerable times.
** Some defense lawyers dress or have their victims act in a certain way to prejudice the jury. One defense lawyer, while defending a homeless man, keeps him in his dirty clothes in the courtroom to invoke pity for her client. Another one, while defending a man with Alzheimer's, refuses to medicate his client so that he shakes throughout the trial.

* ThatWasObjectionable: Oh, boy. Lawyers love CourtroomAntics.

* IllGirl: Victims and bystander aside, [[spoiler: Lt. Van Buren]] is undergoing chemotherapy which leads to a funny/heartwarming moment the day after her son gets her some medical marijuana to perk up her appetite. [[spoiler: Her boss angrily rounds on her when people report smelling marijuana on her, then in private gives her a tin of strong mints and tips on hiding the smell, revealing he also went though the same thing. The next episode shows her [[BigEater celebrating the return of her appetite]]]].
** Also Curtis's wife, who had multiple sclerosis. A few scenes have her walking with a cane while Curtis looks on with guilt. She eventually dies in Season 20, in the episode "Fed", when Curtis comes back for the first and only time in eleven years.

* {{Flatline}}: The final scene of Season 7, where Adam [[spoiler: terminates life support for his wife. He has the most heartbreaking "MyGodWhatHaveIDone" look in his eyes]].

* PositiveDiscrimination: Deconstructed with Van Buren. She is portrayed as very intelligent and often points the detectives in the right direction if they overlook something, and will graciously accept responsibility if she does make a mistake (or she will articulately stand up for her convictions if she believes she is not at fault). However, it's mentioned multiple times during the series that she absolutely ''cannot'' make a mistake or speak ill of authority because since she is a black female lieutenant, and that she will be viewed doubly irresponsible for her errors in judgment.

* DesperatelyCravesAffection: "Just A Girl In The World" involves a FemmeFatale [[spoiler: sleeping with a ton of men - including Det. Lupo - and malingering illnesses to gain their trust. She takes this act UpToEleven when she downright accuses the judge at her murder trial of desiring sexual favors from her. Cutter responds by off-handedly mentioning to her as the trial is about to reconvene that he'll help her, but instead turns her history of cheating on men against her to denounce her credibility. She turns into a total slut on the witness stand, touching herself and telling Cutter that she needs him. At the very end of the episode, she is shown seducing a prison guard: after being convicted of at least 25 years to life]].

** In the episode "World's Fair", one of the suspects (the boyfriend of the victim) goes to her family to assure them he didn't do it. The victim's brother gets confrontational and the boyfriend ends up being shot by the victim's father (who believed he did it). It turns out that [[spoiler:the brother killed her, and knew full well the boyfriend was innocent]].

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: The original series is a notable [[AvertedTrope aversion]] of this trope. The writers made sure that the main characters stick to their own job and operate within their limits. This applies to both the policemen and the attorneys. If something outside their spheres needs to be done, it usually won't be shown on-screen, or more rarely will be shown done by a minor guest character or even a disposable extra. This allowed keeping realism while avoiding LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: The Ann Coulter {{Expy}} in "Talking Points", Judith Barlow, claims this belligerently.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: One of the most famous episodes, "Aftershock", is a look at the personal lives of the four principals the day they witness an execution - the first in New York state history since the moratorium was lifted (something that never actually happened in RealLife). There's no investigation, no trial, no homicide [[spoiler: until the closing moments, when ADA Claire Kincaid is t-boned and killed]].
** There are also the episodes "Mayhem" and "Couples", which focused almost entirely on Briscoe and Logan & Briscoe and Green, respectively, and had them investigating several unrelated cases on the same crazy day.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/law_&_order.jpeg]]

** In-universe; in "Double Down", a complicated set of legal issues surrounding a deal for the testimony of a cop-killer has forced [=McCoy=] to pit Briscoe and Curtis against each other on the stand. Curtis, who has had tension with [=McCoy=] throughout the episode due to these issues, is asked a question from the defence attorney about whether [=McCoy=] should have taken an obvious interpretation of something he was told by the cops earlier in the episode. Curtis's reply is that in his experience, prosecutors aren't always very bright. A cut to [=McCoy=] shows him to clearly be amused at Curtis's veiled method of calling him an idiot.

* AdultFear: The subplot with Briscoe's daughter Cathy at the end of Season 8.[[spoiler: She gets arrested for dealing drugs and testifies against another dealer, who then murders her in cold blood.]]