Briscoe and Green arrive at the scene finding two young women brutally murdered in their apartment. A party across the hall gives them the opportunity to question several people as possible suspects, but none of them are the killer. Following a red herring, they spend time tracking down one of the victim's drug (heroin) connections but to no avail. Going back to square one, they decide the killer had access to the building because they couldn't find anyone who buzzed him or her in before the murders.

During the re-canvassing they discover a tenant saw a workman leaving the building. Adding this question to their canvassing, they come up with another red herring but zone in on the workman's clothing. This leads them to a locksmith business with access to the building and to the locks. Upon future questioning Briscoe and Green decide to look deeper into the locksmith's nephew.

Going to the suspect's apartment, they discover he lives with his mother. After talking their way into his room, they find newspaper clippings of recent crimes, which gravely concerns them. Tracking the nephew down at a nearby pharmacy, a routine pick-up turns into a hostage situation.

The nephew requests a lawyer (as in one will be appointed for you). Assistant District Attorney Southerlyn, who was called to the scene to observe, volunteers to enter the store as the negotiator does not want to risk a civilian lawyer. She tells the suspect she is a lawyer and shows her bar membership card. She specifically avoids showing her D.A. badge. Thinking he is talking to his lawyer instead of the city's lawyer, he confesses. She talks him into freeing the hostage and giving up by implying she will get him a good deal.

The nephew's real lawyer discovers from his client that Southerlyn is his legal representative. The new lawyer attempts to have the confession thrown out because it should be a privileged communication between a lawyer and a client, even if the lawyer is a DA. The Judge finds the confession admissible because the hostage was a third party, which negated the client-lawyer privilege. The nephew's lawyer failed to make a case that Southerlyn's representation was ineffective as she failed to inform him a third party would negate the client-lawyer privilege and hence the confession was still inadmissible. [=McCoy=] negotiates the crimes to murder two, instead of murder one to avoid further complications in the criminal case.

The New York Disciplinary Committee receives a complaint from the nephew and his lawyer about Southerlyn's behavior and says she violated section DR 1-102 of the New York Bar Associations Rules and Ethics. [=McCoy=] offers to represent her, as no private attorney would take the case, at the hearing. In the meantime their boss suspends her pending the results of the hearing. Facing disbarment Southerlyn must face the day and her decision over again. [=McCoy=] argues the ends justify the means and the court should allow district attorneys the same rights to lie as the police got from the courts. The panel rules against Southerlyn and saying the ends can never ever justify the means. Society must have the ethics of lawyers and the court to protect them from anarchy and nothing justifies the breaking the code of ethics. Southerlyn's actions saved the hostage but her obtaining the confession went too far. The panel finds her guilty of violating section D 1-102 but does not disbar her. They recommend to the appeals court she receives a private letter of reprimand. Lewin reinstates her to the court calendar, as the show ends.


!!!This episode contains examples of:
* BigDamnHeroes:
** Serena volunteers to talk face to face with a psychotic murderer holding a hostage in order to resolve it peacefully and succeeds.
** [=McCoy=] represents his colleague pro brono and absolutely destroys the case against her, resulting in her getting a slap on the wrist (more like a tap).
* ExactWords: The investigation into Serena hinges on this. Hobbs requests a lawyer, but he doesn't say ''defense'' lawyer. Serena uses this to her advantage, identifying herself as a lawyer, but not ''what kind'' of lawyer she is. The prosecutor in her case points out she showed Hobbs her Bar Association card, but not her NY State Prosecutors card.
* HalfwayPlotSwitch: Starts out as a murder investigation, then switches to an ethics complaint against Serena.
* KarmaHoudini: Rare, justified, heroic example. The ethics board sees that Serena did the right thing and punishes her with a recommendation for a private letter of reprimand.
* LoopholeAbuse: When it appears the judge will throw out Hobbs' confession on basis of attorney-client privilege, [=McCoy=] points out the hostage he took made her a third party and no privilege applies. It works and Hobbs' is forced to take a plea.
* NeverMyFault: Hobbs, testifying against Serena, repeatedly screams about her violating his rights even when asked about his own heinous actions. His childish petulance helps Serena with the ethics board.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Serena saves the life of an innocent civilian and helps catch a double murderer, but is dragged in front of the ethics committee for using trickery on the suspect. Mercifully subverted when the ethics board recognizes the difficult situation she was in and doesn't disbar her, instead recommending a private letter of reprimand.
* SmugSnake: Solomon, the prosecutor who goes after Serena. He acts like she tricked a nun out of an orphanage, when in fact she saved a life and helped the police peacefully defuse a hostage situation. The look on his face when Serena is given the lightest punishment possible is very satisfying.