History Characters / LawAndOrder

!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/JeffreyDonovan (Seasons 21-)

--> '''Rey''': It's why I transferred here.
--> '''Lennie''': So, can I transfer there?

* TheMcCoy: She's not the WideEyedIdealist Serena was, but she tends to moderate Cutter's AmoralAttorney streak.

* AmoralAttorney: Even more so than Jack that even the detectives are appalled by his methods. To wit, during one trial about a company that made drugs and did illegal human trials, he cross-examines Van Buren out of the blue, about her cancer and how she uses the drugs to treat that are made by the company on trial. She is '''not''' happy about it at all, to the point she refuses to even speak with him.
--> Stick with your law books, detective. On the page, the law is a much ''purer'' thing.

* {{Determinator}}: Like Jack, he'll do anything to win a case. However unlike Jack it seems he's less interested in justice and just interested in winning.

* {{Jerkass}}: Cutter's extremely abrasive, openly contemptuous of Jack, and goes out of his way to needlessly antagonize his colleagues both at the DA's office and with the NYPD, because he's ''that'' much of a prick. Special mention goes to the episode "Falling" where he tried to force a family to accept a plea deal that would explicitly forbid them from doing a controversial operation on their disabled daughter that would make it easier for them to care for her --- something the judge overseeing the case had flat out forbid Cutter to do. Jack, who had ordered Cutter to remove it from the deal, personally intervenes at the sentence hearing to tell the judge the DA's office is having the stipulation removed from the plea deal.

** He was also right to [[WhatTheHellHero call out Lupo]] for the consequences of taking a short cut.

* SmugSnake: His earlier episodes usually had him disobey Jack's order to prove he knew better than the old man... and it always blew up in face. He got better.

* UltimateJobSecurity: You really have to wonder as to ''why'' he hasn't been fired yet. Talented lawyer he may be that no way excuses his blatant and open contempt of Jack, his boss. Especially since Jack had no trouble firing an ADA who told him ''[[TooDumbToLive to his face]]'' [[TooDumbToLive that he couldn't be trusted with the power of the DA's office]].

A judge with political ambitions, who wanted to base his campaign around targeting drunk drivers. He collaborated with [=McCoy=] to hide evidence in a case involving a drunk driver that killed three people. When [=McCoy=] backed out of the scheme, he vowed revenge and went on to run against Adam Schiff. He was backed by Carl Anderton ('Burned'), who wanted revenge on Schiff for his own reasons. Appeared 3 times in Season 8.

* TheSociopath: Both really, but April is by far the worse one due to her past and present actions.

[[folder:Lorraine and April Troost]]
!!Lorraine and April Troost

* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Out of twenty seasons' worth of depraved defendants, Bruner ''still'' stands out not only over what he did (kill seventeen teenaged girls) but what he proceeded to do after his capture ([[{{Troll}} dangle his knowledge of where he keeps the bodies just because he can]]).

* {{Troll}}: Spends the latter half of his episode refusing to divulge the location of the victims' bodies, for the sheer fun of it. He showed the bodies to his lawyer, [[HonorBeforeReason who refuses to give up the info himself citing attorney-client privilege]].

* TheBluebeard: Arranged the deaths of both his wives after taking out lavish life insurance policies on both of them, and would have inevitably some the same to his probable third if she hadn't turned state's witness.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Absolutely ''nobody'' in the regular cast grieves for him after his maiming [[spoiler:and eventual death]]. [[Spoiler:And the person who did it (the therapist who treated him in prison) ends up getting acquitted.]]

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome (Disappeared after the 2004 season as the actor (Creator/JKSimmons) got a job on ''Series/TheCloser'', but subverted when he appeared again for two episodes in 2010 with no warning.)

->''Ben Stone once told me I'd have to decide if I was [[IronicEcho a black man who was a lawyer or a lawyer who was black.]] All these years, I thought I was the latter. All these years... I was wrong.''

!!!'''Appearances:''' ''Series/LawAndOrder'' | ''Exiled: A Law & Order Movie'' | ''Series/LawAndOrdertrialByJury''

* LoopholeAbuse: Lupo loves attempting this, as he's studying to be an attorney himself and knows enough to find technically legal tactics during investigations. Often subverted however, as [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome defense attorneys jump all over evidence obtained this way]], frequently succeeding at getting it excluded from trial.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Being a universally prideful asshole to basically everyone means very few people take Cutter all that seriously and often damages his cases in certain ways. It's his biggest weakness, and is often reprimanded as a result.

* CharacterDeath: Not apparent immediately, but Logan, Green, and Curtis all make comments about Lennie's death in later years. It's strongly implied that the character's in-series death was right around the same time that Orbach died in real life.

* TallDarkAndHandsome: At 6'3", he's the tallest of the detectives on the mothership, and the third-tallest of all the detectives in the American versions (behind [[Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent Detectives Goren and Nichols.]])

%% ZCE * FairCop

* EnsignNewbie: Very young to have moved from being a uniform cop to a homicide detective. Van Buren in particular feels that she is too inexperienced and only got her gold shield because the brass wanted some good PR after all the sensationalism she garnered as a result of the NoodleIncident (see below).

* CartwrightCurse: His partners sure do get shot a lot.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: He's warm and cordial, but he's also absolutely ruthless to anyone he has to prosecute.

* TranquilFury: Ben can display intense anger without every losing his reserved demeanor or even raising his voice and the effects are chilling. Masterfully portrayed by Michael Moriarty in "Indifference". During the prosecution of a scumbag spousal/child abuser, the look he gives the aforementioned defendant makes it clear that he would beat the crap out of him if he could.

* FairCop: See immediately above.

* RapeAsBackstory: He may have been molested by a Catholic priest (he says only that the priest "put the moves on" him, leaving it unclear whether it was merely an attempt or he actually succeeded), alongside other kids. A friend also offered him money to be molested by a Catholic priest as a young boy.

* ForgottenChildhoodFriend: The case that uncovered his RapeAsBackstory past kicks off with the death of a policeman who was Logan's friend when they were young.

* FairCop

* EnsignNewbie: Very young to have moved from being a uniform cop to a homicide detective. Van Buren in particular feels that she is too inexperienced and only got her gold shield because the brass wanted some good PR.