Briscoe and Logan are investigating the murder of Barbara Spiegelman, a wealthy widow. Her much younger boyfriend Steven Gregg is the prime suspect; the victim had paid off his business loans and left him $2 million in her will. Gregg lies to the police about when he last saw her, and furthermore, Briscoe and Logan discover he was previously jailed for stealing from an older girlfriend. Gregg is arrested but the evidence against him is circumstantial. His lawyer Sally Knight convinces him to take a plea for manslaughter because, with a previous felony, he could face a life sentence if convicted of murder. Gregg accepts the deal and confesses to killing Mrs. Spiegelman.
However, Robinette is concerned that Gregg's account of Mrs. Spiegelman's death does not fit with the autopsy. Robinette questions Knight, who is known for putting pressure on clients to take a deal rather than have to defend them in court. Knight says that Gregg hired her on the advice of Kevin Doyle, the lawyer in charge of Mrs. Spiegelman's estate. Further investigation shows that Doyle is in desperate financial need and he will receive half a million dollars in commission as executor of her will. Forensic evidence links Doyle to the murder scene. He is arrested and the charges against Gregg are withdrawn.
After discovering that Knight is a childhood friend of Doyle, Stone calls her as a witness. He uses his questioning to demonstrate that Doyle, who's spent his entire career passing himself off as a blue-blood, is from exactly the same impoverished working class background as Knight. If Doyle had been honest about his background, the snobbish Mrs. Spiegelman would never have trusted him. Doyle commits suicide before the conclusion of the trial, and Schiff reflects that this was a tragic but predictable outcome for someone like Doyle.
This episode contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: After the incident listed below, The Judge listens to the bail hearings and Robuinette asks for $500,000. Gregg's lawyer says "Why not a million your Honour?!", and the Judge replies "Why not?" After a stunned silence he follows up with "Who says the elderly don't have a sense of humour? $250,000."; and Robinette struggles to conceal this laughter.
- Age-Gap Romance: The victim was in her 60s and Gregg is 38.
- Bath Suicide: How Doyle's body is found.
- Double-Meaning Title: Refers both to Gregg's right to legal representation, and the question of whether Doyle (and to a lesser extent Knight) should have the right to practice as lawyers.
- Driven to Suicide: Kevin Doyle's ultimate fate.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The first half of the episode is about the case against Steven Gregg. The second half is about the investigation into Doyle.
- Likes Older Women: Gregg does, although it seems that's mostly for their money.
- My Beloved Smother: Mrs. Spiegelman controlled her adult daughter's life, including pressuring her to get divorced or risk losing her inheritance.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Discussed - Cragen mentions that he avoids answering the phone when his mother-in-law calls at Christmas.
- Old Master: The judge at Gregg's bail hearing. When Robinette refers to the victim as "elderly", it's pointed out to him that he was still in law school when the judge was Mrs. Spiegelman's age.
- Old People are Nonsexual: The detectives demonstrate this attitude at the idea of Mrs. Spiegelman having a boyfriend.
- Pass Fail: Doyle has repeatedly tried to pass himself off as upper-class and everyone that works with him falls for it hook line and sinker. The undergraduates who studied with him at community college however (before he traded up to Harvard), saw him by chance on a big class night out after he'd excused himself; and know it's a stone-cold lie.
- Saying Too Much: Robinette notes that Doyle gave himself an alibi when speaking to the detectives, even though he wasn't a suspect and should have had no reason to mention it.
