Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about the transition from The Practice to Boston Legal follow.
Prior to the show's premiere, it had a working title of "Fleet Street," an allusion to the real street in Boston where the fictitious Crane, Poole & Schmidt had its offices. The working title was later modified to "The Practice: Fleet Street", but this title was dropped in favor of "Boston Legal" before the show premiered.
Most of the final episodes of The Practice were focused on introducing the new characters from Crane, Poole, & Schmidt, in preparation for Boston Legal's launch.
Thus, the story of Boston Legal can be said to begin with the episode of The Practice in which Eugene Young (Steve Harris) and Jimmy Berluti of Young, Frutt & Berluti decided to fire Alan Shore (James Spader) without consulting Ellenor Frutt, beginning a story arc of several episodes. They give Shore a severance package of only a few thousand dollars even though Shore has brought in millions of dollars of revenue to the firm. Tara Wilson (Rhona Mitra) gets fired for her loyalty to Shore. Shore then goes to Crane, Poole & Schmidt to represent him in the matter, thinking he has a claim under Massachusetts law to take over Young, Frutt & Berluti. Denny Crane (William Shatner), senior partner of Crane, Poole & Schmidt, takes an interest in the case and even argues at the trial, cross-examining Eugene Young. The jury awards Shore the millions of dollars of revenue he brought in to Young, Frutt & Berluti but does not order the firm to rehire him, so Crane hires Shore at his firm. After Young is appointed a judge, his first case (in the final episode of The Practice) happens to be with Alan Shore for the defense, making Young wonder if Shore judge-shopped (this opens the door for Harris to guest-star on Boston Legal as a judge).
Even with all this preparation, the official premiere episode for Boston Legal does introduce new characters, such as partner Paul Lewiston (Rene Auberjonois, in a role different from his tenure as a hapless judge on The Practice), and has an interesting cameo with Reverend Al Sharpton as himself.
In the second season premiere, Anthony Heald reprised his role as a California judge, Judge Cooper, on The Practice (it is rare for an actor in David E. Kelley's shows to repeat a guest role from an earlier show).
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about recent Season 2 events follow.
Alan Shore (James Spader) A crooked lawyer with a heart of gold. Blackmail, bribe, disguise, and illicit computer hacking are all tools he uses without hesitation. Wherever he works he treats his coworkers with levity and refuses to take himself seriously. He suffers from night terrors, has a fear of clowns, and in one episode 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. Shore and Crane are best friends. Mr. Shore is also an obscene womanizer.
Denny Crane (William Shatner) Founding and Senior partner of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. He 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. Crane has no problem sleeping with wives of clients and judges. Crane is an ultra-conservative who believes gun control is for "communists" and refuses to defend anyone who is accused of extremely heinous acts, in fact in one episode he shoots a client because of the nature of his crime. Mr. Crane is also a womanizer.
Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen) Founding and Senior partner of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. She first appeared in the middle of the first season. She used to have a romantic relationship with Denny Crane, a past she now views with sardonic detachment, often making jokes about it.
Brad Chase (Mark Valley) Chase is the man that the others turn to when they need something done, relying on his Marine Corps background to intimidate others. He 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. Chase hated Alan Shore initially, but is now slightly more tolerant of him. He was made a partner in Season 2.
Paul Lewiston (Rene Auberjonois) Partner and legal advisor of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. Unlike Crane and Shore, he generally does things strictly "by the book." He has had several antagonistic run-ins with Crane and Shore over their apparent lack of respect for the law. His middle-age daughter Rachel is introduced in Season 2 as a meth addict. Lewinston has her placed in a rehab center and takes custody of her daughter Fiona, his granddaughter.
Denise Bauer (Julie Bowen) An aggressive young attorney introduced in the second season premiere, she's thrown when her husband files for divorce and insists 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.
Lori Colson (Monica Potter) A junior partner and former prosecutor at Crane, Poole & Schmidt. She found herself inexplicably attracted to Alan during the first season. In the second season, she nearly filed a sexual harassment claim against Crane. She has since left the firm, either under pressure from or fired by Shirley.
Tara Wilson (Rhona Mitra) A paralegal at Young, Berluti & Frutt, she graduated from law school in time to go with Alan Shore to Crane, Poole & Schmidt. After a long flirtation on both The Practice and the first half-season of Boston Legal, she and Shore finally began a sexual relationship. The arrival of an old boyfriend led her to break up with Alan and quit the firm.
Sally Heep (Lake Bell) Associate at Crane, Poole & Schmidt. Introduced in The Practice, she 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 Schmidt entered the Boston offices, she fired Heep.
Sara Holt (Ryan Michelle Bathe) Introduced in the second season premiere, a smart lawyer who isn't above using her own beauty to help her client. She has since disappeared from the show.
Garrett Wells (Justin Mentell) Also introduced in the second season premiere, 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. He has since disappeared from the show.
Catherine Piper (Betty White) Shore's former assistant, first introduced in The Practice; a church-going woman who enjoyed being privy to the goings-on at Crane, Poole & Schmidt, she took to the matricidal Bernard Ferrion in an attempt to introduce him to God. Convinced he would kill again, she later murdered him. With Shore's representation she was acquitted of the crime, but was subsequently fired by Schmidt. However, Catherine Piper returned on January 24, 2006 and was hired as a food delivery person at Crane, Poole & Schmidt.
Melissa Hughes (Marisa Coughlan) - Alan's secretary, hired when Catherine was fired by Schmidt, who has various financial problems. She is attracted to Shore's determination and sense of morality, but has had her advance rebuked, an unusual show of restraint by Shore.
Edwin Poole (Larry Miller) The other named Senior Partner at Crane, Poole and Schmidt. He escaped from a psychiatric hospital, much to friend Crane's concern and he successfully participated in one case before deciding to go back. In an episode that aired Tuesday, May 2, 2006, Mr. Poole returns and focuses his efforts on finding someone to sue.
Jerry 'Hands' Espenson (Christian Clemenson) - a brilliant lawyer with Asperger's syndrome who earned his nickname by constantly placing his hands on his thighs. He was so irate over missing out on partner status that he pulled a knife on Shirley Schmidt, only backing down when Alan Shore agreed to be his lawyer. Shore convinced Schmidt to drop any charges against Jerry when his condition became known. He is currently working on his own, having left the firm after the incident.
Bernard Ferrion (Leslie Jordan) A small man who first met Alan Shore when he whacked his mother over the head with a frying pan. She proceeded to die from that blow, but Shore got him off because the police had no evidence on him. Later, he intentionally whacked a neighbour over the head with a frying pan to keep her from contacting the police regarding the incident with his mother. Shore refused to represent him, claiming him "evil", and instead turned him over to Tara Wilson, who preceded to keep him out of prison due to lack of evidence. Shore's secretary Catherine Piper met Bernard shortly after and tried to introduce him to God. Convinced he would kill again, Catherine struck Bernard down with a frying pan, killing him.
Chelina Hall (Kerry Washington) Prior to coming to work for Crane, Poole & Schmidt in Boston, Hall worked on behalf of deathrow 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, she fears this incident may have prejudiced the judge against her and convinces Alan Shore to argue the case in her stead. Hall was originally intended to appear in several episodes near the end of the first season, but when these episodes were retooled to appear near the end of the second season, her burgeoning romance with Shore was apparently cut short. Shore reencounters Hall in the second season episode titled "Race Ipsa," and while it is never explicitly stated, it is implied that she has left the employ of Crane, Poole & Schmidt "to be in movies."
Clark Brown (Henry Gibson) - a 70 year-old judge who still lives with his mother and is a virgin. He likes to humiliate criminals he convicts in addition to normal punishment.
Ivan Tiggs (Tom Selleck) - Shirley Schmidt's ex-husband. Though he marries another woman in Season 2, he still pines for Schmidt.
Donny Crane (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, confessed to Shore that when his 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. Just like Denny, Donny Crane also uses his own name as an exclamation at inappropriate times.
Judge Robert Sanders (Shelly Berman), a serious-minded, crotchety old Judge. He refuses to allow "Jibber Jabber" in his courtroom, and both Shore and Crane have been used his crankiness to their advantage.
Daniel Post (Michael J. Fox) - Denise Bauer's love interest with terminal lung cancer. He is a hugely wealthy businessman that initially goes to Bauer 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 then goes off to Europe, presumably to die. He returns in the season finale, alive, and proposes to Denise.
Donald Diddum (Kurt Fuller) A perverted minister who is also a lawyer. He is the lawyer for Denise Bauer's ex-husband who handles his divorce. He starts being targeted by Garrett and Sara 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 Bauer. Eventually the Reverend requests a whiff of Sara's panties so that he does not disclose this potentially damaging information.
Malcolm Holmes (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 Shore twice in cases involving a black Annie and a gay Santa Claus at the request of his old friend, Denny Crane.
Marlene Stanger (Parker Posey) A stone-cold, ruthless attorney, Crane, Poole and Schmidt's newest employee. Known at her old firm as "The Squid" (The only animal that can kill a shark, according to Mythology), she is not above using underhanded tactics to win cases, and specializes in undermining her associates. She finds herself very unnerved by Alan Shore. It is unclear whether or not she will become a recurring (or main) character next season. She will be made partner at the firm.
On the 9th of February tvshowsondvd.com announced that Fox Home Entertainment were releasing Boston Legal Season 1 on DVD on May 23rd 2006. [1] This will be the first David E. Kelley show that Fox are releasing on DVD in the US (though Ally McBeal has been released on DVD in other countries). The Cover art was announced on 1st April 2006 and shows, from left, Candice Bergen as Shirley Schmidt, James Spader as Alan Shore, and William Shatner as Denny Crane
Hannah Rose, played by Rebecca De Mornay in The Practice, was initially going to be a regular character on the new show as well. She was eventually replaced by Monica Potter as Lori Colson, although some of her traits were retained in the new character (e.g. both were former prosecutors).
Some of the show's first season episodes were moved to the second season after the success shown by the series Grey's Anatomy in Boston Legal's timeslot.
The show has increasingly adopted the devices of breaking the fourth wall and meta reference, but usually in a sly manner that can also be interpreted as the characters only jokingly pretending they're on a television show. Some examples are:
Denny Crane refers to the fact that he won an Emmy, when in fact it was the actor playing Denny, William Shatner, who won the award.
Denny Crane complained that he was tired of his "mad cow" disease being a plot point.
Alan Shore says to Denny Crane, "Ah, there you are. I've hardly seen you this episode."
Alan jokingly refers to the fact the show had switched the nights on which it aired as a reason why he hadn't seen a recurring guest star sooner. In the same episode, a co-worker cautions Alan not to get involved with the same woman, noting "She's only a guest star."
In the episode "Squid Pro Quo," Crane references a new character on the show, expressing that he can't wait to "see her next week."
During the second season finale on May 16, 2006, Denny Crane attempted to persuade Shirley Schmidt to kiss him by stating: "Shirley, this is the sweeps episode." At the end of the episode, Crane and Shore toasted to "next season," with the hopes that it would be on the same night.
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Boston Legal (2004) 
Boston Legal (2004) [TV series]
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Zvezde na sodišču (2007) (Slovenia)
