The Practice began in 1997 created by David E Kelley, responsible for some of the most critically acclaimed dramas of the nineties, Ally McBeal, Chicago Hope and Picket Fences. Starring an ensemble cast headed up by Dylan McDermott as struggling defence attorney Bobby Donnell, and joined in season two by Lara Flynn Boyle as District Attorney Helen Gamble, the show mainly concerns itself with a law firm that cannot afford to be fussy about which clients it defends.