It turns out that Canterbury's Law shows the other side of the courtroom from Law and Order. Elizabeth Canterbury (Julianna Margulies) is a defense attorney, a damn good defense attorney at that. She runs her own firm called Canterbury and Associates. Her associates are relatively young, including Molly (Trieste Dunn) who is struggling to pass the bar and keep the fact that she hasn't passed yet a secret. There's also Russell (Ben Shenkman). He used to work for the prosecution, but due to conflicts of interest, he ended up working for Canterbury when she was the only one who would hire him. Chester Grant (Keith Robinson) is also a member of Canterbury's team. He is a bright young attorney who was head of his class at Georgetown. His father is a judge and definitely isn't happy with Chester working for Canterbury. Like the rest of the team though, Chester is fiercely loyal. Canterbury's team will do whatever it takes to protect her no matter what.
There are a couple other people worthy of mentioning in the show. Matt Furey (Aidan Quinn) is Canterbury's husband. At one point in time, they had a child together. At the beginning, that's all you know though. As the show progresses, they give you more and more information as to what happened to their son, Sam. The stress of losing a child is taking a toll on their marriage. The big question is can they manage to hold it together or will they split up?
A major factor in the relationship problems is Frank Angstrom (James McCaffrey). He's Canterbury's private eye and ex-lover. Even though she's determined to keep the relationship professional now, Angstrom is determined to win her back, at least for the sex.
Canterbury's life can't be perfect, and when you're the best at what you do, you're going to end up with some enemies. Deputy Attorney General Zach Williams (Terry Kinney) is Canterbury's arch nemesis. Since he can't beat her in court, he's determined to make her life and cases extremely difficult. Of course, she makes his life difficult just by being so damn good at her job. She can even trick the prosecution into putting witnesses on the stand when they don't want to.
I like how they set up the series to be more complex, I just wish they had had the chance to tie up the loose ends. If you're a fan of any law show, I highly recommend you go pick up Canterbury's Law today. It is the best new law show that I've seen in a long time!
