Judging Amy - Episode Guide

Ten years after her marriage to New Yorker Michael Cassidy, corporate lawyer Amy Gray is separated, living back in Connecticut at her mother Maxine Gray's with pre-teen daughter Lauren, who misses daddy. Amy starts sitting in as a novice judge in the Hartford County Superior Court family law division. She soon feels out of her depth, professionally, and accepts advice from her mother, officially retired after 28 years as social worker but 'counseling' full time, while resenting being mothered. Also living at home is Amy's sensitive brother, unemployed literature graduate Vincent Gray.

Amy is thrown into the dog-eat-dog world of the short calendar, with some 54 cases, and decisions must be made quickly. She is called to an ER, where a doctor wants to terminate medication being given to a critically ill infant. Lauren is having troubles at school, and Amy has a confrontation with Lauren's new teacher. Adding to Amy's troubles, Maxine decides to return to work.

Ma finally admits the car she inherited from dad has had its time, but allows Peter to talk her out of settling for one that she and Vincent agreed on. Amy dumps her daughter's sleepover guests on ma, who shamelessly passes the kids on to Vincent. He takes this as proof that she never took his writing ambition seriously. Filling in for a sick judge, Amy presides over her first-ever, civilian jury trial, about minor Josh Spellman, who shot his girlfriend, Janette Harper, with his parents' gun, for which they may have to pay damages if held negligent.

In the hardware-store Vincent meets a woman, painter Chris Osborne, who offers him a date and to pay him for publicity copy-writing. Vincent isn't even put off when he meets her teenage daughter, Lori. The presiding judge dumps a dangerous case on Amy: Thomas Bell, a 10 year comatose boy, supposed to work wonders and suffering stigmata in his grandmother's care, who, according to the physician suffers under abusive attention. However the case is decided by an unexpected maneuver beyond Amy's

A death threat, coupled with Maxine's disapproval, puts a crimp in Amy's blossoming relationship with Tracy; Vincent begins to feel like he is Chris's pet project; Maxine rekindles an old friendship; Amy officiates at Donna's wedding to a convict; Maxine helps a second-generation foster teenager keep her infant son out of the system.

Sparks fly between Amy and Stuart; he appeals her decision, then later asks her for a date. Maxine places a gifted, chronic run-away teenager. Donna moves into Vincent's apartment. Amy presides over a Munchausen by Proxy syndrome case.

Amy orders an attorney to leave criminal court case to attend her triple juvenile case. Despite his initial indignation, the judge supports an offer made to her to transfer to the criminal justice, which would be for at least a year, but dose she want cases 'when it's already too late'? Dr. Brent Reynolds is charged for taking the belt to his self-admittedly willful son Seth's backside a few times a week. Vincent counsels Donna Kozlowski about disappointing conjugal visits

Michael's insistence upon joint custody of Lauren after Amy requests an increase in child support payments dooms the divorce mediation process; Maxine wants nothing to do with any celebration of her 60th birthday; Amy must decide whether a college senior should be charged as an adult for a fatal hit-and-run accident that occurred when he was 15; Michael's attempt to win Vincent over to his side in the custody battle ends badly; Amy hears a father's petition which contests the divorce agreement requiring him to pay for his daughter's college education; Maxine deals with combative divorced parents who cannot seem to manage a peaceful exchange of their three small children.

Amy must decide if a young boy accused of shaking his infant sister to death is guilty of murder; Maxine fights to keep a 10-year-old girl away from her abusive stepfather; Vincent struggles with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder; Amy finds herself in a sticky situation when she accepts a date with the father of one of Lauren's classmates, and then learns that he is a child advocacy attorney scheduled to appear in her court; Vincent gets better acquainted with Lisa.

The Gray family is excited now Vincent's first book is suddenly in the stores, but he worries about any bad criticism he might get, especially in the New York Times, as the negative comments would break his career rather then launch it. Amy tries a case where a German-descended father's anti-German wife, who calls him a Nazi, drove him to flee with their children to Germany, and a claim by an accused woman to have been asked to satisfy a judge 'orally' in chambers. Meanwhile Maxine has to put up Peter's rather arrogant prospective adoption child's pregnant mother.

Vincent has writer's block, even Donna's poem seems more inspired, so he postulates for another reporter cadetship. Amy looses control emotionally during a custody trial, while unable to discipline Lauren, and even dreams of kissing her clerk. Maxine finds out the root is missing a man and diagnoses a sleepwalking youngest boy in a family of five as victim of torturous tickling.

Vincent is now a Hartford Examiner reporter, but objects to a sensationalist assignment to cover a case about a house-father killed while committing a crime cross-dressed; Maxine knew him and scolds all modern journalism. Amy can't handle Lauren making friends with her ex's new partner, who allows the girl to pierce her ears. Amy accepted a class in Yale law school but doesn't keep her promises in class and rants about family law being the noblest, most demanding branch and court job. Maxine finds re-offending problem boy Joe Broussard is abused by reputable child psychologist Dr. Amanda Kubiak.

A man with obsessive-compulsive disorder tries to regain custody of his daughter. At work, Maxine finds out a coworker is embezzling money.

Heeding the request of counsel to deliver one of her "rants" at a sentencing hearing, Amy lectures a young drug dealer whose mother has made tremendous sacrifices to provide him with a better life; much to Peter's dismay, Maxine accepts a date from an attractive man she meets at the diner; Amy travels with Bruce to a small town to hear a case centered on the misdiagnosis and over-medication of its teenage boys; as her abductor's case comes to trial, Lisa and Vincent argue when her fears for the possibility of acquittal, and thus her safety, increase; pending the outcome of an investigation, Susie is back at work after a one-week paid suspension and, over Maxine's objections, sets in motion a chain of events which eventually leads to the death of a young mother; Amy and Bruce have divergent reactions when confronted with intolerance during their trip; Maxine unsuccessfully tries to resign, and ends up being blackmailed into accepting the position of DCF supervisor until a replacement for Susie can be found.

At the trial, Liz twists the truth to get 'just' revenge and blames honest lover Vincent for 'not supporting' her - they break up. Amy is ruthless on two otherwise upright students from fine homes who claim the rape-drug Rohypnol they gave a girl was an ill-considered 'experiment'. Maxine has a millionaire courter, Jared Duff, who made a fortune inventing a search engine, and doubts whether to stay on in charge of child welfare.

Maxine gets a new supervisor at DCF.; Donna becomes stressed when Oscar's attorneys petition to have his conviction reversed; Amy and Maxine are at odds over having Maxine's terminally ill client testify in a case Amy is hearing; Vincent counsels Donna against telling Oscar about her attraction to other men, and reassures her that her feelings are normal.

After going on the date from hell with a Yale professor, Amy has one last fling with Michael the day their divorce becomes final; Maxine returns a stowaway boy to his mother; when Donna and Vincent persuade a reluctant Evie to deliver her baby in the hospital instead of at home, she insists they, instead of Gillian and Peter, act as her birthing coaches; Amy assigns a unique condition of probation to a bright and feisty teenager; Maxine fears that she has contracted Alzheimer's disease after suffering cognitive lapses, and is relieved to discover that it is only a concussion sustained when she bumped her head on a piece of furniture; Evie's son is born, surprising the family with his interracial heritage.

Accusations of misconduct are filed against Amy and Bruce. Maxine meets Jarod"s son, who suspects her motives. Donna learns she is pregnant. An unstable man (who went to school with Vincent) reacts violently to Amy's ruling about his sons.

The Gray family copes with the aftermath of a deadly explosion that involved Vincent.

Maxine goes overboard in mothering Vincent after he's released from the hospital and moves back into her house to recuperate; Amy sentences a teenager accused of bullying small children; Donna uncovers incriminating information about Ian; Lauren's soccer coach turns out to be an old friend of Amy's; after the police reach a dead end in a child molestation accusation, Maxine stumbles upon the ammunition needed to reopen the case; Lauren lays a guilt trip on Amy about her being a work-outside-the-home mother; Amy demands a written apology after the investigation about her relationship with Bruce is dropped for insufficient evidence; when Gillian and Amy disagree about babysitters, Peter disagrees with his wife's plans to quit her job; after presiding over the case of a teenager whose infant son died after she left him on the steps of a church, Amy goes ballistic when a father at one of the soccer games becomes verbally abusive; Amy gets Bruce transferred back to her court, and is shocked by his reaction to the move.

Vincent returns to work; Gillian nervously agrees to allow Donna to babysit for Ned so that she and Peter can have a romantic wedding anniversary celebration; Amy takes an instant dislike to Lolly's husband when she accepts an invitation to dinner; after Russell's mother begs him to recall her son's last moments, Vincent pores over the police tapes, struggling to remember; Amy decides the fate of a teenager found guilty of accidentally killing a classmate; Maxine incurs Sean's displeasure when she hands out a condom during the birth control class she volunteers to teach on her own time; Amy is distraught when she realizes that she was greatly mistaken in dismissing a stalking claim as frivolous.

Amy contends with a high profile attorney who attempts to bully her during a paternity case; Maxine struggles over mending fences with a neighbor; Vincent's near-death experience gives him a sense of fearlessness that gets him into trouble with Len; Peter questions his ability to raise a biracial child after he ignores a colleague's racist remarks; Maxine continues her investigation into sexual abuse at a preschool; Amy and Lolly take a self-defense course together.

After losing it, Maxine has to take an anger management class. Amy is working on a case where a teenager had mutilated another player during a hockey game.

Amy finds out that her ex husband is getting remarried, and Maxine and Jared decide to cool it down.

Amy takes a case of a young girl in care of wanderer parents.

Donna experiences Braxton Hicks contractions and Maxine makes a discovery about their dog, Socrates.

Amy is asking other judges to help her with much delayed adoptions. Maxine gets great support for her future home for victims of child abuse.

Maxine has to deal with children's adoptions. Among them, a young boy who refuses the adoption, sure that his mother will come back.

Amy judges a case involving an HIV positive mother who wants to avoid screening her baby and to continue breast feeding her. She tries to decide between two interested men, and also tries very hard to get a new family dog.

Amy hears the case of a teenager protesting against discrimination by his school. Her friend's husband tries to kiss her after giving her a pair of shoes and she has to decide whether to be honest about this.

Amy presides over the case of a boy who shot and killed his sister without apparent remorse. She and Tom plan to tell their children they're dating. Peter and Gillian plan a christening for Ned.

Amy hears the case of a pregnant woman living in a group of people who believe that medical treatment is against the will of God. After a terrible shock, Peter gets a DUI and Gillian tells Maxine and Amy that she thinks he is an alcoholic.

Representing the governor, Stuart Collins offers Amy a chance to apply for an appellate court appointment if she'll rule against two women who both want to be named as the mother on their baby's birth certificate; Maxine's friend Vivian gets to see social work in action when her girls-day-out with Maxine gets derailed by a struggling and overworked farmer who believes that his kids should be at home working on the family dairy farm rather than at school; a mourning Gillian finds solace from an online support group when Peter offers her none; Vincent becomes concerned about his finances when he learns that Carole has quite a nest egg; Amy apologizes to Rob, and they reconcile.

Amy must decide whether to terminate the parental rights of a couple convicted of child abuse; Maxine's disrespect rubs a building inspector the wrong way, endangering the scheduled opening for Sanctuary House and thus the federal funds needed for its operation; Amy grapples with her jealousy over Lauren's attachment to Katie; Donna decides to divorce Oscar; Bruce and his sister Winnie quarrel over where their mother should live.

Amy hears a manslaughter case involving a 15-year-old boy who's into goth and accused of luring a girl into a mutual suicide pact; Maxine investigates allegations that a boy is being neglected by his mother; Gillian meets a man she's been corresponding with via the Internet.

Maxine contemplates ending her relationship with Jared after meeting his son again, while Amy oversees a case involving a mother who wants to deny visitation rights to her daughter's grandparents; Vincent's decision to quit his job to write a novel unsettles Carole.

Jonathan Ashworth joins the Sanctuary House team and manages to ruffle everyone's feathers; Amy tries unsuccessfully to displace some doubts about her relationship with Rob onto Maxine, but is finally forced to confront reality; Bruce quarrels with Winnie over their mother's move; Maxine is displeased at the methods Jonathan uses to engineer the arrest and conviction of the Roseland pedophile; Amy hears the case of a boy with gender identity disorder whose parents are charged with educational neglect for keeping him out of school after he's harassed by his classmates.

Felled by the flu, Amy collapses in court, but not before presiding over a custody hearing for a cow; long-buried feelings erupt between Gillian and Peter when Evie offers to return Ned; Amy's caseload has more of an effect on her temporary replacement than he expected; after Sean grounds her to desk duty for taking wannabee gangbangers on an unauthorized field trip to the local I.C.U. which draws outcries from their parents, Maxine decides not to ask him for a few days off to accompany Jared on a business trip to China; Carole accepts a job offer in San Francisco and asks Vincent to come with her; Sean supports Maxine when Jared's plane is reported missing; the Gray family rejoices when both Ned and Jared are returned to them safely.

Amy gets an offer to be in a TV debate, while Maxine investigates a case of familial child abuse she finds particularly distressing.

Amy judges the case of a wife who repeatedly accuses her husband of mistreating their daughter without proof, which comes to an unexpected and tragic conclusion. Vincent and Carole continue to discuss moving to San Francisco.

Amy judges the case of a teenager accused of arson, who is rumored to be the son of a mafia captain. Maxine tries to support a couple whose young adopted daughter shows signs of significant emotional disturbance from previous abuse.

Maxine disappears suddenly, prompting Vincent and Sean to worry.

Maxine makes a great effort to track down the former dog of a little girl who has had a series of awful experiences. Amy presides of the case of a teenager illegally playing the stock market, and another who is the head of a school gang.

Maxine ruffles feathers at Sanctuary House, and is offered a difficult choice by Jared. Amy presides over a case involving conjoined twins, and Carole makes it hard for Vincent to support her after she hears some bad news.

Amy hears the case of a high school gang leader charged with torturing an undercover police officer and a teenage girl involved in day-trading fraud; Maxine searches for the dog of an abused little girl.

Amy must decide whether to modify a custody agreement and allow a woman to take her daughter to Paris for two years against the wishes of the girl's father; back to work at the DCF, Maxine takes on the case of "Bubble Man", a homeless man who is about to be arrested for blowing bubbles in the park without a permit, and shows Robert some tricks of the trade to save an abused boy; Bruce works with a mother who is about to lose custody of her son for not meeting the conditions of his probation because she is in denial about the emotional toll her son's disability has taken on her; Maxine brokers a peace settlement and gets Amy and Vincent speaking again by suggesting that Amy review Vincent's contract with the studio that has optioned his novel; Carole's condition worsens unexpectedly, and Vincent leaves hurriedly, amid many tears and in possession of the family's good luck totem, the "surfing monkey".

Amy asks Bruce to set her up with his friend, but it doesn't go quite the way she planned; Amy hears cases involving a woman who breastfeeds her 6 year old son and a couple who can't decide whether to send their "mute" daughter to therapy; Maxine goes to bat for an unhappy spelling bee champ; Gillian obsesses about getting Ned into an exclusive preschool.

Donna stumbles as she subs for Bruce as Amy's C.S.O. while he attempts to convince the probation officer of a teenager that Amy assigned to a diversionary program to keep the boy out of prison after a fight with members of his former gang; Maxine's nephew Kyle comes back into the family fold, much to Amy's displeasure; Amy must decide whether to commit a young boy who stole a rifle and slaughtered a yak as part of a coming-of-age ritual to a locked psychiatric facility, or turn him over to the sentencing circle of his Native American tribe; Kyle's medical knowledge helps Maxine solve the mystery of why five boys from an exemplary foster home have severe abrasions on their arms.

Amy feels responsible when three teenagers she sentenced to community service are killed by a drunken driver during their work detail, until Kyle gives her a new perspective on the situation; Maxine assists Shelly Tran in her investigation when the skeleton of a baby is unearthed in the backyard of a home owned by three elderly sisters; Kyle tries to adjust to working at Giggle Burger and living at Maxine's house; Amy must decide whether to allow an adventuresome couple to retain custody of the toddler they include in their extreme sporting activities.

Lauren asks if "cheating" was the reason her parents divorced; Bruce warns Amy that she's being set up after Judge Keeler asks to observe her in court; Maxine enlists Kyle's extreme sports expertise in supporting a teenager with low self-esteem; Amy presides over the sentencing hearing of a teenaged girl who assaulted three gang members with a baseball bat; a police officer asks Amy to officiate at her divorce ceremony; Bruce and Amy iron out some communication issues; Kyle and Amy finally have it out over the incident in the past that caused the rift in their relationship; Amy hears the case of teenager who wants to be emancipated so that he can contest his stepmother's decision to keep his comatose father on life support.

At the request of Vincent's editor, Amy picks up where her brother left off in his investigation of Judge Keeler; Kyle gets off to a rocky start in his new job as a counselor at Teen Harbor; Maxine helps a mother suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder retain custody of her children; Bruce meets an attractive young mother when he tries to set up a play date for Rebecca; Amy's sentencing a teenager guilty of multiple counts of disturbing the peace to listen to thirty hours of Broadway show tunes under Donna's supervision backfires loudly; Judge Keeler retaliates by setting Amy up for impeachment when she refuses his intimidation to drop her investigation.

After her brother Richard arrives in town looking for his son, Maxine initially refuses to put him in touch with Kyle, but later relents; in the process of helping Donna with her estate planning, Peter and Gillian agree to become Ariadne's guardian should something happen to Donna; as Maxine quarrels with Richard about the event that caused them not to speak for twelve years, it becomes apparent that Maxine blames her brother for Edward's early death; Bruce and Andrea hit it off during a play date for their daughters, and later go out on a date; Kyle refuses his father's offer to bail him out of his troubles; Maxine works to help a father regain visitation rights to his teenaged son; Kyle and Amy continue their discussion about the events that caused a rift in their relationship and find that they share responsibility and guilt for the events of that night; a young surrogate mother pregnant with twins who has no interest in keeping the babies comes before Amy in the middle of a custody dispute between her parents, who want custody of both babies, and the father of the babies and his wife, who only want one child; the Keeler investigation and Amy's possible removal from the bench are resolved in Amy's favor.

Amy hears the case of a disturbed teenager who successfully impersonated a police officer at a high school for several months, carrying a loaded gun, and who was only discovered after being arrested for severely beating a student he suspected of being a drug dealer; while Maxine is deciding whether a mother who is being released from prison for killing one of her children should be returned to her family, Kyle helps her uncover some medical information that may give credence to the woman's claim of innocence; Kyle and Brian have a run-in over Kyle's way with Teen Harbor's clients, and Kyle learns an expensive lesson about street kids; as Amy is about to rule in the matter of two teenagers accused of stealing a stop sign and contributing to an accident which seriously injured a man and left him in a coma, she receives word in open court that the man has died, prompting a startling admission from one of the accused; after Lauren walks in on Kyle having sex, Gillian volunteers to help him find an apartment, and he ends up as Donna's new roommate.

Barry invites Amy to a business dinner, where her outspokenness almost gets the better of her and the budding relationship with Barry; with Kyle's help, Maxine searches the streets for a runaway gay teen, and she later agrees to let him stay at her house until she finds him another foster home placement; Amy must decide if a teenager who wrote a play about killing bullies, joked about school shootings, and considers the Holocaust a warning to the ruling classes, presents a threat to society; Maxine's already strained patience with the way Brian is running Teen Harbor snaps when she witnesses a drug deal there, and she orders it closed, incurring Kyle's wrath; as Bruce prepares a recommendation for Amy on whether a woman whose alcoholism caused her to lose custody of her children should be reunited with them, he isn't entirely convinced that she has stopped drinking and decides to do a little surveillance, bringing along Andrea to keep him company.

Maxine reluctantly allows Eric to stay at her house when she's unable to find him the right placement; Amy makes a second date with Barry; Kyle helps a former drug addict who goes to extremes to find an apartment; Amy hears the case of a teen who is suing a tobacco company for causing his emphysema; Gillian's effort to expand her knowledge of black culture doesn't go so well.

Amy presides over a sad custody dispute in which neither parent wants a troubled teenager; Bruce sets down some ground rules with Andrea about their relationship; Amy is frustrated, bewildered, and angry when Barry fails to get in touch with her after their last date; Maxine and Kyle use their respective charms to find the administrator and the funding that will enable them to reopen Teen Harbor; Gillian's attempt to interest her painting teacher in Amy backfires, causing Peter to resort to Neanderthal behavior; Amy battles with Michael over the scope and expense of the upcoming birthday party he's hosting for Lauren.

Amy's suspicion that a little "pretty girl voodoo" is behind the case of a teenager who beat up the abusive ex-boyfriend of a girl on whom he had a crush is confirmed when prosecutor Jonathan Ashworth does a little digging and helps Amy serve up justice to all parties; when a confused and frightened teenager barricades himself with his siblings in their house and begins shooting at the police, Maxine risks her life to persuade him to put down his rifle and come with her to visit his hospitalized mother; a pregnant woman flees the jurisdiction to avoid losing custody of her baby to D.C.F. after Amy determines that she has done nothing to change the conditions under which she lost custody of her son two years earlier; Lauren's assignment for her life skills class, to prepare dinner for the family by herself, results in a creative dish inspired by a well-known trio not usually associated with the culinary arts.

When a teenager whom neither parent wanted and Amy placed in a locked facility escapes and comes into D.C.F. with bruises she says were caused by abuse at the facility, Maxine's decision to have her returned to the facility leads to tragedy; Amy attends the tenth reunion of her Harvard Law School class and is disheartened by how petty, mean-spirited, and sleazy her former law school best friends have become, until Barry shows up unexpectedly as her white knight and saves the day; Michael makes it obvious that he is still attracted to Amy, and expresses regret over their divorce and his marriage to Leisha; Maxine scoffs when Sean has all the files computerized, but changes her tune when he swiftly downloads information which helps them identify and locate a suicidal teenager.

The Gray house is completely ransacked by vandals who appear to have targeted the house after receiving an adverse judgment in Amy's courtroom, and it takes all of Amy's persuasiveness to convince herself and her daughter that they are safe; after Joe McKenzie takes over at Teen Harbor, Kyle disagrees with his strict approach but they settle their differences after Joe sees how Kyle uses his training to treat an epileptic teenager; Maxine enlists Sean's help in her own investigation into Pamela Taylor's death at Buckley Hills; Amy hears the case of parents accused of abuse for transferring their son to a new school every year to get him more easily noticed by the scouts who can recommend him for a college basketball scholarship; Maxine finally finds the perfect foster father for Eric right under her very nose, although it takes a little convincing for both the adult and the teenager to see the wisdom of her choice; against his better judgment, Bruce spends the night at Andrea's house, and has an unfortunately ill-timed encounter with Gracie the next morning.

Maxine is saddened when Jared fails to call her upon his return from China, so Sean arranges a casino night fund raiser to cheer her up; a born-again teenager charges her mother with parental neglect for working as a stripper, and Amy must decide whether to place the girl in foster care; Donna confronts Kyle after she finds a syringe and morphine in his room drawers and is relieved to hear that he keeps it as a reminder that he is capable of making the choice to stay clean every day; after his daughter tells him about her ill-timed encounter with Bruce, David Solomon files a complaint against Andrea, who immediately ends her relationship with Bruce for fear of losing custody; responding to a message from Bruce attempting to explain the situation, Solomon shows up at the courthouse and threatens, taunts and insults Bruce, who is arrested and jailed after he knocks Solomon to the ground with a punch.

Maxine works more tirelessly than ever on the Pamela Taylor investigation as she assists an attorney in finding other abused teens who are willing to join in the Taylors' class action suit against Buckley Hills; when a social worker in a child abuse case appears in her courtroom with an attitude, and without any of the periodic reports she was ordered to file with the court, Amy cites her for contempt and has her arrested when she discovers that the social worker is unaware of the child's present whereabouts; later that evening at the dinner table, Maxine takes vociferous objection to Amy's ruling and accuses her of displacing her fears and frustration about Maxine's health onto a good social worker who is overworked and overwhelmed; realizing that her mother is right, Amy has the social worker released from jail; when Donna discovers how much Kyle regrets not completing his medical training, she prods him into resuming his studies; Amy presides at the sentencing hearing for two young men convicted of smuggling diamonds from Israel in an attempt to help Jewish refugees; Bruce is suspended after his arrest, and forces Amy to confront the breach of trust that exists between them as a result of his violent behavior; Amy becomes increasingly concerned that Maxine is driving herself too hard and damaging her health, but no one takes her seriously until Maxine is admitted to the hospital after collapsing at work during a particularly stressful day.

Amy turns into a henpecking daughter upon Maxine's return from the hospital, forcing her mother to suffer through a healthier diet and a walking group for seniors; after Maxine questions the wisdom of living with Amy, they agree it would be best for Amy to move out; Amy's worried that Bruce is planning to enter a guilty plea on his assault charge; Kyle is forced to tell a runaway that she's dying; Amy hears the case of a high school student who hides her baby in a storage room during class.

Amy, Maxine and Lauren have trouble adjusting to their new living arrangements; Vincent returns for a visit to smooth over the waters between his mother and sister and persuade them to live together again; after Lauren tearfully calls Michael about the move, he suggests to Amy that Lauren come to live with him; Amy presides over a custody dispute involving a father who refuses to take a paternity test; Donna dates one of Amy's law school classmates; Amy ends her relationship with Barry.

Although Amy tries to make the best of it, she and Lauren are still miserable in their small apartment; unable to avoid running into Jared and his date at the diner while looking and feeling her worst, Maxine gives him the cold shoulder, but Jared remains undeterred in his affection for her and finally gets her to accept an engagement ring; Michael sues for full legal custody of Lauren; just as Amy is prepared to ask her mother if she can move back in, she discovers that Maxine has puts her house up for sale; Bruce pleads no contest on his assault charge and receives a suspended sentence; Amy hears a case of a woman who locked her children in the trunk of her car because she had no one to care for them while she was at work; Maxine ends her medical leave after her dentist asks her to investigate the possible abuse of a teenaged patient; Bruce is fired and the dreaded Ian Jankowski is promoted to C.S.O. and assigned to Amy's courtroom.

Amy and Michael agree to work out Lauren's custody with a mediator; Maxine and Kimberly clash over a child lost in the system; Jared returns from China to get an answer from Maxine; Lauren fears that their apartment is haunted and Amy begins to agree with her; appearing before Amy in court as the caseworker for a teen-aged mother, Maxine gives an impassioned plea which provides Amy with food for thought about not only the girl, but Amy's relationships with Maxine and Lauren; Bruce runs into Amy and spurns her offer of friendship, but later relents most emphatically.

Amy's discovers that the man the police have in custody may not be her stalker after all; Maxine refuses to give up on a client who may be the victim of police brutality; after Bruce denies having romantic feelings for Amy and they agree that confusion and alcohol led to their embrace, they decide to be friends who don't kiss; Kyle applies for a residency and is confronted by his sponsor for not working his program; a persistent attorney paves the way for Bruce to regain his court position; Amy must decide if a retarded teenager is competent to make her own reproductive choices.

As Amy decides the fate of a ten year old boy who was kidnapped by his adoptive parents when they lost custody to his birth mother, she finds an answer to some of her own family's pressing concerns; Bruce is back at work as Amy's C.S.O. and is completing his community service at a soup kitchen; Amy gets the silent treatment from Lauren when she won't let her become a cheerleader, but both sides are forced to relent when Gillian unwittingly spills the beans about her own and Amy's cheer leading pasts; Maxine's refusal to sell her house to buyers she doesn't like leaves Peter feeling angry and unappreciated, so she hatches a plan that heals both him and a badly abused client; at the behest of his sponsor, Kyle applies to every residency program in the area, and Amy agrees to write him a letter of recommendation; Maxine finally finds the perfect buyer for her house.

Amy presides over the custody hearing of a boy whose mother died in the collapse of the World Trade Center; an old friend offers Kyle a job with a pharmaceutical company, and Maxine counter offers with the job of heading the Center; Amy re-landscapes her new home and accidentally throws out Ethel, the antique heirloom rosebush Maxine's grandmother brought over from Ireland in 1889; after initially spurning her offer, Bruce agrees to speak at Zola's press conference for convicted felons; and Maxine helps Sean over some rough spots as Eric's foster father.

Amy must decide whether a teenager is responsible for the death of an infant she was babysitting; Maxine investigates an abuse case at the home of a disabled veteran and his adopted granddaughter; Kyle is torn between keeping his lucrative job as a pharmaceutical rep or accepting a residency at a low-ranked hospital; Amy has an alarm system installed in the house as her stalker escalates his harassment; Maxine and Peter are at odds after Maxine attributes Peter's promotion within the ranks of a Revolutionary War reenactment group to the publicity surrounding her engagement to Jared.

Amy must decide if a student raped his teacher or was seduced by her; Kyle is unhappy about his non-medical duties at St. Michael's; Maxine tries to locate the mother of an abandoned newborn; after Jason menaces Amy while she's driving Lauren and Eric home, Bruce suggests getting a restraining order; fearing the worst about her health, Gillian gets the diagnosis she's dreamed of for years.

Amy hears the case of a young boy charged with obstruction of justice for not revealing the name of the man who took pornographic pictures of him; Maxine contends with a woman who allows her abusive husband to violate a restraining order; Peter and Charles negotiate a prenuptial agreement for their parents; Jason Lobdel eludes Amy's police protection as he continues to stalk her; everyone walks on eggshells as Gillian suffers through ugly hormonal mood swings; Jared gives Maxine the diner; Amy's plan to censure an attorney backfires.

Amy's ruling in the case of a teenager who called in a bomb scare to avoid a test is complicated by the arrival of an I.N.S. agent who's ready to deport the boy to Afghanistan, and almost certain death, if he's found guilty; Eric saves Lauren from being kidnapped by Jason; Gillian's raging hormones leave Peter exhausted as she goes into overdrive about the plans for Maxine's wedding; Kimberly blackmails Sean into getting her job back in exchange for helping Maxine find an endangered teenager who's aged out of the system; Kyle defies hospital protocol to give a dying woman her last wish; Eric ends Jason's stalking with tragic finality.

Maxine and Jared move up their wedding date, to the consternation of their children; Peter's plans for a classy bachelor party go awry, but the men manage to have a good time at a less highbrow establishment as they convince a greatly under-the-influence Bruce to call Zola and ask her for a date; Maxine's hen party is much more sedate, but Maxine manages to work out an escape plan nonetheless; Amy presides over a hearing to determine if four teenage boys accused of drugging and raping a teenage girl should be tried as adults; after Charles announces that he's quit his job, Jared is forced to return to China and reschedule the wedding, and Amy lets Charles know that it's not in his best interest to interfere with Maxine's happiness; Maxine's efforts to keep Eric's case in juvenile court are successful.

Amy must decide if a little girl in the middle of a bitter custody dispute is being molested by her father; doing research for a paper, Donna shadows Maxine during a day in which she deals with the neglected children of a severely depressed mother who refuses treatment; Kyle receives an unwelcome visit from his mother and sister; after employing a private investigator to follow Amy for over a year, Michael sues for full custody of Lauren; the decorator that Amy hires to redo the kitchen disparages Maxine's taste.

Maxine drives carpool for Amy. Kyle and Dr. Redikker track down an injured man released from the emergency room in grave danger. Sean finds himself drawn to a foster mother.

After Amy accidently sets on fire the homework that Lauren has spent hours painstakingly hand-calligraphing, she agrees to make it up to her by spending the weekend role-playing at an 18th century inn and inviting Maxine to join them. The going is rougher than she anticipated when they are assigned the roles of kitchen servants. Over a late night fireside heart-to-heart chat, Maxine and Amy share their dislike of change and inability to reconcile conflicting emotions about their place in the world. Bruce pursues Zola after meeting, and being completely unimpressed by, her boyfriend. Kyle treats a 14 year old girl who delivered a baby in a high school bathroom, and cannot get through to the girl's mother, who is unwilling to accept her responsibilites as a parent. Gillian gets an unexpected job offer after spending a long day waiting to interview a new pediatrician. Amy must revoke a custody order after a father reverts to his former abusive ways.

Amy and Michael continue to hash things out in court about their daughter, Lauren. Kyle gains a new opportunity as well as a new perspective at work. Maxine is presented with a challenge from Eric.

Maxine and Sean battle a sleazy attorney with a penchant for blackmail when they attempt to remove a child from her negligent parents; Amy presides over the case of a deadbeat dad who is willing to go to extreme measures to avoid paying child support when he learns that his son's paternity may be at issue; Maxine is "filled with existential dread" at the prospect of the wedding ceremony Gillian is planning for her; Kyle experiences a sleepless night discovering why the parents of a handicapped man who appears to be healthy insist that he be hospitalized overnight.

Maxine's reunion with Sally Goodwin is bittersweet when Maxine discovers that Sally was sent to investigate complaints filed against her. A father testifies on behalf of his teenage daughter who appears before Amy for conspiring in his attempted murder.

Stuart Collins returns from Sri Lanka reincarnated as a criminal defense attorney eager to take on Eric's case and renew his romance with Amy; Peter and Gillian hear unsettling news about the potential health of their unborn child; Maxine and Sean work together to create the best possible placement for a young Sudanese refugee; a father petitions Amy for legal custody of his 14 year old daughter after her mother allows her to drop out of school and pursue a full-time career as a pop star with an over-sexualized and age-inappropriate image.

Eric's trial begins and is presided over by a slightly eccentric and seemingly unsympathetic judge. Meanwhile, a party is planned for to celebrate his 17th birthday.

Maxine unwittingly provides Amy with the information she needs to decide whether promoters are responsible for the death of a teenager who died from an ecstasy overdose during one of their raves; Maxine and Sean join forces to persuade a couple to take back their former foster child after she's released from work camp; Amy and Maxine disagree about Amy's being overprotective of Lauren; Sean lets Maxine know he's angry about her judgemental attitude toward Eric; after conferring with Martin, Kyle decides to pursue a romance with Heather; Kyle goes off the wagon when he and Heather throw a party to celebrate their successful evaluations; after Lily sees them kissing at the party, she decides not to reveal that a random drug test is being conducted the next day, and Heather is fired; Bruce distances himself from Amy in an effort to convince Zola that there's nothing going on between them.

Maxine tempers her frustrations over her daughter-in-law's outlandish plans for the Gray-Duff nuptuals after Peter tells his mother about Gillian's refusal to face their new baby's condition; Stu's plans for a romantic dinner to celebrate the rekindling of his relationship with Amy are derailed by an obnoxious couple at the next table; Kyle discovers why Lily has been treating him so poorly; after Amy hears the case of a pro-cannabis couple threatened with losing custody of their son after he brings a joint to school, she has a talk with Lauren about drugs; Maxine investigates when a man asserts that his ex-wife has been cheating on the drug tests required as a condition of her retaining custody of their daughter; Amy has conflicting emotions after she reads the Judge Gray tribute page on Donna's blog.

Stu has convinced Amy to go on a camping trip with him, while Maxine is making plans to bring wedding forward to this weekend at her house. Maxine is devastated when Charles appears at work to tell her Jared has had a heart attack and died. Maxine does not want anyone to comfort her and lashes out at everyone around her. Charles is having trouble getting Jared body returned from China and Peter and Charles fight over how to deal with this. A slightly more composed Maxine takes everyone to the dinner in which she and Jared first met for a highly emotive memorial service.

Maxine's first day back on the job finds her removing a boy from the custody of his mother, who was one of Maxine's clients for a short time eight years earlier; although Amy is worried about Maxine's bottling up her grief, she becomes unsettled when Kyle tells her that Maxine has been talking to Charles instead of her own children; Kyle does an end-run around Lily to get an indigent patient the reconstructive surgery she desperately needs after an accident; Amy hears the custody case of a teenager whose divorced parents disagree about sending her to a school for overweight children.

On "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", Lauren learns how lucky she is when she spends the afternoon with Maxine, and Rebecca becomes seriously injured after she falls during a seizure; Kyle continues to drink; Stu reassures Amy that she's a permanent part of his life after she fails to make a fabulous first impression during lunch with his opinionated mother; Bruce struggles to get a boy discharged from probation; after begging Lily to rehire Heather, Kyle is shocked when she refuses to return; Heather and Zola let the men in their lives know that they've got romance on their minds.

Amy must decide if it's in a teenager's best interest to get married; Bruce investigates when he suspects that a teenager's probation violation isn't as innocent as his parole officer claims; Amy struggles with telling Lauren that she's dating Stu; after worrying about Gillian's insistence that the baby's fine, and a girl, Peter decides to let her hold on to her beliefs when he discovers that they're having a boy; Lily considers accepting a job offer in New York; Michael confesses to Amy that he was to blame for their divorce.

A stressed out public defender goes ballistic in Amy's courtroom; Maxine tries to figure out why a woman who lost her son wants to give up her foster child; Kyle tells Lily how he feels, but it doesn't go as he hoped; Amy is confused about whether or not Stu actually proposed marriage; Gillian goes into labor with unexpected and seemingly tragic results.

When Amy is transferred to criminal court, Bruce stays behind in juvenile court, and she inherits Spencer, an insolent clerk; Lauren has an extremely unhappy first day at junior high, but things brighten up on day two when, much to her mother's dismay, she finds a boyfriend who is a year older; after accepting Stuart's proposal, Amy begins to have nightmares about the wedding; recently unemployed as a result of budget cuts, Donna helps Peter care for his sons while Gillian languishes in a coma; Ellen, D.C.F.'s newest employee, uses her experience as a former foster child to help Maxine deal with a teenager who's run away from her foster home; fed up with his impudence and disloyalty, Amy fires Spencer and hires Donna, who's recently graduated from law school; Amy's predecessor in the criminal division threatens her with retribution after she considers overturning his decision to suppress evidence in a capital murder case; Gillian finally emerges from her coma.

After she's released from the hospital with a clean bill of health, Gillian reveals that she had a near-death experience during Walt's delivery, but can't seem to find anyone who believes her; when Amy claims that she has no time to organize the wedding, Stu volunteers to make all the arrangements; tragedy occurs when Maxine's pleas to the police to publicize the disappearance of a foster child fall on deaf ears; it's apparent that there's no love lost between Stu and David when they end up at the same cocktail party; Kyle and Lily have an intense encounter in a hospital elevator; Amy's frustration with the difference between the criminal and juvenile court systems increases as the Hawkins trial concludes; Kyle is unsuccessful in his attempt to get Lily to change her mind about moving to New York.

Maxine and Amy clash with each other after Amy allows a 7-year-old girl to testify in court about her little brother's death; Gillian has a hard time bonding with her newborn baby.

Amy presides over the case of a prominent athletic star accused of rape. Maxine, feeling the pressure to find a new place to live, considers selling the diner. Kyle tries to locate a kidney for a young patient who needs a transplant. Stu and Amy still can't come to terms on where to go for their honeymoon, with their wedding only a month away.

Maxine has a hard time being happy that Amy is getting married; Amy is concerned when a man accused of attempting to murder a Catholic priest wants to represent himself in court; Peter becomes concerned after Gillian writes her own obituary.

During Amy's first capital murder case, ASA David McClaren makes inappropriate comments during his closing statements which forces her to pause the trial; meanwhile, Kyle discovers that his AA sponsor is his new boss.

Two days before her wedding, Amy has to precede over a felony murder case involving a 14-year-old boy who is charged in the shooting death of the son of a police officer; on her big day, she starts to have second thoughts about getting married.

After returning home from her honeymoon, Amy sees a counselor and decides to go back to juvenile court; Kyle faces a dilemma when he is asked to fire a nurse; meanwhile, Maxine discovers that a teenage Russian orphan is the victim of sexual abuse in her adoptive home.

Amy precides over a custody case involving two teenage parents, one of whom is Amish; Maxine discovers that foster girls have been placed into a psychiatric facility due to budget cuts.

Amy presides over the custody case in which a mother thinks that her son is being affected by the behavior of his shock jock father; Maxine decides to become a part-time therapist.

When a young teenager is hospitalized with problems caused by anorexia, Judge Amy must determine if the author of a pro-anorexia web site is to blame. Maxine try's to get the mother of an autistic child to give up a dangerous form of faith healing and return to more conventional therapies.

While filling in for a judge in criminal court, Amy finds herself not only working with David McClaren, but a defense attorney who was the best man at her first wedding; Maxine goes out salsa dancing with Ignacio.

A teenage boy hires a man to impersonate his father in order to keep Amy from sending him to live with his mother full-time; Lauren and Peter begin bonding with each other after he moves back into the Gray house; while investigating a child abuse case, Maxine discovers that a grandmother might be partially to blame for her family's cycle of abuse.

Amy precedes over the case where she has to decide whether an 11-year-old boy will be safe living with his father, who is in the Witness Protection Program. Maxine suspects that a group of teens have made a suicide pact after the death of a popular classmate.

While hearing the case of a teenage girl charged with destroying the bicycle of her brother's girlfriend, Amy is shocked when it's revealed that the girl is in an incestuous relationship with her brother; Maxine spies on one of her foster parents who is dressed up like a pimp while attending a sex convention at a hotel; Bruce's ex, Mia stays at his place.

Amy has to decide whether or not a 9-year-old boy who is the product of his mother's brutal rape should be placed in the custody of his paternal grandmother; Maxine encourages a young artist to channel his anger more positively and meets Ignacio's ex-wife and kids; Kyle has a hard time being supportive of Heather's pregnancy.

Amy presides over the case of a mother seeking custody of her children after completing a welfare-to-work program; Kyle breaks the rules to allow an incarcerated woman see her baby.

Maxine is concerned that a foster mother of hers might be suffering from Alzheimer's disease; Amy hears the case of a teenage girl involved in a prostitution ring at her group home.

After hearing new evidence that Danny Hawkins might be innocent, Amy has to decide whether or not to retry his case; Maxine discovers that a foster mother is using her children in nude photography to advance her photography business; Kyle is reassigned to work in the coma ward.

Amy fusses over Lauren's overnight school field trip to Philadelphia with Victor; Bruce is in for a shock when an old friend comes for a visit; Amy confronts David after Lolly Wetzel repeats Greenwich rumors that connect him with his wife's murder, and he finally tells her the horrifying details of Kelly's death; when Ignacio's pictures get mixed up with another family's at the photo lab, Maxine sets off to investigate if the pictures of a woman with a black eye indicate spousal abuse, and ends up learning more than she wants to about the woman's interests; Amy presides over the pre-trial hearing for a troubled teenager accused of killing her babysitter; against Todd's advice, Kyle takes time off to see if Heather is with her father in Boston, and is stunned when Mr. Labonte tells him that Heather has a troubled past with a history of telling lies, including that he had cancer; when Amy goes to David's office to accompany him on a visit to his therapist, she learns that he has left town with no indication of when, or if, he will return.

Amy presides over the case of a young girl charged with shoplifting whose attorney is quite well-known; after the death of his father, Kyle begins to rethink his decision to become a doctor; a new "zero tolerance" policy forces Maxine to remove two brothers from the custody of their mother over a spanking.

Amy hears the case of a boy who runs away from home hoping to join the circus as a gymnast; Maxine discovers that a foster girl lied about being sexually assaulted by a homeless man so she wouldn't get in trouble; Lauren's boyfriend, Victor winds up in the hospital after getting hit by a car.

Unwilling to let a poor client go to extremes to get prompt medical attention for her daughter, Maxine finds a way to get D.C.F. to cover the surgery the girl needs; David declares his love for Amy; Maxine gets shocking news about Ignacio and breaks off their relationship; Amy tragically miscalculates a teenager's propensity for violence; increasingly jealous over Peter's involvement with Shelby, Gillian confronts him about the future of their marriage, and doesn't like the response she gets; with the help of Buck and a little gunfire, Kyle finally finds a career path he can get excited about; the Grays receive a very unexpected, and very welcome, visitor.

Amy is convinced the lenient sentence she handed down in the Casey Ives case, not the collapse of the ceiling in her courtroom, is to blame for her reassignment from Criminal Court to Accountability Court.

Vincent's struggles with his latest novel leads him into blowing off his agent, who responds by dropping Vincent and demanding the return of the advance that Vincent's already spent; Maxine receives another award, and uses her acceptance speech to talk about the young boy lost in the system that she and Sean can't seem to locate; Amy's dealings with two troubled teenage girls and their mothers in Accountability court inspires her to change her focus when she returns to Juvenile Court; Maxine tries to avoid removing the children of a overburdened single mother working to overcome anger and abuse issues; David finally feels that he's put his wife's death behind him and can now pursue a relationship with Amy; Ignacio lets Maxine know that he's ready to do whatever it takes to have a future with her; Amy fires Donna to propel her into practicing law; Kyle decides to accompany Heather to Minnesota and take care of their son while she's in rehab.

Asked to help out Vincent with a loan to pay back his canceled contract advance, Peter discloses the family firm is about bankrupt and bitterly regrets having been expected to run it alone. Despite the court's huge backlog, Amy refuses to accept a bargain between lawyers in a juvenile homicide case and finds out a tragic family secret. Lover David tries hard to get sailing phobia-afflicted Amy to enjoy his new yacht. Maxine dates Ignacio, who realizes it's time to divorce Francesca; Donna, whom Amy dropped as clerk, takes a position as a court-appointed minor counsel for the Hartford Youth Advocates, right across the hall from Amy's chambers.

Pre-teen Brent Chase is charged with sexually abusing a classmate, but the trial points out both were victims of excessive class peer pressure. The colored bracelets code further triggers Amy's overprotective meddling, despite warnings from Vincent, who grudgingly accepted a menial law firm data job and spills Peter's business failure to his in-living ex Gilian, who proves surprisingly supportive. Sean has to suspend Maxine for contacting a leveled adolescent's unwitting father out of the blue, also causing is mother to be arrested.

Supervisor Sean must suspend Maxine for slapping, in front of a cop, a wicked teen charge for nearly-fatally neglecting her naive senior foster mother's basic needs. Penniless Vincent jumps at the chance to earn $100 as 'driver' to escort to has father's house maternally-abused swell teen jock Robbie, with whom he bonds while working out why the knave, who shows a critical interest in author "Vinnie's" own problems, dreads returning home. Novel juvenile advocate Donna fails to appreciate Amy's coaching of her first case and negotiating with DA Morris Riordan, although it perfectly serves the needs of preteen client Carl Sipple not to be tried as an adult but get juvenile help rather then a jail sentence. David bitterly finds Amy ditched their date to have drinks with her clerk. Summoned to Ned's principal's office, Peter and his ex are pleasantly surprised to hear their son mischief stems for an under-challenged high IQ.

Class clown Avi Gould is charged for a laxative prank which accidentally landed a teacher in hospital. Amy stressed over a breast lump examination, but despite excessive nightmares is diagnosed in the clear. Peter Gray and ex Gillian bicker over the suitable education for adoptive son Ned given his high IQ, which wrecked Vincent's one equally bright future. The trace of missing charge Anthony leads Maxine to bug Sean and two former colleagues, their predecessors, including not-amused politician Larry Feiner.

Maxine's stressing about lost charge Anthony caused her to be hospitalized for a cardiac crisis, but can't stand the family bickering on at her bedside despite Vince's best efforts and soon discharges herself against medical advice. Her kin facing fats and looking for Maxine's things, Peter and Gillian have sex again so he moves back home. Amy learns about her mother, whose ghost Maxine believes to talk too. Clerk and unofficial translator Rob Holbrook proves his value as Amy's new permanent clerk in the case of juvenile robber Marissa Levy, from a wealthy family which expected to settle.

Vincent takes another job offered by Sean, assisting street worker Louann 'Crystal' Turner, and volunteers as tutor for her academically gifted homeless charge Leon, a cocky ingrate. Fatherless Travis Stewart's devoted but MS-afflicted mother Tina's custody is challenged in favor of a distant aunt. David quit his job and decides to sail to the Antilles, Amy demands an invitation but can't seriously contemplate a long leave. Maxine rejects any convalescence help from Peter and determined Jillian, except a single yoga lesson for show.

Vincent extends his 'interim' jobs to helping street workers again, now with a prostitute, but her pimp gets a goon to beat him up. Maxine is so shocked by foster daughter Graciela Reyes's negligence extending to literally standing by as her senior foster nearly wastes away to death, that she slaps her in front of a cop and has to be suspended by Sean indefinitely, which contributes to working up a cardiac crisis. Imp Graciela is most uncooperative and rude on trial for failing to respect her parole terms, yet Amy rules against the state for canceling a program. Sean tracks down Anthony, happily adopted.

In Amy's juvenile court schoolboy Charley Dane is on trial for stabbing his teacher, who was actually his only true friend who got fired for seeing Charlie after school hours, as a well-meaning substitute for his superficial parents who only wanted a perfect kid to show off... Ma Maxine returns to work, and immediately discovers the baby teenager Zachary Pettit cares for so well is not his kid brother but his own son, abandoned at birth by the teenager mother... Vincent gets emotional and physical bruises when he cares personally for a bright colored drug addict on the street...

Vincent extends his 'interim' jobs to helping street worker Louan 'Crystal' Turner again, now with a prostitute, but her pimp gets a goon to beat him up. Maxine is so shocked by foster daughter Graciela Reyes's negligence extending to literally standing by as her senior foster nearly wastes away to death, that she slaps her in front of a cop and has to be suspended by Sean indefinitely, which contributes to working up a cardiac crisis. Imp Graciela is most uncooperative and rude on trial for failing to respect her parole terms, yet Amy rules against the state for.

Amy has a case concerning a girl with epilepsy with the parents disagreeing about treatment. Vincent and Crystal help a Fanny, a street kid. Maxine involves herself in an assault case with families of different social classes.

Before Vincent and Crystals eyes, a homeless teen is murdered by a pimp, which shocks and shakes their confidence, so he must question her relapse into alcohol abuse. When Maxine checks on neighbors suspecting child abuse In a wealthy Romanian expat home, Sean's team and the police dig into a whole system of house boy slavery, while she focuses on reuniting separated brothers Radu and Sorin Parasca. While Davis sacrifices his other dreams to treat pregnant Amy to her ideal house, she mistrusts Carl Hodgson's plea that her son Carl shot her terminally ill father out of compassion, but her brother Daniel Beck demands severity.

Amy finds it rather difficult to follow her mom's advice and embrace her 40th birthday as a milestone. Meanwhile, Donna is in Amy's court representing a 13-year-old girl who accidentally kills her friend named Marsha and another man in a car while they are out on a joyride but shows no remorse for her death; Maxine tries to determine whether two brothers are better off without the presence of their father, an ex-con, in their lives; and Amy receives bad news on her 40th birthday, she has a miscarriage.

Several weeks have passed since Amy's miscarriage, but things are not quite back to normal for her. She refuses to discuss the house with David and brushes off Bruce's admonition that she's becoming too close to Graciela. Maxine meets up with a high school friend at a wedding and discovers that her recent divorce has left her depressed. Maxine helps her reconnect with the world by getting her involved at the hospital - holding HIV positive babies to stimulate their growth. Crystal invites Vincent to come to her AA meeting marking 30 days of being sober and they begin a new phase in their relationship. When Graciela is arrested for being in the car during a drive-by shooting, Amy goes all-out to keep her from being tried as an adult. Bruce asks her not to get too invested because he doesn't want to see her "lose...again," which unfortunately, she does. David returns Amy's half of the deposit on their dream house and tells her that he thinks they should take a break.

While attending a bench and bar dinner, Amy gets into a heated argument with the State Attorney and accuses his office of being politically motivated in regard to the juvenile justice system. As a result, Amy's inundated with requests to move cases out of her court, which causes a litigation nightmare that puts Donna's 17-year-old client at risk of being considered AWOL from the Coast Guard. Meanwhile, Maxine and Sean come up with a creative solution to the housing problem of a recently sober mother who is seeking to regain custody of her children.

In Amy's courtroom, she adjudicates a case involving two Arab-American Muslim boys, one of whom embraces his religion and culture and the other who is ashamed of his background, after they get into an altercation at their high school. Meanwhile, Crystal goes behind Vincent's back to have him transferred to a different job, which puts a damper on their relationship. Amy is hurt because Lauren doesn't want her to chaperone a school dance. Elsewhere, Maxine tries to teach a sexually promiscuous teenager the dangers of having unprotected sex and spring is in the air - and romance seems to be blossoming between Maxine and a newly divorced Ignacio.

Amy oversees a case involving a 5-year-old girl who is at the center of a custody battle between the girl's 21-year-old half sister and their parents. She is also trying to get a not-guilty verdict in the Graciela Reyes trial and she then has to deal with Lauren's latest act of rebellion - she's dyed her hair pink! Meanwhile, Maxine tries to broker a deal between a foster and a biological mother of a young boy so that both can keep the child in their lives. Elsewhere, Vincent struggles to work up enthusiasm for his prison writing workshops.

Lauren's rebellious attitude continues to test the patience of Amy, who's perturbed when her daughter suddenly becomes a vegetarian. Amy's also annoyed that a certain political strategist won't take no for an answer about her pursuing a senate seat and she tries to find some redeeming qualities in a teenage boy in order to keep him from being tried as an adult after he assaults his mother. Meanwhile, Maxine tries to help a lonely single mom with the difficult responsibility of raising an autistic child and Peter and Gillian work on trust issues in their marriage.

Maxine is afraid of becoming more than just friends with Ignacio so she introduces her friend Patricia to Ignacio and encourages her to invite him as her escort to a benefit. At the same time as she sets out to prove an arrogant college professor is guilty of spousal abuse. A 15-year-old boy with a criminal record asks Amy to believe that he has turned his life around and that he's innocent of the serious crime he's charged with - attacking an undercover officer who accused him of dealing drugs. Meanwhile, Lauren's participation in a "Meat is Murder" rally gets her suspended from school.

Bruce calls Amy's objectivity into question while sentencing a 10-year-old repeat offender. Maxine tries to help a family with multiple special needs children fend off a bank bent on foreclosing on their house as Vincent faces a life and death situation. Good news about Graciela Reyes is tempered by an unfortunate event.

Judge Grays last day on the bench. She is approached to run for senator. Maxine talks with Ignacio. There is bill in the senate to incarcerate 13 year olds as adults. Maxine tries to be a foster mother.