In both Law And Order prime and in SVU the theme of a self seeking political attorney with an agenda taking a case has been used many times on all Law And Order franchise shows. A good example of this is this third episode of Trial By Jury. Aiden Gillen, husband and father shoots down a known sex offender who had just been released from prison.
He gets immediate legal counsel from Lorraine Bracco who became a lawyer the hard way, studying and clerking at a storefront office and passing the bar. This is a fact she points out to Amy Carlson and she intends to show all the law school graduate types who get plugged into good jobs and firms what street lawyers can do.
Gillen is a hero for doing what he did to many and the case won't be easy for Bebe Neuwirth and Carlson to win. Still vigilante justice is not something the New York County DA countenances, they did in real life go after Bernhard Goetz.
But it might just be that Bracco might be doing a lot more than courtroom advocacy. Only if they can pry Gillen loose from his attorney can they prove anything. And tactics are a question as well.
One interesting climax here.