If we tally the number of characters seen, heard or referenced across every Law & Order series combined, there could be as many as 33,000 fictional figures in this unparalleled TV universe (via The Flerlage Twins). No other small-screen story world of its kind could even come close to this total.
To narrow down the thousands of law enforcers and legal professionals across the franchise into a list of its 20 best characters is an almost impossible task. Law & Order’s best partner pairings come up to more than this number, without dividing each of them into two. Nevertheless, this TV universe features some particularly exceptional figures it just couldn’t do without.
20Mike Logan
Played By Chris Noth
Among the most complex characters in the franchise, Mike Logan might be a notorious womanizer with a penchant for aggressive outbursts, but he’s also a deeply sensitive soul defined by his past trauma. Chris Noth’s Law & Order exit after a fallout with Dick Wolf was a sad moment for fans, but his 1998 feature-length return was worthy recompense.
19Ben Stone
Played By Michael Moriarty
18Elizabeth Rodgers
Played By Leslie Hendrix
One of TV’s best medical examiners, Elizabeth Rodgers pioneered depictions of the profession on the small screen, showing us a different side to law enforcement that we don’t usually get to see. More than the specifics of her work, though, Rodgers stood out for her dry sense of humor, and frequent clashes with the detectives in the series.
17Paul Robinette
Played By Richard Brooks
16Dominick Carisi, Jr.
Played By Peter Scanavino
One of the few characters in the franchise to have made the transition from law-enforcer to courtroom advocate, Dominick Carisi, Jr. ends up as an outstanding ADA in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, having started out as a straight-up New York cop from the streets of Staten Island. His transformation embodies exactly what makes the Law & Order shows so special.
15Adam Schiff
Played By Steven Hill
So many of Law & Order’s best episodes revolve around Executive Assistant District Attorney Adam Schiff, whose rare ability to understand the salient points on which a legal case hinges was unrivaled throughout his time in the series. What’s more, Schiff’s legendary one-liners and no-nonsense persona rightly made him a firm fan-favorite.
14John Munch
Played By Richard Belzer
13Abbie Carmichael
Played By Angie Harmon
With Angie Harmon’s return to Law & Order still on the cards, many fans would love to see Abbie Carmichael back at the bar. While her time in the franchise was relatively short-lived, she more than made her mark. Carmichael was absolutely box-office in the courtroom, and her profound moral disagreements with Jack McCoy frequently brought out the best in him.
12Ed Green
Played By Jesse L. Martin
11Casey Novak
Played By Diane Neal
By the time Casey Novak departed Law & Order: SVU, she’d taken viewers on a journey far beyond her guarded exterior and unbeatable winning record in the courtroom. Her character growth represented an especially human aspect of the show, and gave us an insight into the psychological compartmentalization required to be a top prosecutor.
10Odafin Tutuola
Played By Ice-T
Ice-T’s reduced screentime in Law & Order: SVU season 27 was a disappointment for most of the show’s audience, given just how important Odafin “Fin” Tutuola is to the show’s multi-faceted approach to portraying law enforcement. Fin is the ultimate all-rounder, whose presence anchors every episode he’s in, and often serves as the crucial, empathic connection between detectives and victims.
9Elliot Stabler
Played By Christopher Meloni
8Alexandra Cabot
Played By Stephanie March
Alex Cabot left Law & Order: SVU to lead her own spinoff, Conviction, but it’s her first and more beloved TV role that made her one of the franchise’s best characters. Her politically-motivated understanding of the justice system in big-picture terms fundamentally set her apart from her peers, and made her an implacable maverick in the courtroom.
7Claire Kincaid
Played By Jill Hennessy
Perhaps the character we most rooted for in the entire history of the franchise, Claire Kincaid was the closest thing to an embodiment of the audience’s perspective in the original series. Kincaid’s tragic death in Law & Order ended one of the show’s best interpersonal storylines, and many longtime fans understandably still haven’t gotten over it.
6Robert Goren
Played By Vincent D’Onofrio
The Law & Order character most like Sherlock Holmes, Robert Goren doesn’t go by the book too often as a detective. His instinctive genius and unorthodox approach mean he’s a frustrating colleague to work alongside, but these things are also what make him an immensely entertaining character, without whom Law & Order: Criminal Intent wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable.
5Rafael Barba
Played By Raúl Esparza
Among Law & Order: SVU’s longest-running characters, Rafael Barba is a major reason for the spinoff show’s widespread acclaim and popularity. His larger-than-life personality, wicked wit, and unerring ability to find trouble invariably put him at the forefront of the show’s storylines, as possibly its biggest draw.
For all his faults, Barba is one of the franchise’s greatest exponents of courtroom showmanship. There’s never a dull moment when he’s involved in a scene, particularly during the course of a high-stakes trial.
4Olivia Benson
Played By Mariska Hargitay
Just pipping Rafael Barba to the title of Law & Order: SVU’s best character, Olivia Benson is a consummate police captain and team leader, whose indomitable strength often drives her fellow detectives to run through the hardest of brick walls to crack a case. She’s also the beating heart of the spinoff series.
Benson’s compassion for crime victims sets the tone for how her unit handles especially difficult cases. Her best episodes of Law & Order: SVU are inspirational stories of human perseverance, as well as the benchmark for the franchise’s police-procedural plotlines.
3Anita Van Buren
Played By S. Epatha Merkerson
S. Epatha Merkerson is quite simply one of the best cop show actors of all time, with her inimitable portrayal of Anita Van Buren showcasing a woman with near-superhuman strength of character. Van Buren had to overcome even more in her personal life than in her incredibly demanding job.
2Jack McCoy
Played By Sam Waterston
Jack McCoy’s best moments in Law & Order effectively defined the original series. Sam Waterston’s screen magnetism made his character a true icon of the courtroom, whose charisma was without equal in TV’s legal-procedural genre for most of the show’s first decade.
Perhaps other prosecutors in the franchise have topped McCoy’s case record, but no one comes close to him as a character of moral integrity and immense authority in the legal profession. When we think of TV lawyers from the 1990s, Jack McCoy is invariably the first name that comes into our heads.
1Lennie Briscoe
Played By Jerry Orbach
Although Briscoe was part of a wider ensemble in Law & Order, he was more than worthy of his own show. There’s so many layers to this archetypal TV detective, from his recovery from alcoholism to his succession of stormy marriages. He’s deeply flawed, yet incomparably lovable.
Whereas Jack McCoy and Anita Van Buren represented all that’s good in the world of law enforcement, Briscoe gave us insight into its many imperfections, with nuance, finesse, and his fair share of dark humor. Law & Order needed a truly iconic police detective to cement its place in the procedural genre, and Briscoe unquestionably fit the bill.
