Law & Order Lady ADAs Ranked - The Entire Franchise

 

The Top 11 Law & Order Lady ADAs Ranked 

The Entire Franchise

As with most of our top 11 lists, there is a degree of subjectivity in the encapsulation or consolidation of criteria along certain dimensions during the ranking process (i.e. some points are arguable). "Hotness", for example, is a sum total of the character's attitude, presentation and appearance...on the tv show - not necessarily a reflection on the actress alone. It also doesn't mean that I wouldn't roll up on ADAs number 8 through 11, tell them they look cute today and treat them to a nice lunch then a holding-hands style walk around a fountain or park or something like that there. 

*The ADAs who are notably missing from this list are Casey Novak (Diane Neal, Law & Order SVU), Alex Cabot (Stephanie March, Law & Order SVU) and Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi, Law & Order) due to their outspoken support for the ongoing Genocide in Palestine and the proposed invasion and ethnic cleansing of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, The West Bank, East Jerusalem, The Gaza Strip and large areas of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as part of  the "Greater Israel Project". 

*We don't cotton to that here at Catharzine. See the footnotes for a detailed explanation.

Let's get into it! Feel free to leave your own list in the comments.

11. Elizabeth Donelly - Judith Light (Law & Order SVU)

Hotness Rank #11

Prosecutor Rank #10

Personality Rank #9

Elizabeth Donnelly was a Bureau Chief for the District Attorney's office with a tough reputation before eventually becoming a judge. Her most memorable appearances were of her sitting on the bench, not a hands-on Assistant District Attorney who prosecuted cases weekly like Abbie Carmichael or that idiot Alexandra Cabot. She oversaw multiple cases, interacting closely with defense attorneys and arguing frequently with the Jr. ADA's. Especially after that woman who was accused of murdering her husband ran away during a plea bargain meeting (just post a cop outside the door, dummy). Her approach was no-nonsense, in an abrasive and off-putting way, or possibly kind of a turn-on, depending on your level of self-worth...or complete lack thereof. 

10. Claire Kinkaid – Jill Hennessy  (Law & Order)

Hotness Rank #10

Prosecutor Rank #9

Personality Rank #8

Jill Hennessy's character, Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid, always had that cute-as-a-button and cautiously optimistic assistant vibe when working under both Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty) and Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) in seasons 4, 5 and 6, but Claire was never a very effective prosecutor. She knew the law, and knew how to apply it, but she never had that spark; the desire to hem-up some POS dirt-bag and happily send them to the stony lonesome or on a one-way trip to needle-town or old sparky. She threatened to resign at least 3 times and caused a few successful appeals. She was tragically killed off in a car accident in the  Season 6 finale of Law & Order because Hennessy feared being typecast and wanted to pursue other roles, leading to her character's shocking exit where she was killed by a drunk driver.

9. Evelyn Price – Regina Hall  (Law and Order LA)

Hotness Rank #9

Prosecutor Rank #8

Personality Rank #10

I will be straights-up honest with everyone, when I was making this list, I confused Regina Hall with Sanaa Lathan, with all her fine self, bouncing and swaying. But don't get it twisted, Regina is fine as well. I can see myself calling her up like "sup, girl" and she would be like, "oh hey boo boo", and I would be all like, "let's go get a taco, and then, a smoothie", and she would be all like "boy, you crazy". Nah, probably none of that would happen in real life. I'm just being optimistic (but for reals, shug, if you read this, call me). Her character, Junior Deputy District Attorney Evelyn Price, during the one and only season of L&O LA seemed to have been as fed-up and annoyed with the system as much as she was supposedly an ambitious right-leaning centrist prosecutor. It's difficult to remember for sure what her overall personality was like and there are no free clips of the show online (and ain't no way in hell I'm paying for it). I do remember that it was very exciting and encouraging to see an intelligent and attractive woman of color in a lead role on prime-time TV (outside of the tyler perry style dramas). If anyone knows where the show streams for free, reply in the comments.

8. Kim Greylek – Michaela McManus (Law & Order SVU)

Hotness Rank #8

Prosecutor Rank #6

Personality Rank #5

Kim Greylek resigned from the DOJ in DC and moved to New York in 2008 (season 10) where she started working for the Special Victims Unit as the assigned assistant district attorney to the precinct. She was hired to replace that dumb broad Casey Novak who had her license suspended for violating Brady rules in a trial involving Detective Chester Lake. Kim had a strong moral character from her work as an advocate and put away multiple serial rapists and pedophiles. She even solved the case when that man was brutally beaten outside a strip club and the man's ex-wife and transgender daughter were the prime suspects, which involved all sorts of plot twists with trans folk and such. Later that season, Greylek returned to D.C. and Alex Cabot filled in for her as interim ADA. A sudden change in the administration in the DA's office was given as the reason for Greylek's departure.

7. Abbie Carmichael – Angie Harmon (Law & Order)

Hotness Rank #7

Prosecutor Rank #5

Personality Rank #11

Abbie transferred from the Narcotics Bureau to replace Jamie Ross as Jack McCoy's assistant in the New York County DA's office, and always had a subsequent chip on her shoulder as a result. As a political conservative, her pro-life, no gun-control, death penalty fan stance with little to no faith in criminal rehabilitation style approach to the law, blew up in her face when she prosecuted a woman who murdered her alleged rapist (and whom Abbie previously convicted on a contrived drug charge). Having zero sympathy for her, she was determined to put her in prison for life...until the woman reveals on cross-examination that she blames herself for being raped, leading to a lenient plea bargain and Carmichael revealing to McCoy that she had also been raped, as a freshman in college, and previously blamed herself as well. Yeah. take a good look in the mirror, tough guy. 

6. Sigrun Borg - Jessica Chastain (Law & Order Trial by Jury)

Hotness Rank #6

Prosecutor Rank #11

Personality Rank #7

Jessica essentially makes this list because I have a thing for read-heads (not sorry). Chastain had a recurring role as Assistant District Attorney Sigrun Borg on the Law & Order spin-off, Law & Order: Trial by Jury during its single season (2005-2006) in the episodes "41 Shots", "Vigilante", "Boys Will Be Boys" and "Eros in the Upper Eighties". Borg was highly competent as a second-chair prosecutor, but she never had an opportunity to take the lead. Critics and retrospective reviews noted that Chastain brought a natural charisma and humor to the role, preventing the character from feeling like a bland background prosecutor. Some critics have suggested that she was one of the spin-off's best additions, with some even arguing that the show might have been more successful if it had centered more on her character.

5. Alesha Phillips - Freema Agyeman (Law & Order UK)

Hotness Rank #5

Prosecutor Rank #7

Personality Rank #4

Alesha Phillips, much like Abbie Carmichael, also had a chip on her shoulder in a different and much more inspiring way. Phillips was a Junior Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service (UK), bridging the gap between the police and the CPS. Passionate and outspoken, she gives a voice to the disenfranchised. Although  she is a crown prosecutor, she trained as a solicitor, and her title is "solicitor advocate". As such, she doesn't wear the wig, because she didn't train as a barrister. She is the ultimate underdog and her legal point of view is shaped by her working class upbringing; growing up on a council estate in Hackney, with her single mother and attending university on a combination of scholarships and hard work. When one of her friends was sexually assaulted by a gynecologist, Alesha went undercover to gather evidence and got all groped up her own self. When the cops didn't have the goods to arrest him, she went back again to confront him and got raped straights up. The cops eventually got the guy, but geez, girl. You went too far with that investigation. You could have just waited until he got drunk one night, followed him home, threw a bag over his head and beat the shit out of him. Or better yet, paid a gang snitch or drug informant to do it. 

I mean, who is he going to tell? That raping SOB is lucky to be alive and in one piece. (You would be surprised how many problems can be resolved by a goodly, historical beating.) She's fine too, y'all.

4. Alexandra Borgia – Annie Parisse (Law & Order)

Hotness Rank #4

Prosecutor Rank #2

Personality Rank #1

She is definitely my crush. Anne Marie Cancelmi, known professionally as Annie Parisse, portrayed ADA Alexandra Borgia, starting in the middle of season 15 of Law & Order. She abruptly replaced Serena Southerlyn, who was fired by DA Arthur Branch for being inappropriately sympathetic towards a defendant, which was common for her character. The character of Alex Borgia had a quiet, casual intensity and broad knowledge of the law, but the thing that struck me was her laid-back but no-nonsense approach to both police and suspects. Her hair was jet black and she wore V-neck cardigans and skirts, possibly a holdover from when she was in the fraud division prior to homicide. She was an extremely clever prosecutor, routinely exploiting loopholes arguing statutes and precedent to elicit a suspects confession or agreement to a plea deal. Her character's tragic demise reflects her determined yet non street-savvy personality when she opened her apartment door late at night while on hold on the phone and two thugs (who were associated with multiple murders involving men, women and children) linked to the case she was stressing about, kicked in on her, kidnapped her and beat her so severely that while tied up in a car trunk, she asperated into her duct-tape gag and choked to death on vomit and blood (season 16, episode 22 - "Invaders"). It did not appear that she had been tortured for information, but rather a warning to the DA's office to back off of the case. It didn't work. The case (which included a mock grand-jury proceeding and fake eyewitness) eventually got so out of control that when all the suspects were either in custody or dead (a dirty DEA agent was also killed by the two thugs) the state attorney general's office eventually stepped in to take over the prosecution. 

3. Jamie Ross – Carey Lowell (Law & Order)

Hotness Rank # 3

Prosecutor Rank #1

Personality Rank #6

By far the most brilliant legal mind of any Jr. ADA in the franchise (with the possible exception of Paul Robinette) is Jamie Ross. Model and Bond-Girl (License to Kill) Carey Lowell plays Ross, a former defense attorney who made her series debut in Season 7. She often directly challenged the DA and Chief ADA on how to proceed in prosecutions and sometimes withdrew from cases on both ethical and personal grounds. Her best asset was also her biggest liability; she (much like Paul Robinette and Serena Southerlyn) could never fully shake the defense attorney mindset, often taking on the role of rights advocate rather than prosecutor. After leaving the DA's office to spend more time with her family, she reappeared on the show twice as a defense attorney for defendants whom she had previously represented when she was a part of the Assigned Counsel Plan, referred to as the 18-B panel, and argued in court against her former co-workers in the DA's office. She also became a judge in 2005 and appeared in Law & Order Trial by Jury, presumably after her kid(s) had grown up and family was no longer a priority. Eventually, she came back to work as an ADA in Law & Order Season 22 under the new DA  and her old friend Jack McCoy.

2. Serena Southerlyn - Elisabeth Rhom (Law & Order)

Hotness Rank #2

Prosecutor Rank #4

Personality Rank #3

Serena had a great legal mind, but she never had that prosecutorial "killer instinct" required for a high conviction rate. Much like her predecessors Jamie Ross and Paul Robinette, she expressed a high level of sympathy (or empathy) with many suspects and defendants. However, unlike Jamie and Paul, she was not street-wise and violent crime-savvy, having transferred into Homicide from Civil Investigations. She constantly clashed with DA's Nora Lewin, Arthur Branch, and Chief ADA Jack McCoy about trial strategy, legal precedent and defendant's rights. She is tied with Connie Rubirosa as the longest serving ADA on Law & Order (85 episodes) and many of the episodes in which she appeared (seasons 12 through 15) are considered some of the most dramatic and controversial ("Missing", "Genius", "Mother's Day", "Suicide Box", "Myth of Fingerprints", "American Jihad", "Enemy", "Darwinian", "Ain't no Love", "Chosen" based on the true story of organized crime proceeds being funneled to the Israeli government, and "Sheltered" based on the DC sniper). She was eventually fired by DA Arthur Branch in the middle of Season 15 for being too much of an obvious advocate for defendants' rights. At the conclusion of that episode "Ain't no Love", she revealed that she was a lesbian and asked branch if that factored into the decision. Although this was not much of a surprise given her character's demeanor and mysterious background, it was surprising based on some of her prior trial tactics and inconsistent with the prosecution strategy in "Girl Most Likely", in which she agreed with McCoy to use the threat of outing a closeted lesbian woman to force her into accepting a plea deal.

Honorable Mentions:

 Kelley Gaffney – Amy Carlson  (Law and Order Trial by Jury)

She aight

6. Leslie Hope – Terri Driver (Law & Order Criminal Intent)

Member when she was on 24?

1. Connie Rubirosa - Elana De La Garza (Law & Order, Law & Order LA, Law & Order SVU)

Hotness Rank #1

Prosecutor Rank #3

Personality Rank #2

Smokehouse Nuts. Full stop. Unforgivable smokiness. Whatever she tells me to do, I can assure you that it is already well underway. My god. I might need some heart pills or something. Connie was extremely skilled as an attorney and on one occasion ("Strike" season 18, episode 16) she was appointed as a defense attorney for a defendant on a murder charge. She is the only second-chair assistant district attorney (ADA) of Law & Order to have appeared in four complete seasons. After leaving the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, Connie went on to serve as a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, following the resignations of Evelyn Price and Lauren Stanton. Rubirosa returned to the Law & Order franchise as a federal prosecutor in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season-15 episode "Jersey Breakdown", in which she heads a joint task force on underaged sex trafficking. Her physical attractiveness became an issue during some cases. Once, during a trial, a juror flirts with her both inside and outside the courtroom. When she learns that Chief ADA Mike Cutter was aware of the juror's feelings toward her the whole time, she got super pissed and accused him of "pimping her out" to get a guilty verdict. Instead of smacking Cutter in the mouth, she took the high road and just let it go. She was also aware that Mike Cutter had feelings for her that she did not reciprocate, which I imagine she thought was funny, and laughed about it in private, because cutter was a weird jerk.

Who actually walks around at work like this? 

Stay tuned to Catharzine for the Law & Order Intro Credits Walk Video Challenge

   

 

 

Category Rank Recap:

Hotness:

1 Connie Rubirosa 
2 Serena Southerlyn

3 Jamie Ross

4 Alex Borgia

5 Alesha Phillips

6 Sigrun Borg

7 Abbie Carmichael

8 Kim Greylek

9 Evelyn Price

10 Claire Kinkaid

11 Elizabeth Donelly

Prosecutorial Skills:

1 Jamie Ross

2 Alex Borgia

3 Connie Rubirosa

4 Serena Southerlyn

5 Abbie Carmichael

6 Kim Greylek

7 Alesha Phillips

8 Evelyn Price

9 Claire Kinkaid

10 Elizabeth Donelly

11 Sigrun Borg

Personality:

1 Alex Borgia

2 Connie Rubirosa

3 Serena Southerlyn

4 Alesha Phillips

5 Kim Greylek

6 Jamie Ross

7 Sigrun Borg

8 Claire Kinkaid

9 Elizabeth Donelly

10 Evelyn Price

11 Abbie Carmichael

Photo Gallery

     

              

     

      

         

 

*Also notably missing from this list is Tracey Kibre (Bebe Neuwirth, Law & Order Trial by Jury), partially because of her outspoken support of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine, but mostly because she looks like a bird that froze to death.

*We have an ethical compass here at this publication and we do not feel obligated to overlook someone's weak character and lack of moral fiber in order to recognize them as a performer. Diane Neal claimed she didn't feel safe walking the streets of NY as a Jew (which is like Goofy saying he doesn't feel at home in Disneyland) and Stephanie March is a low-key Barbie knock-off with no acting range whatsoever. Odelya Halevi is just an Israeli government plant with ties to the State Dept. and has less talent than anyone else on this list.

For the record, Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism. Actual (practicing) Jews understand their spiritual and cultural connections with both Arabs and Christians and respect their existence, unlike the fake ehtno-state of Israel (whose colonizers are genetically European, mostly Ukrainian, hence their unyielding support for the Ukrainian Nazi regime) and are, of their own admission, primarily atheistic.

We here at Catharsis have lost friends and colleges in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by the Zionist Proxy War Machine. They were physicians, journalists, broadcasters and ordinary civilians; through air-strikes, bombings, famine, torture and execution. We will never forget it. And there will be a reckoning.

Feel Free to Watch this free Documentary about the Genocide in Palestine

entitled 9 16 (nine sixteen)

directed by Skip Pulley

https://www.indiefilmgroups.com/2025/09/9-16-Palestine-Documentary.html

You can also watch the film on Youtube and TikTok

search Skip Pulley or 9 16

One Love,

Catharzine Staff