When mild-mannered Jim McLeery kills an abusive stranger, it seems a clear-cut case of self-defense. But the prosecution reveals that, in his army days, McCleery was trained to kill.
The Prestons defend a man charged with murdering a storekeeper during a robbery, but they strongly disagree over his guilt. The drug-addicted client was found unconscious at the scene with the murder weapon in his hand. Lawrence believes he definitely committed the act and only hopes to plead for a lesser sentence, but Kenneth believes the man may be completely innocent of the murder.
Inmates riot at a prison cell block, taking four hostages and threatening to kill them unless their demands are met. At the request of one of the riot's leaders, the warden asks Lawrence Preston to negotiate for the prisoners.
A teenage boy is charged with abandoning his baby whom he left on a doctor's doorstep. He claims he thought the baby was dead, but it was actually alive and died after its discovery. To make matters worse, he refuses to identify the baby's mother, even though he claims he is married to her.
The Prestons are hired by a stage actress who wants full custody of her son, and does not even want to grant visitation rights to the boy's father. But she refuses to tell them the full reason why, although Kenneth suspects that the father may be suicidal.
An impressionist is charged with killing his fiancee, but his inability to stop going into character impersonations, even in court, leads Lawrence to feel that he has lost his hold on reality, and that he killed in one of his impersonations.
When a boy is hit by a car and thus becomes in dire need of surgery, his parents refuse to allow it for religious reasons. The Prestons, who are representing the young woman who hit the boy, work desperately to find a judge who will overrule the parents and allow surgery.
The Prestons defend a woman accused of the murder of her husband. The main witness against her is a close friend who seems sympathetic to her, yet claims the victim telephoned him after he was shot and named her as the one who shot him.
Ken Preston defends his girlfriend, social worker Joan Miller, after protests against the actions of an autocratic urban planner have led to a man being injured.
A man who has spent 25 years as a patient in a mental home is released - only to be arrested on a charge of murder dating from before his confinement, and scheduled to be executed.
The Prestons defend a policeman who killed the teenage boy that attacked his five-year-old daughter. The officer stubbornly insists he had a right to do it and most of his neighbors agree with him.
Rich Mr. Gideon has recently married for the sixth time, and has invited all his slightly flaky ex-wives to meet his new spouse. Then he gets murdered. Police charge the new Mrs. Gideon, and the Prestons defend her---in an unusual way.
As a favor to an old friend, a disbarred alcoholic attorney trying to get a new start, Lawrence agrees, after some hesitancy, to defend his client---a racketeer charged with the murder of a rival.
A young inmate at a reform school is found beaten, and his cottage "duke" orders him to say it was his cottage supervisor who beat him. The boy dies, and the Prestons defend the supervisor, but find resistance from others at the school and in the neighboring town.
An army sergeant is charged with murdering a fellow officer by cutting the lines in his parachute, thus causing it not to open when he jumped. He requests the Prestons to assist in his defense even though they are civilians.
Convinced the original trial was rushed, Kenneth decides to reopen the case of a man who has just been denied parole after serving 12 years in prison for rape.
A college law professor asks the Prestons to defend a campus fascist leader accused of ordering the beating of a student who took issue with his speech. The professor and both Prestons despise the defendant's beliefs, but feel he must be represented in court.
A woman finagles a drunken college professor into leaving his entire estate to her daughter, a stripper whom the professor had fallen for. Shortly afterward the professor falls in front of a subway train. Lawrence and Kenneth both go to court to contest the new will, but as Ken comes to know the daughter better he decides he does not want to hurt her in the process.
Lawrence is called to a luncheon with six Korean War Air Force veterans, ostensibly for legal advice. But soon after he arrives he learns the real reason: they want him to act as defense counsel as they "try" one of the group for treason because they believe he gave secrets to the enemy under torture.
The Prestons defend a retired vaudevillian who is accused of murdering his son-in-law. The main witness is the accused man's nine-year-old granddaughter.
