Danielle Rose Melnick is a fictional character on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

crime drama '' Law & Order'', portrayed by

Tovah Feldshuh Terri Sue "Tovah" Feldshuh (born December 27, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and playwright. She has been a Broadway star for more than four decades, earning four Tony Award nominations. She has also received two Emmy Award nominations f ...

. She was featured on the show starting in 1991. (In Tovah Feldshuh's first ''Law & Order'' appearance in the 1991 episode "

Aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

", she plays a character very similar to Melnick but is a probate lawyer, not a litigator, and is unnamed.) The character Melnick is a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

–based defense attorney with a practice spanning more than 20 years. She is portrayed as a well-established, high-profile litigator, regularly going up against the toughest, most powerful prosecutors in the New York City District Attorney's office. Her role in the ''Law & Order''

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. ...

has been as a

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ...

for Ben Stone (

Michael Moriarty Michael Moriarty (born April 5, 1941) is an American-Canadian actor and jazz musician. He received an Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for his first acting role on American television as a Nazi SS officer in the 1978 mini-series ''Holocaust'' ...

) and

Jack McCoy John James McCoy is a fictional character in the television drama ''Law & Order''. He was created by Dick Wolf and Michael S. Chernuchin and has been portrayed by Sam Waterston during both the show's original run from 1994 to 2010 and since it ...

(

Sam Waterston Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television and, film. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award, and has receive ...

). She has had an affectionately competitive friendship with the latter since the early days of their careers. The character Melnick is dedicated to her job and is often shown to be a thorn in the side of the DA's office. Much like the character McCoy, she is so zealous in her job that she will bend (but never break) trial laws to win a case, and sometimes risks being put in contempt of court for antagonizing a judge. The series has revealed nothing about her personal life except that she is Jewish. In the 2002 episode "Open Season," she is very nearly disbarred and murdered in a case where she is representing a

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

accused of murdering a defense attorney. Angered by an order placed by the trial judge on her client prohibiting him from getting/receiving mail, she passes along an address to one of the man's associates, assured that it would produce evidence that could clear him; unbeknownst to her, however, it is actually the address of one of the

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

's intended targets, who is soon murdered. She is arrested and charged as an accessory. She is horrified by what her client has done but refuses to break

attorney–client privilege Attorney–client privilege or lawyer–client privilege is the name given to the common law concept of legal professional privilege in the United States. Attorney–client privilege is " client's right to refuse to disclose and to prevent any ...

, even if it means she will go to

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. McCoy, reluctant to prosecute his old friend, ends up saving her by lying to the terrorist, telling him that Melnick had confessed to unwittingly helping him and that he would go to prison for

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

unless he admitted that she had not known what he was going to do with the information. Melnick is cleared of all charges but is shot soon after by one of her former client's followers. However, she recovers a few episodes later and returns to her practice. In 2011, Melnick appeared in the ''

Law & Order: Criminal Intent ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' is an American police procedural Drama (film and television), drama television series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, p ...

'' finale " To the Boy In the Blue Knit Cap" on June 26, now specializing in

real estate law Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

. Feldshuh appeared in the inaugural episode of ''

Chicago Justice ''Chicago Justice'' is an American legal drama television series that aired on NBC from March 1 to May 14, 2017. The series was created by Dick Wolf and is the fourth installment of Wolf's ''Chicago'' franchise. A backdoor pilot aired on May 11, ...

'', "Fake," on March 1, 2017, portraying Melnick as a judge.

References

Fictional American Jews Television characters introduced in 1991 Fictional lawyers Law & Order characters Crossover characters in television American female characters in television {{drama-tv-char-stub