Judging Amy

Amy is convinced the lenient sentence she handed down in the Casey Ives case, not the collapse of the ceiling in her courtroom, is to blame for her reassignment from Criminal Court to Accountability Court.

Vincent's struggles with his latest novel leads him into blowing off his agent, who responds by dropping Vincent and demanding the return of the advance that Vincent's already spent; Maxine receives another award, and uses her acceptance speech to talk about the young boy lost in the system that she and Sean can't seem to locate; Amy's dealings with two troubled teenage girls and their mothers in Accountability court inspires her to change her focus when she returns to Juvenile Court; Maxine tries to avoid removing the children of a overburdened single mother working to overcome anger and abuse issues; David finally feels that he's put his wife's death behind him and can now pursue a relationship with Amy; Ignacio lets Maxine know that he's ready to do whatever it takes to have a future with her; Amy fires Donna to propel her into practicing law; Kyle decides to accompany Heather to Minnesota and take care of their son while she's in rehab.

Asked to help out Vincent with a loan to pay back his canceled contract advance, Peter discloses the family firm is about bankrupt and bitterly regrets having been expected to run it alone. Despite the court's huge backlog, Amy refuses to accept a bargain between lawyers in a juvenile homicide case and finds out a tragic family secret. Lover David tries hard to get sailing phobia-afflicted Amy to enjoy his new yacht. Maxine dates Ignacio, who realizes it's time to divorce Francesca; Donna, whom Amy dropped as clerk, takes a position as a court-appointed minor counsel for the Hartford Youth Advocates, right across the hall from Amy's chambers.

Pre-teen Brent Chase is charged with sexually abusing a classmate, but the trial points out both were victims of excessive class peer pressure. The colored bracelets code further triggers Amy's overprotective meddling, despite warnings from Vincent, who grudgingly accepted a menial law firm data job and spills Peter's business failure to his in-living ex Gilian, who proves surprisingly supportive. Sean has to suspend Maxine for contacting a leveled adolescent's unwitting father out of the blue, also causing is mother to be arrested.

Supervisor Sean must suspend Maxine for slapping, in front of a cop, a wicked teen charge for nearly-fatally neglecting her naive senior foster mother's basic needs. Penniless Vincent jumps at the chance to earn $100 as 'driver' to escort to has father's house maternally-abused swell teen jock Robbie, with whom he bonds while working out why the knave, who shows a critical interest in author "Vinnie's" own problems, dreads returning home. Novel juvenile advocate Donna fails to appreciate Amy's coaching of her first case and negotiating with DA Morris Riordan, although it perfectly serves the needs of preteen client Carl Sipple not to be tried as an adult but get juvenile help rather then a jail sentence. David bitterly finds Amy ditched their date to have drinks with her clerk. Summoned to Ned's principal's office, Peter and his ex are pleasantly surprised to hear their son mischief stems for an under-challenged high IQ.

Class clown Avi Gould is charged for a laxative prank which accidentally landed a teacher in hospital. Amy stressed over a breast lump examination, but despite excessive nightmares is diagnosed in the clear. Peter Gray and ex Gillian bicker over the suitable education for adoptive son Ned given his high IQ, which wrecked Vincent's one equally bright future. The trace of missing charge Anthony leads Maxine to bug Sean and two former colleagues, their predecessors, including not-amused politician Larry Feiner.

Maxine's stressing about lost charge Anthony caused her to be hospitalized for a cardiac crisis, but can't stand the family bickering on at her bedside despite Vince's best efforts and soon discharges herself against medical advice. Her kin facing fats and looking for Maxine's things, Peter and Gillian have sex again so he moves back home. Amy learns about her mother, whose ghost Maxine believes to talk too. Clerk and unofficial translator Rob Holbrook proves his value as Amy's new permanent clerk in the case of juvenile robber Marissa Levy, from a wealthy family which expected to settle.

Vincent takes another job offered by Sean, assisting street worker Louann 'Crystal' Turner, and volunteers as tutor for her academically gifted homeless charge Leon, a cocky ingrate. Fatherless Travis Stewart's devoted but MS-afflicted mother Tina's custody is challenged in favor of a distant aunt. David quit his job and decides to sail to the Antilles, Amy demands an invitation but can't seriously contemplate a long leave. Maxine rejects any convalescence help from Peter and determined Jillian, except a single yoga lesson for show.

Vincent extends his 'interim' jobs to helping street workers again, now with a prostitute, but her pimp gets a goon to beat him up. Maxine is so shocked by foster daughter Graciela Reyes's negligence extending to literally standing by as her senior foster nearly wastes away to death, that she slaps her in front of a cop and has to be suspended by Sean indefinitely, which contributes to working up a cardiac crisis. Imp Graciela is most uncooperative and rude on trial for failing to respect her parole terms, yet Amy rules against the state for canceling a program. Sean tracks down Anthony, happily adopted.

In Amy's juvenile court schoolboy Charley Dane is on trial for stabbing his teacher, who was actually his only true friend who got fired for seeing Charlie after school hours, as a well-meaning substitute for his superficial parents who only wanted a perfect kid to show off... Ma Maxine returns to work, and immediately discovers the baby teenager Zachary Pettit cares for so well is not his kid brother but his own son, abandoned at birth by the teenager mother... Vincent gets emotional and physical bruises when he cares personally for a bright colored drug addict on the street...

Vincent extends his 'interim' jobs to helping street worker Louan 'Crystal' Turner again, now with a prostitute, but her pimp gets a goon to beat him up. Maxine is so shocked by foster daughter Graciela Reyes's negligence extending to literally standing by as her senior foster nearly wastes away to death, that she slaps her in front of a cop and has to be suspended by Sean indefinitely, which contributes to working up a cardiac crisis. Imp Graciela is most uncooperative and rude on trial for failing to respect her parole terms, yet Amy rules against the state for.

Amy has a case concerning a girl with epilepsy with the parents disagreeing about treatment. Vincent and Crystal help a Fanny, a street kid. Maxine involves herself in an assault case with families of different social classes.

Before Vincent and Crystals eyes, a homeless teen is murdered by a pimp, which shocks and shakes their confidence, so he must question her relapse into alcohol abuse. When Maxine checks on neighbors suspecting child abuse In a wealthy Romanian expat home, Sean's team and the police dig into a whole system of house boy slavery, while she focuses on reuniting separated brothers Radu and Sorin Parasca. While Davis sacrifices his other dreams to treat pregnant Amy to her ideal house, she mistrusts Carl Hodgson's plea that her son Carl shot her terminally ill father out of compassion, but her brother Daniel Beck demands severity.

Amy finds it rather difficult to follow her mom's advice and embrace her 40th birthday as a milestone. Meanwhile, Donna is in Amy's court representing a 13-year-old girl who accidentally kills her friend named Marsha and another man in a car while they are out on a joyride but shows no remorse for her death; Maxine tries to determine whether two brothers are better off without the presence of their father, an ex-con, in their lives; and Amy receives bad news on her 40th birthday, she has a miscarriage.

Several weeks have passed since Amy's miscarriage, but things are not quite back to normal for her. She refuses to discuss the house with David and brushes off Bruce's admonition that she's becoming too close to Graciela. Maxine meets up with a high school friend at a wedding and discovers that her recent divorce has left her depressed. Maxine helps her reconnect with the world by getting her involved at the hospital - holding HIV positive babies to stimulate their growth. Crystal invites Vincent to come to her AA meeting marking 30 days of being sober and they begin a new phase in their relationship. When Graciela is arrested for being in the car during a drive-by shooting, Amy goes all-out to keep her from being tried as an adult. Bruce asks her not to get too invested because he doesn't want to see her "lose...again," which unfortunately, she does. David returns Amy's half of the deposit on their dream house and tells her that he thinks they should take a break.

While attending a bench and bar dinner, Amy gets into a heated argument with the State Attorney and accuses his office of being politically motivated in regard to the juvenile justice system. As a result, Amy's inundated with requests to move cases out of her court, which causes a litigation nightmare that puts Donna's 17-year-old client at risk of being considered AWOL from the Coast Guard. Meanwhile, Maxine and Sean come up with a creative solution to the housing problem of a recently sober mother who is seeking to regain custody of her children.

In Amy's courtroom, she adjudicates a case involving two Arab-American Muslim boys, one of whom embraces his religion and culture and the other who is ashamed of his background, after they get into an altercation at their high school. Meanwhile, Crystal goes behind Vincent's back to have him transferred to a different job, which puts a damper on their relationship. Amy is hurt because Lauren doesn't want her to chaperone a school dance. Elsewhere, Maxine tries to teach a sexually promiscuous teenager the dangers of having unprotected sex and spring is in the air - and romance seems to be blossoming between Maxine and a newly divorced Ignacio.

Amy oversees a case involving a 5-year-old girl who is at the center of a custody battle between the girl's 21-year-old half sister and their parents. She is also trying to get a not-guilty verdict in the Graciela Reyes trial and she then has to deal with Lauren's latest act of rebellion - she's dyed her hair pink! Meanwhile, Maxine tries to broker a deal between a foster and a biological mother of a young boy so that both can keep the child in their lives. Elsewhere, Vincent struggles to work up enthusiasm for his prison writing workshops.

Lauren's rebellious attitude continues to test the patience of Amy, who's perturbed when her daughter suddenly becomes a vegetarian. Amy's also annoyed that a certain political strategist won't take no for an answer about her pursuing a senate seat and she tries to find some redeeming qualities in a teenage boy in order to keep him from being tried as an adult after he assaults his mother. Meanwhile, Maxine tries to help a lonely single mom with the difficult responsibility of raising an autistic child and Peter and Gillian work on trust issues in their marriage.

Maxine is afraid of becoming more than just friends with Ignacio so she introduces her friend Patricia to Ignacio and encourages her to invite him as her escort to a benefit. At the same time as she sets out to prove an arrogant college professor is guilty of spousal abuse. A 15-year-old boy with a criminal record asks Amy to believe that he has turned his life around and that he's innocent of the serious crime he's charged with - attacking an undercover officer who accused him of dealing drugs. Meanwhile, Lauren's participation in a "Meat is Murder" rally gets her suspended from school.

Bruce calls Amy's objectivity into question while sentencing a 10-year-old repeat offender. Maxine tries to help a family with multiple special needs children fend off a bank bent on foreclosing on their house as Vincent faces a life and death situation. Good news about Graciela Reyes is tempered by an unfortunate event.

Judge Grays last day on the bench. She is approached to run for senator. Maxine talks with Ignacio. There is bill in the senate to incarcerate 13 year olds as adults. Maxine tries to be a foster mother.