#alex cabot vs. the law is really one of my favorite evolving conflicts on svu

[tunemyart]

The thing about Alex Cabot that I keep coming back to is that even in her earliest, most "I must follow the letter of the law" blonde bob and power suit days, she still has an enormous reputation with judges for finding loopholes that she can twist to suit her arguments and her own sense of justice, to the point that they call her out on it! That is in fact one of the biggest points of her character! Right there from the beginning!

So say, just for example, that you're watching one of her earliest episodes: Season 2, episode 11, "Abuse." If you haven't watched it recently, this is the one where Olivia Benson becomes attached to a superstar singer's daughter who is hurting herself as a cry for attention due to her parents' neglect. Alex gets involved because Olivia asks her to and Alex is, as always, unable to resist a direct appeal from Olivia.* She finagles a perfectly legal way for the daughter to be removed from the home - bypassing family court, which, when they end up there as planned, does not earn her any favors with the judge.

Again, to reiterate: this is eleven whole episodes into Alex Cabot's entire character.

*another longstanding character trait, by the way, that I can't believe I don't see discussed more often because it makes me insane - and which is similarly seeded right here at the very beginning of Alex's character, before Alex and Olivia could even really be called friends!