Law & Order: SVU's ADAs, Ranked From Carmichael To Carisi

The assistant district attorneys are important characters in Law & Order: SVU, with the best ones among the show’s most compelling characters. The long-running police procedural focuses equally on the courtroom side of cases involving sex offenders. Thus, ADAs heavily influence whether the victim in each case gets the justice they deserve, and many of Law & Order: SVU‘s best episodes involve ADAs going above and beyond the call of duty to secure convictions against powerful people that seemed unlikely at best.

During the 26 years that Law & Order: SVU has been on the air, many ADAs have either helped or hindered justice. Many of these attorneys have become close friends to Olivia Benson and the rest of the SVU squad, though some have been thorns in their side. Current ADA Sonny Carisi is the latest in a long line of attorneys who have prosecuted fictional crimes based on real-life cases in Law & Order: SVU. Here is how Sonny compares to the rest of the show’s best ADAs.

14 Sonya Paxton

Played By Christine Lahti

Sonya Paxton is the worst ADA Law & Order: SVU has ever had. Actress Christine Lathi’s ADA Paxton was arrogant and cynical, often assuming that defendants were guilty until proven innocent instead of the other way around. Worst of all, she had nothing but contempt for Benson and Stabler and made little effort to hide her true feelings. Thus, her presence on-screen sapped the audience’s energy and every scene she was in was became frustrating for some audiences.

Paxton’s incompetence led to her downfall. When she accidentally played a tape that had not been allowed into evidence instead of one with faceless, computer-generated characters during a trial, the judge dismissed the charges against the defendant. Paxton turned to alcohol to cope with her guilt and embarrassment over her failure. Thankfully, after she came to court intoxicated, she was ordered to attend rehab, and the SVU squad was finally rid of her.

13 Mikka Von

Played By Paula Patton

Mikka Von was also an annoying and incompetent ADA, but fortunately, she only lasted one episode. She came from Chicago during Law & Order: SVU season 12, episode 5 to help out with a case involving a biology professor accused of using poisoned mushrooms to kill a woman. During that case, Von showed herself to be as ridiculous as Paxton when she offered the defendant’s attorney a vacation so that he would not be in court when trial resumed.

This trick deservedly got Von fired, saving the audience’s aggravation. Had she stayed in the series beyond her first episode, she might have surpassed Paxton as the worst attorney in the series’ history. As it was, she did some damage to the court’s integrity. However, justice was served in the end, both for the victim and for the DA’s office. Von’s short tenure makes her a mostly forgettable character.

12 David Haden

Played By Harry Connick Jr.

Although Haden could have been an interesting and effective assistant district attorney, he is best known for having a relationship with Benson that compromised his ability to prosecute effectively. Haden was initially introduced as having been from a family of district attorneys, which could have made him analogous to the cops on CBS’ Blue Bloods, and was played by well-known actor Harry Connick, Jr. Thus, his relatively unmemorable presence on Law & Order: SVU is particularly disappointing.

Furthermore, Haden left Law & Order: SVU after his relationship with Benson ended, further cementing in the audience’s mind that their affair was the only purpose of his character. The affair ultimately put Benson in a precarious position when defense attorney Bayard Ellis (Andre Braugher) deduced that the two were seeing each other while pushing Haden to let a wrongfully convicted man that Benson had arrested eight years ago out of prison. Benson broke things off with Haden after that, and he was not seen again, but their affair hurt her otherwise impeccable reputation, making Haden even less likable.

11 Sherri West

Played By Francie Swift

Sherri West was not incompetent or unethical. However, she only appeared in a few episodes and is best known for becoming a defense attorney after she was finished with her stint as Law & Order: SVU‘s assistant district attorney. Thus, she is mostly forgettable to all except the most die-hard fans of the series, as she was not there for long enough to make much of an impression.

West’s first appearance involved prosecuting a child molester in a case where one of the young victims was so traumatized that she initially couldn’t speak, but was unable to persuade a judge to hold the defendant without bail. This was followed by the defendant almost immediately took his own life. Thus, she likely would not have been a strong ADA if she had stayed longer. West’s appearance as a defense attorney in Law & Order: SVU season 13, episode 4 cemented her image as a goofy character, as she had turned to defense work to pay for her shoe collection.

10 Casey Novak

Played By Diane Neal

Novak prosecuted some of Law & Order: SVU‘s saddest cases and is one of the better known attorneys from the series. She was meant to be a replacement for Stephanie March’s Alex Cabot once the popular ADA left the series, but was not nearly as likable or interesting. Although Cabot and Novak both sometimes engage in unethical behavior, Novak became more associated with it. Additionally, she didn’t get along with Benson and Stabler and was often overly aggressive in the courtroom.

Novak was disbarred after she lied about evidence in order to try to get a conviction against a cop who had raped two undocumented women. Although this same incident led to Detective Chester Lake’s arrest for fatally shooting the defendant, it was not the end of Novak’s career. Instead, she returned on a recurring basis in seasons 12 and 13 before leaving without explanation, which further cemented her legacy as an overzealous ADA who got away with more than she should have.

9 Peter Stone

Played By Philip Winchester

Peter Stone’s family connections should have made him one of Law & Order: SVU‘s most interesting characters, but unfortunately, he didn’t work out as an ADA specializing in sex crimes cases. Stone was the son of Law & Order’s Benjamin Stone, who was the original ADA when the flagship series premiered in 1990. Peter had an emotional storyline involving his feeling that he had never lived up to his late father’s expectations.

Stone may not have been as popular as he should have been because he was a transplant from the failed One Chicago series Chicago Justice. This meant his inclusion in a procedural set in New York felt out of place for some audiences. Nevertheless, his abrupt decision to leave because of his feelings for Benson was disappointing, especially because he had become close with her son, Noah. Stone feels like a wasted opportunity within Law & Order: SVU.

8 Jo Marlowe

Played By Sharon Stone

Jo Marlowe is another ADA who was only in a handful of episodes. However, she is more interesting than most because of her background. Like Carisi, Marlowe is a former cop that became an attorney and now prosecutes sex crimes — in fact, she was an old partner of Stabler. It would have been interesting if she and Carisi were ever to have a reason to share stories.

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Marlowe’s short time on Law & Order: SVU makes her less memorable than other ADAs. However, she had an emotional storyline in which she dealt with an aggressive type of breast cancer, which allowed actress Sharon Stone to do great work. Surprisingly, Marlowe’s exit did not have to do with her cancer, and in fact was never explained at all on the series. However, she might have been too traumatized to continue working after being held hostage in a morgue by a distraught suspect who stole an officer’s gun.

7 Abbie Carmichael

Played By Angie Harmon

Abbie Carmichael was originally an ADA on Law & Order. She was brought over from the flagship show for Law & Order: SVU‘s first season to help establish the new spin-off as part of the same universe. Thus, she felt somewhat like a filler character who was there to hold the space until a permanent ADA character could be created to take her place. Additionally, she didn’t quite fit the survivor-centered culture of the Special Victims Unit, which may be part of why she didn’t last beyond the first season.

Carmichael was unapologetically conservative, so some of her pro-life views didn’t really fit the ethos of a unit dedicated to women’s rights. However, when she was in Law & Order, she had sympathy for a defendant who had been sexually assualted and revealed to McCoy that she had also once been a victim of this type of crime. Thus, her heart was in the right place even if she didn’t completely fit into the new series.

6 Michael Cutter

Played By Linus Roache

Cutter is a popular character, but it is hard to judge him relative to other ADAs because he had been promoted to SVU Bureau Chief by the time he appeared on Law & Order: SVU. Thus, he generally did not try cases himself, instead directing the ADAs underneath him when they took on cases involving special victims. However, the fact that he came from the original Law & Order gave him a stronger connection to the show than the new Bureau Chief that Carisi works under.

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Given Cutter’s association with the franchise, it is disappointing that his exit is never explained. Instead, the Bureau Chief position stopped being important enough to feature in Law & Order: SVU until Carisi gained a position as an ADA, moving over from the cop side, and a new chief was required to be an antagonist who interfered with the way Carisi wanted to try cases.

5 Gillian Hardwicke

Played By Melissa Sagemiller

Hardwicke followed on the heels of Marlowe, Von, and West, making her the first longer-term ADA Law & Order: SVU had in a while. She also was excellent at her job, boasting a 92% conviction rate before she joined SVU. Unlike many of the previous ADAs, she wanted this job because she admired Benson and Stabler. This was a marked improvement from the parade of ADAs who had contempt for them or treated them like they were obstacles to justice instead of colleagues who were equally important in their mission.

Hardwicke’s passion for getting justice for survivors made her a compelling character as well as as a good fit for Law & Order: SVU. Unfortunately, the character did not get the respect she deserved when she left the show, as she disappeared without explanation after a bizarre case involving a woman who was secretly the twin of the man she accused of violence against her current boyfriend. This makes her departure all the more disheartening.

4 Kim Greylek

Played By Michaela McManus

Greylek was one of the best fits with the Law & Order: SVU team, so it’s disappointing that she was only in the show for a short period of time. She was sent to help out after Novak’s law license was suspended and had previously worked for the Department of Justice as an advocate for women, specifically focused on ending violence against them. Thus, she fit nearly into Law & Order: SVU’s central mission statement very well.

Greylek had been sent to New York partially to clean up the mess Novak left behind, so she had to be harder on the detectives than other ADAs. However, Greylek’s attitude toward Benson and Stabler was strictly based on the requirements of the job and not on personal disdain. This made her interactions with them far more tolerable than when other ADAs butted heads with them.

3 Dominique “Sonny” Carisi

Played By Peter Scanavino

Carisi has been part of the Law & Order: SVU cast since season 13 but was originally a cop, so his background gives him a different perspective on the cases he tries than many other ADAs. His record and abilities are impressive, considering that he has only been practicing law for a few years. He often gets into compelling conflicts with his old colleagues when he has to decline to prosecute heinous cases due to a lack of evidence.

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Carisi owes a good deal of his success to being mentored by Raul Esparza’s Rafael Barba, one of the best attorneys Law & Order: SVU has ever had. However, his background as a cop is a double-edged sword. Sometimes seems to forget he’s not one anymore and joins the team in actively investigating and arresting suspects, making him a complicated character to fully root for.

2 Rafael Barba

Played By Raul Esparza

Barba is one of the most popular characters in Law & Order: SVU history, often landing near the top of lists of former characters the audience would like to return. He was a strong ADA who had a high rate of conviction, but his popularity likely comes from his positive personality and his friendship with Benson. Barba did not cross the line into a romantic relationship with her while working as an ADA, but the two had sufficient chemistry to create buzz around the suggestion that his feelings for her were not purely platonic.

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Barba decided to resign from the DA’s office after he was accused of murder when he turned off life support for a baby who had no brain function. Though he was acquitted of the murder, he was too traumatized by the incident to remain in his position and later became a defense attorney. While it was entertaining for him to clash in the courtroom with his former mentee, it was jarring that he chose to defend Dylan McDermott’s Richard Wheatley, who had committed multiple heinous crimes, including the murder of Kathy Stabler.

1 Alex Cabot

Played By Stephanie March

Alex Cabot was the first permanent ADA on Law & Order: SVU, replacing Abbie Carmichael. She remained with Law & Order: SVU for the next five years. Cabot is a fan favorite who has returned to the series several times since she left. She was a close friend of Benson and Stabler, so much so that she had to break protocol and reveal to them that she was in Witness Protection after she faked her murder so that they wouldn’t be too distraught over the loss.

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Cabot set the standard for all the other ADAs that came later in Law & Order: SVU. She was passionate about justice but occasionally crossed the line into unethical behavior that lost her cases. For example, she once implied that she had a warrant that she hadn’t obtained in order to get Benson and Stabler to illegally search a suspect’s residence to get the evidence needed to move forward with a case. It’s that dichotomy that makes for the most compelling ADAs in Law & Order: SVU.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit centers on the NYPD’s Special Victims Unit, a specialized team of detectives who investigate and solve cases of sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence. Under the leadership of Captain Olivia Benson, the unit deals with complex and sensitive crimes, balancing empathy for victims with the pursuit of justice.

Cast

Christopher Meloni , Mariska Hargitay , Richard Belzer , Dann Florek , Michelle Hurd , Stephanie March , Ice-T , BD Wong , Diane Neal , Tamara Tunie , Adam Beach , Michaela McManus , Danny Pino , Kelli Giddish , Raúl Esparza , Peter Scanavino

Release Date

September 20, 1999

Seasons

24

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