LA Law: The Computer Game
DOS - 1992
Description of LA Law: The Computer Game
A shallow courtroom game based on blockbuster TV series of the same name, L.A. Law is an ambitious design that is ultimately flawed due to logic inconsistencies and limited interaction. First, some background information for those who are not familiar with the TV original: as an associate working for a large L.A. law firm, you must take on assignments from senior partners. Choose to play as either Jonathan, Abby, or Victor, all of whom are rising stars in the TV show. Each time you defend a client successfully in court, you are given a new assignment and a chance at being promoted. The game ends when you climb to the highest rank in the firm and elicit congratulations from the founding partners. The game is divided into several cases, starting with "The Wrathful Race," in which you must prove your client's innocence in a car crash. You have a limited time to prepare each case before being ushered into court, and every action takes time in the game so you must carefully decide what to do. The problem is, sometimes that is not very logical. In the first case, for example, you must visit the opposing counsel to obtain the medical examiner's report and several witnesses' statements. Why you can't be provided with these from your own boss is beyond me. This extreme linearity also defeats the purposes of many actions in the game. For instance, you can use the library to research past cases, in hopes of finding legal techniques and information that pertain to your own case. The problem is: whether or not you come up with something useful is determined arbitrarily by the designers. In some cases, you can search all you want and never turn up a clue, while in others, doing research is the only way to proceed.
The bottom line is that you will do research only when you think you are stuck, not because you think it makes sense-- something a real lawyer would probably never do :-) You also can ask various senior partners in the firm for advice, which are generally very valuable and tell you exactly what to do next. These take time, however, so you must use this "hint" function sparingly. When you feel you are prepared to go to trial, you can go to court any time you want. The courtroom sequence is much better than pre-trial, since there are several actions you can take, and the final judgement can vary depending on how good your arguments or pre-trial preparation is. You can, for example, raise objections to the opposing counsel's questions, move for a mistrial, or even request continuance from the judge if you feel you need more preparation (this is hardly granted). Although your questions to the witnesses and their responses are "canned," it is still fun to watch their reaction and effects on the opposing lawyers.
All in all, L.A. Law is a decent game that could be so much more, had the designers spend more time with giving the player more freedom of action, and make the cases more logically consistent. As it stands, L.A. Law might appeal to fans of the series, but is mildly entertaining at best for everyone else.
Review By HOTUD
External links
Captures and Snapshots
Comments and reviews
LA LAWER 2022-08-08 1 point
Here's the tips:
CASE 1 - THE WRATHFUL RACE
- Visit opposing council and get the medical reports.
- Call Medical Examiner and ask about white blood cell count.
- Call Joseph Spanozi and ask about Eddy's Doctor.
- Call Joseph Spanozi and ask about the Medical File.
- Go to Court.
- Use the AIDs opening argument option.
CASE 2 - THE BLOWN WHISTLER
- Call Oscar Berrant 3 times. The first 2 times will be busy, but on
the third you will get his answering machine. Leave the 2nd message
option.
- When Berrant comes to your office, ask him about the reports.
- Call Corporal McClaren, Major Campbell, and then Corporal McClaren
again. Get a copy of the letter.
- Call Rollings and ask him any question except the 1st one.
- Call Frank Borson and tell him that you will send the letter and
reports for his analysis.
- Go to Court.
- Ask Rollings about "not prepared by you," and "everyone got their own
typewriter."
- Ask Frank Borson about "typed by same person," "spesification," and
"prosedure."
CASE 3 - THE BATTERED BOY
- Get Medical Report from Deborah Hannah at Child Protective Services.
- Have Joseph Spanozi investigate Tony and find out that he Travels.
- Get Joseph Spanozi to investigate the July 9th incident.
- Talk to Nancy Hamilton and find out about older brother Tony Jr.
- Get Joseph Spanozi to check out Tony Jr.
- Go to Court.
- Ask Tony Hamilton about work and traveling.
- Nancy Hamilton will testify that the incidents occurred while the
boys were playing together.
- Get Tony Jr. to confess to the beatings.
CASE 4 - THE HIDDEN ASSETS
- Talk to Mrs. Stevens until she mentions Harrison and Birreli.
- Call Joseph Spanozi and have him check out John Stevens and Birreli.
- Go see Grace Van Owen, (It may take a while as she will initially be
in court.) She will tell you about Harrison.
- Call Birreli 3 times. You will get his answering machine.
- Go see Douglas Brackman. He will tell you to give Sgt. Barnton a
call.
- Call Sgt. Barnton. Ask him about Stevens, Harrison and Birreli.
- Have Joseph SPanozi check out Harrison once you have talked to
Barnton.
- Call Harrison and tell him the information you got from Joseph
Spanozi. He will then give you the goods on Stevens.
- Call John Stevens. He will come in for a conference. Mention his
mistress plus one of the specifics of illegal conduct you have
discovered.
CASE 5 - THE KNOTTED STALKING
- Get Tom Mullaney to tell you about Security at Samuel Renald's
building.
- Find out about Charlotte Jamison from Joseph Spanozi or from Craig
Jamison.
- Get Joseph Spanozi to check out Samuel Renald's apartment. He will
tell you about Security tapes, or you can get the tapes from The
Opposing Council.
- Have Joseph Spanozi investigate the tapes to find out about Charlotte
Jamison and Samuel Renald.
- Go to Court.
- Open with argument that Martha Jamison was murdered, but not by Craig
Jamison.
- Have Samuel Renald identify photo that Craig Jamison left his
apartment after 10:30pm.
- Ask Craig Jamison who else has a key to his house where Martha
Jamison was murdered.
- Argue reasonable doubt that daughter may have been involved in the
plot, and you win the case.
- Argue reasonable doubt but without mentioning daughter, and you win
the case without implementing client's daughter. You win with bonus
points.
CASE 6 - THE STOLEN HOUSE
- Call Mrs. Hoskins and let her tell her story of the eviction.
- Call her again for a second conference. When she arrives tell her
that we have no case and let the action take place until she mentions
how her house was worth $250,000 last fall. Ask her about what happened
last fall. Once she tells you, tell her that you will keep at it.
- Call Joseph Spanozi and have him investigate Korliss and Wells.
- When you find out that Korliss is Wells' uncle, go see Tom Mulaney.
He will mention Marcia Kelly at the phone company.
- Call Marcia Kelly. She will give you relevant information from the
phone records.
- Call the number she gave you.
- Go to Court. The opposition will offer to settle with you. You can
pick any of the three responses.
CASE 7 - REVENGE OF THE MILQUETOAST
- Visit the Law Library to get your notes from case 4. (They will be
given to you automatically.)
- Go to the Police Station and visit your client. Talk to her until you
get three items of info about the strange phone calls taking place
before the murder.
- Call Marcia Kelly to get location of prank calls for Joseph Spanozi
to investigate.
- Call Robert Donner, (You will get Mrs. Donner.) Keep asking questions
from her until you find out about the red porsche with the broken left
mirror.
- Go see Arnold Becker. He will tell you about Alex Adamski.
- Call Adamski. He will fax you a list of automobiles.
- Call Joseph Spanozi and have him investigate all three items.
- When he calls back, go visit the opposing council. She may be out at
the time, if so, return to your office and wait for her to call.
- When you meet with the opposing council, mention the phone calls, the
porsche and Julie Anderson.
CASE 8 - BECKER'S PROBLEM
- After you get the assignment, you will interview Lehman in your
office. Finish the conversation as quickly as possible.
- Waster 4 hours. (The Law Library is great for this.)
- Return to your office. Lehman will be there. Once again, finish the
conversation quickly.
- Waste 2 more hours.
- McKenzie and Brackman will buzz you for a private conference.
- When the conference is over, Call Becker at home. Keep asking him
questions until he tells you about his secretary.
- Call Joseph Spanozi and have him investigate Lehman, Ross and
Coughlan.
- Call Becker's secretary, (Extension 014.) Ask her everything you can.
- When you get the information from Joseph Spanozi, go see Brackman.
Ask him for the records on Lehman and Coughlan.
- Call Marcia Kelly and ask her for the records of November 20th from
4-6pm.
- Call the number and the extension she gives you.
- Call Joseph Spanozi and have him investigate Lehman.
- Waste 1 hour.
- Get the information from Joseph Spanozi, (you may want to look at
your case file after he calls you.)
- Wait for the Partner's Meeting to start.
Squid 2020-10-16 2 points
OK this is way too late, especially since someone went ahead and posted all the numbers you need (AFAIK)...
But, the "game docs" are actually on the disk, i.e. the archive:
PHONE.COM lists all the numbers (pretty much identical to the ones in the comment).
README.COM is an incredibly brief "walkthrough" which tells you the minimum steps needed to solve each of the cases.
Michael 2017-04-04 8 points
To help other people who want to play this game, here is a list of the phone numbers you'll need to play it (originally included in the manual but seemingly unavailable from the Internet):
Adamski, Alex - Dept. of Motor Vehicles 642-9127
Alpine Photo Supply 787-1587
American Institute of Typography 655-1989
Anderson, Michael 829-4492
Barnton, Sgt. L. - Police Department 621-6703
Becker, Arnold 726-0420
Bennet, Christine 622-3489
Berrant, Oscar 655-3579
Birelli, M. 251-7721
Borson, Frank 655-1989
Browning, Stuart - Typologist consultant 977-3128
Cal. Dept. of Corrections 334-7642
Campbell, Major R. 491-3196
Carruthers, Lt. Daniel 674-9002
Chambers, Al 553-4375
Child Protective Services 641-3028
Clemmons, Zoe - D.A. 442-7105
Cypress Heights City Clerk 891-3419
Donner, Rovert 442-0076
Flaherty, Jake 621-3129
Flandry, Joe 661-2891
Forentello, Anthony 672-3343
Hamilton, Nancy 584-0281
Hamilton, Tony 532-2771
Harrison, Averel 971-2162
Hoskins, Amanda 767-5349
Jeffries, Kimberly 849-2105
Jamison, Craig 874-3200
Kelly, Marcia - Phone company 455-2166
Lacey, Sean 991-9135
Langston, Alex 655-3127
Lawrence, Daron 995-4439
Lehman, Douglas 635-0822
Lorester, Angela - Courthouse 552-4377
Marcellanus, Eli 882-7144
Medical Examiner - Dr Steven Wakeland 467-2300
Micheals, Sandra 631-8114
McClaren, Cpl. J. 992-3141
O'Donnell, Mike 882-4562
Plummer, Gail 431-0076
Renald, Samuel 655-7934
Rextor Avionics 655-4733
Richardson, Ariel 253-1847
Rolings, Jason 655-2107
Shackleford, Bruce & Colleen 482-3763
Solano, Jaime 323-4489
S. Cal. Bus. Journal 822-3249
Southland Teen 621-3129
Spanozi, Joseph L. - Private Investigator 975-2193
Stevens, John 871-3461
Thurrow, Bruce 767-5349
Torrnace, Margaret 525-3147
University of Cal. Press 253-1847
UCLA Law School Admissions 254-2110
Valley Clinic, Dr Joe Nelson 475-3800
Valley Star 431-0076
Wells, Jeremy 631-2131
Write a comment
Share your gamer memories, help others to run the game or comment anything you'd like. If you have trouble to run LA Law: The Computer Game, read the abandonware guide first!
Download LA Law: The Computer Game
We may have multiple downloads for few games when different versions are available. Also, we try to upload manuals and extra documentation when possible. If you have additional files to contribute or have the game in another language, please contact us!
DOS Version
2 MBSimilar games
Fellow retro gamers also downloaded these games:
