About ‘Law & Order’ . . .

In a Dec. 17 letter to The Times, L.A. civil rights attorney Jack L. Schwartz complained about the paper’s favorable article on “Law & Order” (“ ‘Law & Order’ Steps Out of the Shadows,” Dec. 7), a show he, in his professional opinion, labels “unrealistic” and “right-wing drivel.” Doubtless there are few things more offensive than right-wing drivel, but one of them surely must be uninformed left-wing drivel--such as the councilor’s letter.

Among other things, Schwartz states that on the show “no police officers lie.” He must have missed the episode where several policemen were tried for failing to back up a gay officer under fire and then lying about it to cover up their actions.

He claims that “the suspect is always guilty; the wrong person is never arrested for a crime.” He must mean except for every 10th episode or so when the show catches us off guard by having the jury return a not-guilty verdict.

And, yes, from watching A&E;’s reruns of the first five seasons every night in the last couple of months, I can assure Schwartz that, on occasion, the wrong person is arrested. And all the prosecutors are ethical . . . well, except for the episode when Sam Waterston’s character blackmailed one criminal into testifying against another--and then admitted as much to the opposing attorney.

In Schwartz’s most egregiously offensive criticism, he claims that judges are “nice to thug-type defendants.” Quite the contrary: One of the joys of the show’s structure is that in every episode the judge character is extraordinarily well-defined and acted in a minimum of time--a rare feat for a TV show--and they are rarely pleasant to the defendants.

Finally, Schwartz’s claim that “all defense lawyers are stupid, shrill and underhanded” is, well, stupid. Some of them are, just as some of them are out here in the real world.

RUS STEDMAN

Encino

Schwartz must be a helluva lawyer, and, based on the accusations put forth in his letter, he must still be waiting to win a case. Not one of his statements is true.

The brilliance of “Law & Order” has always been to live in the gray areas and provide the audience with the ambiguities of the legal system, its imperfections and to show that sometimes it fails. Schwartz should really watch an episode now and then; it’s a great show, and it’s obvious he’s never seen it.

MITCH ENGEL

Los Angeles