Joanna Merlin, who plays Councilman Talbert's defense attorney, had a recurring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) as a trial judge.
This episode appears to be inspired by the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas controversy. Anita Hill made history in 1991 when she testified before Congress about the sexual harassment she claimed to have experienced while she was an aide to Clarence Thomas, a U.S. Supreme Court nominee who had been her supervisor on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
This episode reunites Sam Waterston and Regina Taylor, who started together in the series I'll Fly Away (1991).
Joanna Merlin has portrayed two different characters during the course of the series:
- Episode 2.21 Silence (1992) - Carla Bowman.
- Episode 3.19 Virus (1993) - Carla Bowman.
- Episode 5.8 Virtue (1994) - Deirdre Powell.
- Episode 6.18 Atonement (1996) - Deirdre Powell.
- Episode 8.12 Expert (1998) - Deirdre Powell.