WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

'L.A. Law' cast rallies for reunion

Brief cases

"We gave birth to a lot of law shows," says Rachins (top left, in '87, with, back row, from left: Smits, Underwood and Bernsen; middle row: Dey, Hamlin, Drake and Ruttan; and, front row: Dysart, Greene, Tucker and Eikenberry).

(PEOPLE) -- How hot was "L.A. Law"? Cast members got to speak at American Bar Association conventions. The show took home 15 Emmys during its eight-year run (1986-'94), and law school applications soared.

Still, Law was a gamble for NBC. "My big fear," recalls co-creator Steven Bochco," was that it would just be talking heads-blah, blah, blah."

Instead, the hotshots at McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney & Kuzak grappled with headline cases (from the L.A. riots to dwarf tossing), whiplash plot twists -- when one ex-partner got the shaft, it was a fall down an elevator -- and oodles of sex. (Even Dr. Ruth still must be mystified by the Venus Butterfly technique, but more about that later.)

With a TV reunion on the docket for May 12, we subpoenaed 12 cast members to testify about life behind the scenes, and after.

Corbin Bernsen: Dastardly-but-lovable divorce lawyer Arnie Becker

From lady-killer to cyberwonk. "I want to make everything interactive," says Bernsen, 47.

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Eight years after retiring as McKenzie, Brackman and crew's bronzed Lothario, Bernsen still acts -- since 1999 he has played Judge Sebring on CBS's JAG -- but his passion now is his own independent film company, Public Filmworks, and its start-up Web site, which he hopes someday will allow fans to vote online for everything from a film's casting to its costumes: "My intent is to spread enthusiasm."

Costar Michael Tucker agrees. "Corbin has a new idea every minute -- and a lot of mouths to feed." Married for 13 years to actress Amanda Pays, 42, he has four sons -- Oliver, 13, twins Henry and Angus, 10, and Finley, 3. Reminded that he's infamous on the "Law" set for mooning, Bernsen smiles. "I just have a beautiful ass," he says, "and I have to share."

Richard Dysart: Patriarchal partner Leland McKenzie

Since he ended his run as "Law"'s shrewd and kindly boss in 1994, the 73-year-old actor has been in retirement -- only don't call it that.

"It's advancement," he says, laughing. "Leaving the work you've done all your life is not a retreat. There's freedom out there. You no longer have to jump when the phone rings."

Dysart is now another sort of senior partner: He met third wife Kathryn Jacobi, 55, an artist with a grown son, not long before he was cast in "Law" -- "We've been together ever since," he says. They made it legal in '87.

Splitting his time between Santa Monica and British Columbia, he couldn't turn down the chance to reprise his favorite role. "But at 73," he says, "I remember the names of the characters better than the names of the actors. I knew that was going to happen. So I said, 'The hell with it. Call them by their characters' names.'"

Michele Greene: Determined intern Abby Perkins

Buttoned-up young Abby had one of the show's most famous moments -- a lesbian kiss with attorney C.J. Lamb (Amanda Donohoe) -- but what Greene remembers most is the indignity of playing a frump. When an earthquake rocked the set in 1987, she recalls, she crouched under a table thinking, "I don't want to die in Abby clothes."

Now 40 and living in Glendale, California, she's dressing -- and working -- more like Sheryl Crow. In June she'll release her first album, Ojo de Tiburón (Eye of the Shark), a collection of her own songs in English and Spanish. (Her mother, Dorita, a former singer, is Mexican.) "It took me a few years to find my sound," she says.

Her love life still hasn't settled into a groove. "I've had a series of crazy boyfriends," says Greene, who wed and quickly split from camera grip Brahms Yaich in '98. "I can't go out with any more crazy people."

Catch up with other cast members from "L.A. Law": Susan Ruttan | Susan Dey | Alan Rachins | Jimmy Smits | Blair Underwood | Larry Drake | Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker | Harry Hamlin