She is portrayed as a well-established, high-profile litigator, regularly going up against the toughest, most powerful prosecutors in the New York City District Attorney's office.
Her role in the Law & Order universe has been as a foil for Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty) and Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston).
Much like the character McCoy, she is so zealous in her job that she will bend (but never break) trial laws to win a case, and sometimes risks being put in contempt of court for antagonizing a judge.
After the trial judge prohibits her client from receiving mail, she—angry about the decision—passes along an address to one of the man's associates, after he assures her that it will produce evidence that can clear him.
McCoy, reluctant to prosecute his old friend, ends up saving her by lying to the terrorist, telling him that Melnick had confessed to unwittingly helping him and that he would go to prison for life unless he admitted that she had not known what he was going to do with the information.