Jamie Ross is a fictional character on the TV drama Law & Order, created by Rene Balcer and portrayed by Carey Lowell from 1996 to 1998 and 2022. She also appears in the short-lived Law & Order spin-off Law & Order: Trial by Jury, by which time the character has become a judge. She appeared in 53 episodes (50 episodes of Law & Order, one episode of Homicide: Life on the Street, and two episodes of Law & Order: Trial by Jury) As series regular The character was introduced in 1996 as a former defense attorney who graduated from law school at Columbia University. She enters the Manhattan District Attorney's office as an Assistant District Attorney, replacing Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy), who had been killed in a car accident in the previous episode. She initially has a rocky relationship with her superior Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) because his penchant for bending trial rules goes against her liberal idealism and sense of legal ethics. While the two never see perfectly eye-to-eye, they eventually grow to be close friends. During the 1997–98 season, Ross's personal and professional life was thrown into disarray by a custody battle with her ex-husband, Neil Gorton (Keith Szarabajka), over their daughter Katie (Caralyn Gorel). For the next year, the brutal litigation against her ex-husband (who is also a lawyer, with whom she used to work) leaves her with increasingly less time to devote to her job. She leaves the DA's office in the 1998 episode "Monster", to remarry and find a job that gives her more time to be with her family. She is replaced by Abbie Carmichael (Angie Harmon) in the following episode, "Cherished". Ross is initially a supporter of the death penalty, but by the end of season 8 she has become an opponent. She later explains this development: "When I worked at the DA's office, I saw the death penalty applied. ADAs are overworked. They're competitive. They often act out of their own prejudices or personal hurts. What they think the politics demands. They make mistakes. Errors of judgment. The death penalty is final. It eliminates any chance of correcting those mistakes." Guest appearances Lowell returned to the character in the 1999 episode "Justice", in which Ross and McCoy share a courtroom as adversaries. Once again a defense attorney, she represents a client McCoy is prosecuting for murder. When McCoy discovers she had violated