The story-line of this episode is continued from the "Law & Order" episode Baby, It's You (1997). Richard Belzer (Detective John Munch), Yaphet Kotto (Lt. Al Giardello), Jon Seda (Detective Paul Falsone), and Zeljko Ivanek (ASA Ed Danvers) all play their "Homicide" characters in that "Law & Order" episode. Jerry Orbach (Detective Lennie Briscoe), Sam Waterston (EADA Jack McCoy), Benjamin Bratt (Detective Rey Curtis), and Carey Lowell (ADA Jamie Ross) all play their Law & Order (1990) characters in this episode. In "Law & Order" syndication presentations, this continuation episode is never seen, instead skipping to Blood (1997).
"Pro hac vice" ("for this occasion") is a legal term for a practice in common law that allows an attorney who is not licensed to practice law in a specific jurisdiction to participate as counsel of record on a single-case basis. In this instance, Jack McCoy is a member of the New York state bar and licensed to practice law in that state but not in Maryland, which normally means he would not be allowed to act as an attorney in Maryland. However, by granting a pro hac vice motion, the judge is making an exception that allows McCoy to sit second chair and act as co-prosecutor in Dr. Janaway's case alongside ADA Danvers. When a pro hac vice motion is not requested by a judge, it must be made by an attorney who is a member of that jurisdiction's bar. That attorney submits a motion to the judge on the case he/she is working, a motion that will allow an attorney who is not a member of that state's bar to become a temporary member of the state bar just for that case. The visiting attorney is usually required to submit documentation that he/she is a current member of the bar in the state he/she normally practices law in and holds a current, valid law license. Pro hac vice motions are actually not very common, and while all 50 states in the United States have some form of a pro hac vice statute, they intend for pro hac vice admission to be used on a sparing and occasional basis.
This episode features a Bond girl and a Bond villain: Carey Lowell (Jamie Ross) played Pam Bouvier in Licence to Kill (1989) while Yaphet Kotto (Al Giardello) played Dr. Kananga (Mr. Big) in Live and Let Die (1973).
This episode takes place in November 1997.