Judging Amy

Amy dreams that Bruce makes breakfast for her and Maxine and then dances with her in the kitchen. Amy finds out about some new information that may get Graciella a new trial. Unfortunately, Graciella is murdered in prison before this happens. Sean and Maxine got to exreme measures to help a foster family that may lose their home because they can't make their mortgage payments. One of Vincent's students tries to stab him with a pencil. Amy hears the case of a 10 year old boy with an extensive history of violence. The boy accuses Bruce of challenging him to a fight. Amy tells Bruce twice to stop looking at the boy. They call a recess and Amy and Bruce have a big argument in chambers. Bruce then announces that he is quitting his job. At the end of the episode, Amy announces she is quitting hers also.

Maxine and Patricia discuss their feelings about dating. Patricia falls for Ignacio when they bump into him at a restaurant. Maxine insists she is only friends with Ignacio, but her behavior suggests otherwise. Maxine investigates a college professor accused of abusing his wife. Maxine learns that the professor abused his first wife; When Maxine informs the current wife about his past, she finally admits that he was abusing her also and has him arrested. Amy hears a case in which a teenage boy is accused of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. During trial, it is revealed that the boy was the victim of a cop's ""Raid and Run"" scheme. Lauren is suspended from school for vandalism after her and her friends destroy several trays of meat. Amy learns that Lauren and her friends are part of a group called ""straight edge."" At the end of the episode, Amy has a showdown with Lauren about her recent behavior. Vincent gets a book deal based on his experience teaching at the juve

Lauren announces to the family that she has decided to become a vegetarian. Amy has a confrontation with Lauren's spiked-haired friend Reagan about the issue when Reagan and her brother stop by to take Lauren to school. Amy hears a case in which a teenage boy is accused of assaulting his mother and locking her in the basement. The boy admits that his mother beat his pit bull to death and also used to leave him home alone when he was a small child. Maxine investigates a child abuse allegation involving an autistic child. The child was screaming a lot because he missed his mom's boyfriend. Peter becomes concerned about what Gillian did during their separation. They decide to drop the issue and make up.

Several weeks have passed since Amy's miscarriage, but things are not quite back to normal for her. She refuses to discuss the house with David and brushes off Bruce's admonition that she's becoming too close to Graciela. Maxine meets up with a high school friend at a wedding and discovers that her recent divorce has left her depressed. Maxine helps her reconnect with the world by getting her involved at the hospital - holding HIV positive babies to stimulate their growth. Crystal invites Vincent to come to her AA meeting marking 30 days of being sober and they begin a new phase in their relationship. When Graciela is arrested for being in the car during a drive-by shooting, Amy goes all-out to keep her from being tried as an adult. Bruce asks her not to get too invested because he doesn't want to see her ""lose...again,"" which unfortunately, she does. David returns Amy's half of the deposit on their dream house and tells her that he thinks they should take a break.

Amy finds it rather difficult to follow her mom's advice and embrace her 40th birthday as a milestone. Donna is in Amy's court representing a 13-year-old girl who accidentally kills her friend while they are out on a joyride but shows no remorse for her death. Maxine tries to determine whether two brothers are better off without the presence of their father, an ex-con, in their lives. Amy miscarries on her 40th birthday. Amy drowns her sorrows at a bar located on the beach, where she meets a stranger who gives her the perspective she needs during her difficult time.

Amy oversees an emotional case involving a 13-year-old boy with a history of violent behavior who shot and killed his grandfather who was suffering from terminal lung cancer; Maxine uncovers a human smuggling operation while following up on a report of a young boy being beaten numerous times; Vincent witnesses the gunning down of a prostitute by her pimp; Meanwhile, Amy and David search for the perfect house to start their life together in.

Unaware that he is hiding his true feelings and pretending to be happy for her, Amy is annoyed by Bruce's casual response to news of her engagement. Amy is also annoyed that her relationship with Bruce has evolved to the point where he knows all of her idiosyncrasies, including, he asserts, how she'll rule in the heartrending case of a teenage girl with epilepsy whose parents disagree about whether or not she should have risky brain surgery that may stop her seizures; Elsewhere, Maxine has issues with an affluent, mostly white prep school after a student there is severely beaten; a publisher takes an interest in Vincent's new book; Lauren lashes out at Amy for being pregnant.

When Amy tells Lauren about being pregnant, her reaction is not exactly what Amy would have liked; While working at the outreach office for teenage runaways, Vincent uses his flair for writing to encourage a teenage runaway to write a better essay about himself so that he will be accepted in a half-way house; Amy presides over a case involving parents who want to terminate their custody over their adopted child due to his short temper and destructive behavior; Maxine deals with a case involving a boy who uses his eight year old foster brother as a drug mule; Peter fears for his relationship with Gillian when all she wants to do is have sex; Amy and David become engaged.

Amy learns that she is pregnant with David's baby after taking a home pregnancy test, resulting in David returning from his sailing trip to discuss with Amy their future together and what they mean to each other; Maxine's first case back since her heart-attack involves a seventeen year old single father; Amy presides over a case involving a boy who stabs his teacher; Vincent and Crystal take a ten year old prostitute to the hospital after being beaten up by her pimp.

High-school student Graciela Reyes is brought to Amy's courtroom for violating her parole, but it is soon uncovered that the reason for this is that her mother has moved to Gautamala along with her two brothers, leaving Graciela behind; Meanwhile, the Gray family rallies around Maxine after she is forced to have open-heart surgery after she suffers a second heart attack during a visit to the cardiologist; Sean locates Anthony Bird, who is living with a family who had recently adopted him.

Maxine resists Gillian's home grown cardiac rehabilitation program; Lauren tells Amy that she wants to live with Michael; when Vincent comes to Sean looking for work, Sean refers him to Crystal Turner, who runs a outreach program for homeless teenagers; David quits his job and takes off for the Caribbean on his sailboat; Amy must decide whether a depressed woman with multiple sclerosis is well enough to care for her ten year old son; Vincent offers to tutor a homeless teenager studying for his G.E.D., but when he tries to get the boy off the street and into a group home, the boy disappears.

Frantic with worry, the Gray siblings quarrel like two year olds, and Sean is wracked with guilt, as Maxine lies in an ICU bed recovering from a heart attack; Amy finally gets a new clerk, whose ability to speak Spanish is an invaluable aid in the sentencing hearing of a teenager charged with burglary and assault; Ignacio gives Vincent some wise insight into Maxine; reminiscing about the beginning of their relationship brings Gillian and Peter back together; after Maxine hallucinates about her mother's death in the same hospital, she checks herself out and returns home despite her doctor's recommendation that she undergo bypass surgery.

Back at work from her suspension, Maxine is becoming unhinged as she desperately searches for Anthony Byrd; Amy spends a tense day awaiting the results of a breast biopsy; Donna's summation reveals how closely she identifies with the teenage client she represents in Amy's court; Peter and Gillian search for a school for Ned; Amy arrives home to find an unconscious Maxine on the kitchen floor.

Maxine teeters on the brink of collapse as she refuses to move out of Colton Gerard's hotel room, rages against Sean for his failure to run the department properly, and is suspended after being arrested for slapping a foster child who has abused and neglected her elderly and ailing foster mother; Vincent gets an eye-opening look at his life through the eyes of a teenager in foster care who was abused by his mother; Peter's praise of Gillian's mothering skills draws them closer together when they meet with their son's teacher, and they are shocked to discover that Ned is biting other children because his genius-level I.Q. leaves him bored with school; Donna is angry when an over-controlling Amy steamrollers right over her and the State's Attorney in a misguided attempt to help Donna win her first case as an attorney and ensure that her mentally ill teenaged client receives the help he desperately needs from the system; distressed about her mother's arrest and refusal to return home, Amy

Amy has difficulty dealing with Lauren's need for privacy; blinded by Anthony Bird's loss, Maxine lies to Sean and makes all the wrong choices in dealing with a teenaged boy who's holed up in a hotel room after discovering that he was kidnapped by his mother as a child; Amy must determine if aggravated sexual assault occurred between two teenagers attending a sex party, but can't seem to leave the case in the courtroom when she encounters Lauren at home; Gillian takes the news of their financial difficulties well, and offers Peter her support; Vincent confesses to Gillian that he's no longer working on his book; Amy resists David's attempts to redefine their relationship.

After Vincent asks his brother to lend him the money he needs to pay back the advance on his novel, Peter meets with his accountant to free up the funds and discovers that his business is headed toward insolvency; Maxine sets some strict boundaries for Ignacio, who soon realizes that it's time to divorce Francesca; Amy is back in juvenile court and immediately has a conflict with Bruce over the pace at which her docket is moving, but she persists in digging deeper into the case of a twelve year old boy who admitted to a felony murder; even though the publicity generates a lot of leads, Sean is upset when the Anthony Byrd case makes the paper, which recommends that they be fired for losing Anthony in the system; David buys a boat, but can't convince Amy to overcome her aversion to sailing; Maxine's teenage client mounts a publicity campaign to find an adoptive family before he graduates from high school; Donna resigns as Amy's clerk after accepting a position as a court-appointed minor

Vincent's struggles with his latest novel leads him into blowing off his agent, who responds by dropping Vincent and demanding the return of the advance that Vincent's already spent; Maxine receives another award, and uses her acceptance speech to talk about the young boy lost in the system that she and Sean can't seem to locate; Amy's dealings with two troubled teenage girls and their mothers in Accountability court inspires her to change her focus when she returns to Juvenile Court; Maxine tries to avoid removing the children of a overburdened single mother working to overcome anger and abuse issues; David finally feels that he's put his wife's death behind him and can now pursue a relationship with Amy; Ignacio lets Maxine know that he's ready to do whatever it takes to have a future with her; Amy fires Donna to propel her into practicing law; Kyle decides to accompany Heather to Minnesota and take care of their son while she's in rehab.

With all three of her children living once again under the same roof with her, Maxine finally decides to let them be the grownups that they are (horseplay notwithstanding) and fix their own breakfasts; the ceiling in Amy's courtroom collapses, and she is sentenced to a stint in Accountability court, which she deems a punishment for her ruling in the Casey Ives matter; shortly after his return from New Mexico, David is devastated to discover that the man who holds the secret to his wife's murder has died; Ignacio asks Amy to plead his case with Maxine; Sean asks Maxine to track down the missing placement records on a little boy, and they discover that there's no trace of him anywhere; Heather visits Kyle to ask his forgiveness, announce that she's entering into a treatment program, and tell him about their son, but he doesn't believe any of it; Maxine relents her stance on Ignacio a little by allowing him to fix the broken sprinklers in the garden; Amy tries to figure out what's behind