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There are roughly four kinds of lawyers who show up in make-believe courts. You've got your rambunctious rebel (often a South'ner), who wears ill-fitting suits, spouts folksy wisdom, and induces amazing last-minute confessions from formerly tight-lipped witnesses. You've got your by-the-book D.A., who's only purpose in life is to get thwarted by said rambunctious rebel. You've got your former wunderkind-turned-alcoholic washout, who's got to dry out for one last case, because this one means something, dammit.

Lastly, you've got your tenacious, tough-as-nails crusader. She's sharp, relentless and she loves a lost cause; she's the pro bono maestro with a huge bone to pick. So don't even think of trying to offer her client a plea.

That's Tovah Feldshuh -- or, at least, her semi-recurring character on Law & Order, Danielle Melnick. Or, at least, it was, until Melnick was implicated in one of her clients' crimes. Hey, even feisty crusaders gotta eat!

Feldshuh might wince at being associated so closely with one role. She's appeared in dozens of films, often portraying meddling Jewish women, or caring Jewish women, or meddling, caring Jewish women. She earned a Tony nomination for her portrayal of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.

Feldshuh's latest film, The Tollbooth, was just released in New York; here's a New York Times description: "22-year-old Sarabeth Cohen (Marla Sokoloff)...talks us through the travails of her Jewish-American family and her own coming of age. The youngest of three daughters, Sarabeth chafes against a mother (the reliable Tovah Feldshuh)..."

Is there anyone who does the chafed-against mother better than Tovah Feldshuh?

Yet we'd wager that the ratio of people who recognize Feldshuh from Law & Order to, say, the people who recognize her from Brewster's Millions or Kissing Jessica Stein has got to be at least 900 to 1.

Why? Well, for starters, she's pretty darn great, even earning an Emmy nomination for her Danielle Melnick role. And we'll go one record as saying, if we're ever wrongfully accused of a crime, we'd love to have her at our side. Or if we're ever confused about our burgeoning lesbian relationship. Either way.

Also, her website, TovahFeldshuh.com, is kind of awesome. Just make sure your volume's turned down.