Serena Southerlyn

Serena Southerlyn was an Assistant District Attorney on Law & Order. Southerlyn joined the District Attorney's office in 2001 as an ADA, replacing Abbie Carmichael. She worked under Nora Lewin, Arthur Branch, and Jack McCoy.

Not much is revealed about education except she sat three seats in front of Kay Hartley in her contracts class (L&O: "Mother's Day") and took Professor Ira Simpkis' criminal law class her freshman year. (L&O: "Genius") Prior to working with McCoy, she worked in civil investigations. (L&O: "Missing") She often disagreed and fought with McCoy over their trial strategies in cases where she saw the defendant's crime as a byproduct of social circumstances such as homelessness or racism.

She had an especially antagonistic relationship with Branch, a conservative who replaced Lewin as District Attorney in 2002.

Branch dismissed Southerlyn because he felt that she was too sympathetic to the defendants.

In her final episode, she is revealed to be a lesbian. (L&O: "Ain't No Love")

This self-outing is generally believed by critics and viewers alike to have been poorly handled in terms of both story continuity and character development.

The revelation is also inconsistent with dialog in the final act of L&O: "Girl Most Likely", in which the DAs use the threat of outing a woman to force her into accepting a plea.

Trivia[]

• She is tied with Connie Rubirosa as the longest serving ADA on Law & Order, with 85 episodes.

Appearances[]

• Law & Order (4 seasons, 85 episodes):
  • Season 12: "Who Let the Dogs Out?" • "Armed Forces" • "For Love or Money" • "Soldier of Fortune" • "Possession" • "Formerly Famous" • "Myth of Fingerprints" • "The Fire This Time" • "3 Dawg Night" • "Prejudice" • "The Collar" • "Undercovered" • "DR 1-102" • "Missing" • "Access Nation" • "Born Again" • "Girl Most Likely" • "Equal Rights" • "Slaughter" • "Dazzled" • "Foul Play" • "Attorney Client" • "Oxymoron" • "Patriot"
  • Season 13: "American Jihad" • "Shangri-La" • "True Crime" • "Tragedy on Rye" • "The Ring" • "Hitman" • "Open Season" • "Asterisk" • "The Wheel" • "Mother's Day" • "Chosen" • "Under God" • Absentia" • "Star Crossed" • "Bitch" • "Suicide Box" • "Genius" • "Maritime" • "Seer" • "Kid Pro Quo" • "House Calls" • "Sheltered" • "Couples" • "Smoke"
  • Season 14: "Bodies" • "Bounty" • "Patient Zero" • "Shrunk" • "Blaze" • "Identity" • "Floater" • "Embedded" • "Compassion" • "Ill-Conceived" • "Darwinian" • "Payback" • "Married with Children" • "City Hall" • "Veteran's Day" • "Can I Get a Witness?" • "Hands Free" • "Evil Breeds" • "Nowhere Man" • "Everybody Loves Raimondo's" • "Vendetta" • "Gaijin" • "Caviar Emptor" • "C.O.D."
  • Season 15: "Paradigm" • "The Dead Wives Club" • "The Brotherhood" • "Coming Down Hard" • "Gunplay" • "Cut" • "Gov Love" • "Cry Wolf" • "All in the Family" • "Enemy" • "Fixed" • "Mammon" • "Ain't No Love"