Boston Legal Trivia
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50 free Boston Legal trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Boston Legal ran for five seasons and 101 episodes, won Emmys for James Spader and William Shatner, and ended with Denny Crane and Alan Shore getting married on a balcony. It began as a spin-off of The Practice with the working title Fleet Street, and its law firm building was really on Boylston Street. This Boston Legal quiz covers the lawyers of Crane, Poole & Schmidt, their quirks and cases, the guest stars from Betty White to Michael J. Fox, David E. Kelley's other shows and the awards the series collected. Every answer is sourced and explained.
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Q 01What does Denny Crane say, over and over, to punctuate his remarks?
His own name
His own name: 'Denny Crane!' In the pilot he explains what is at stake: 'I'm folklore in this town.'
Q 02In Boston Legal's pilot, named partner Edwin Poole is carted off after arriving at a staff meeting without what?
His trousers
His trousers: he greets the room with 'Sorry I'm late, good people', Alan asks whether it is Casual Monday, and the next shot has Poole strapped to a gurney.
Q 03On which network did Boston Legal air from 2004 to 2008?
ABC
ABC ran it for five seasons, then called time; the writers bit back in the last episodes, when Denny says the two of them could be a TV series and Alan replies, 'On a new network.'
Q 04Which two things do Alan and Denny share on the balcony at the end of most episodes?
Cigars and scotch
Cigars and scotch on the balcony close most episodes, as a liberal and a flag-waving conservative who agree on almost nothing talk the day over as best friends.
Q 05Under which working title, named for a Boston location, was Boston Legal first announced?
Fleet Street
Fleet Street was the title until July 2004, when the network switched to Boston Legal; the tower filmed as the firm's office stands on another street altogether, at 500 Boylston.
Q 06Denny Crane blames his lapses on what illness, though he is really in the early stages of Alzheimer's?
Mad cow disease
Mad cow disease is his running excuse; the truth catches up with him in the finale, when Alan goes to the Supreme Court to win him an experimental Alzheimer's drug.
Q 07What do Denny and Alan do in Boston Legal's finale?
They get married
They get married because Denny, facing Alzheimer's, wants a spouse to make his medical decisions and inherit his money; Alan points out a living will would do, then says yes.
Q 08Which real Supreme Court justice officiates Shirley and Carl's finale wedding at Nimmo Bay?
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia, played by an actor, is found fishing at the lodge days after hearing Alan argue Denny's case, and grudgingly agrees to officiate so that he can get back to the river.
Q 09Which country's firm buys Crane, Poole & Schmidt as Boston Legal ends?
China
China: Paul Lewiston quietly negotiates the sale, Denny's first words on meeting the buyers are 'They're all Chinese', and the firm's name comes down before the finale ends.
Q 10Which birds do Alan and Denny call themselves, after their planned Halloween costumes?
Flamingos
Flamingos: Alan turned up in the costume in season two to find Denny dressed as a hunter instead, and the name stuck so well that a prosecutor later raised it in court.
Q 11Accepting his 2007 Emmy as Alan Shore, James Spader joked he had stolen money from whom?
The mob
The mob, 'and they're all sitting right over there': he had just beaten James Gandolfini, nominated for Tony Soprano's final season, to the lead-actor prize.
Q 12Which award did William Shatner win in January 2005 for playing Denny Crane, on top of his Emmys?
A Golden Globe
A Golden Globe came between Emmys for the same role on two series; taking the second, Shatner joked that a passing 'Hi!' was the longest talk he'd had with the show's creator in two years.
Q 13Which five-time Emmy winner joined Boston Legal midway through season one as named partner Shirley Schmidt?
Candice Bergen
Q 21Which British barrister and creator of Rumpole of the Bailey was hired as a consultant on Boston Legal?
John Mortimer
John Mortimer knew the courtroom from the inside: at the bar he was a champion of free speech, and he fought the obscenity case over the title of a Sex Pistols album.
Q 22Which new hit took over Boston Legal's Sunday slot in spring 2005?
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy was a midseason stand-in that did too well to move, so Boston Legal's last first-season episodes were held over and it came back on Tuesdays with a 27-episode run.
Q 23Boston Legal was noted for frequently doing what, unusual for a legal drama?
Breaking the fourth wall
Candice Bergen's Shirley, a founding partner, is coaxed back to bring order to the office and to keep an eye on Denny, with whom she shares a checkered past.
Q 14What nickname do the other lawyers give Jerry Espenson because of how he walks?
Hands
Hands is the office nickname for the way he walks, palms pressed flat to his thighs; after therapy he sets up his own firm and starts beating Alan in court.
Q 15What does Jerry Espenson put in his mouth to turn himself into a loud, confident courtroom persona?
A wooden cigarette
A wooden cigarette: he takes it from a case, pops it in his mouth and at once starts calling Alan 'Al'; Alan warns him that chewing on it won't hide who he really is.
Q 16Which actor joined Boston Legal in season four as Carl Sack, a senior partner sent to help run the Boston office?
John Larroquette
John Larroquette won four straight Emmys on Night Court, asked not to be considered again, then won a fifth as a murderous client on The Practice, Boston Legal's parent show.
Q 17What was the name of Betty White's character, Alan's church-going, gossip-loving assistant?
Catherine Piper
Catherine Piper followed Alan over from The Practice; sacked by Shirley, she came back delivering food to the office, and took to holding up convenience stores.
Q 18Leslie Jordan's character Bernard Ferrion hired Alan after killing his mother with what?
A frying pan
A frying pan, cast iron: 'I hit her on the head with a skillet,' he tells Alan, and when a neighbour turns out to have seen it, he reaches for the same pan again.
Q 19Alan Shore suffers from night terrors and a fear of what?
Clowns
Clowns have frightened him since he was three, when his mother hung a hideous clown face in his room; in season two he freezes in court when a witness arrives in full costume.
Q 20Which creator of Boston Legal had himself practised law at a Boston firm?
David E. Kelley
David E. Kelley was a young Boston litigator when a legal thriller he wrote as a hobby was optioned; the script reached Steven Bochco, who hired him to write for L.A. Law.
Breaking the fourth wall was routine: Denny opens one episode by calling 'Cue the music' to the audience, and in another he pines for his 'old time slot'.
Q 24Which prestigious broadcasting honour did Boston Legal win for its 2005 season?
A Peabody Award
A Peabody Award went to the show with a citation praising it 'for fearing neither silliness nor social commentary and for adroitly combining the two'.
Q 25René Auberjonois, who played Paul Lewiston, was famous for which Star Trek role?
Odo
Odo was Deep Space Nine's shape-shifting security chief for seven seasons; Boston Legal then put him opposite another Star Trek alumnus, William Shatner, and fans logged every in-joke.
Q 26Paul Lewiston has his meth-addicted daughter Rachel abducted and sent where?
A rehab centre
A rehab centre, after he finds a crystal-meth kit in her bathroom; he takes custody of his granddaughter Fiona, and raising her gradually pulls him away from the firm.
Q 27Brad Chase often relies on his background in which military branch to intimidate people?
Marine Corps
Marine Corps veteran Brad says he 'served my country proudly in the first Gulf war'; Mark Valley, who played him, really did serve in that war, but as an Army officer out of West Point.
Q 28Where are Brad Chase and Denise Bauer married on Boston Legal?
A hospital labour room
A hospital labour room: Denise goes into labour at the wedding, Brad panics that the child will be born out of wedlock, and a doddering judge marries them between contractions.
Q 29Who played senior associate Denise Bauer on Boston Legal?
Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen left after season three and went on to Modern Family, shooting its pilot while visibly pregnant with twins and winning two Emmys as Claire Dunphy.
Q 30After Michael J. Fox's Daniel Post dies, Denise travels to a haunted house to retrieve what?
His head
His head: Daniel dies during a lung transplant in Brazil, his remains go missing, and the trail leads to a Halloween house in Salem said to use real cadavers.