Kathleen Maguire (Emmy Award-winner Kim Delaney), who is a year out of law school, owns her own law firm and often represents repeat offenders. She is steadily building her reputation as a hard-hitting, straightforward defense attorney in the weathered courtrooms of Philadelphia's City Hall.

In the premiere episode, "Pilot," Kathleen McGuire's partner -- who has been on a pill-fed fad diet -- exposes herself in a courtroom, has a meltdown and is shipped off to the sanitarium. Meanwhile, an obnoxious judge finds Kathleen in contempt of court and sends her to lockdown. Just in time, opportunistic public defender Will Froman steps in and offers to be her new partner. In what seems like her first victory of the day, Kathleen gets a good deal for a client accused of robbery, only to discover that he used this charge as an alibi when he was really committing murder in a bar fight.

Her workday is almost at an end and she is looking forward to spending the evening with her 10-year-old son, Patrick. Those plans are thwarted when her ex-husband, the assistant district attorney Daniel Cavanaugh, tells her he is the one who used his connections to get her out of jail, but not knowing how long it would take, decided to take Patrick to his house for the night. She goes home to an empty house and, in the silence, realizes the toll the day's events have taken on her.

"Philly" stars Kim Delaney as Kathleen Maguire, Tom Everett Scott as Will Froman, Kyle Secor as Daniel X. Cavanaugh, Rick Hoffman as Terry Loomis, Diana-Maria Riva as Patricia and Scotty Leavenworth as Patrick Cavanaugh.

Guest starring are Joanna Cassidy as Marion Marshall, James Pickens, Jr. as Clyde Coleman, Darryl Thierse as Jerome Webster, Nicki Micheaux as Shayna, Phil LaMarr as Anthony, Kristanna Loken as Lisa Walensky, Robert Harper as Judge Hawes, Jennifer Parsons as Irene, Eric A. Payne as sheriff, Scott Alan Smith as Jerry Bingham, Dean Rader-Duval as Will's client, Bari K. Willerford as Hawes' tipstaff, Netfa Perry as female inmate, Seraih Carol as turnkey, Alan Blumenfeld as Judge Dacosta, Michael Baily Smith as George, Jamie McShane as detective, Linda Castro as Nancy Ramirez, William Newman as Judge Fuller, Jamal Hamilton as Damian "Cueball", Ron Canada as Judge Griffin, Monique Edwards as A.D.A. Teena Davis, Dena Dietrich as Judge Armstrong, David Anthony Marshall as prisoner, April Washington as woman no. 1, Leslie Marshall as bartender, Gabrielle Gonzalez as hispanic woman, Jennifer Echols as Gwendolyn, Mike Rankle as Fuller's tipstaff and Davis Goryl as Fuller's A.D.A.

"Pilot" teleplay was by Alison Cross and directed by Kevin Hooks.

"Philly" is a Steven Bochco Production in association with Paramount Network Television, co-created by Steven Bochco and Alison Cross. Bochco, Kevin Hooks and Rick Wallace are the executive producers. Alison Cross serves as co-executive producer. "Philly" is filmed at the Culver Studios in Culver City, California.

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