abstract
| - Michael "Mike" Cutter is an Executive Assistant District Attorney working for District Attorney Jack McCoy. He is later promoted to Bureau Chief ADA of the Special Victims Bureau. Cutter, like his predecessor Jack McCoy, is willing to bend the rules to prosecute and convict criminals. In one episode, he nearly commits perjury to allow Detectives Ed Green and Cyrus Lupo to search a store where a victim is hidden. Cutter is willing to use questionable methods to procure guilty charges, such as using a juror's infatuation with Connie Rubirosa to find a guilty plea. Cutter relies heavily on his Blackberry and even uses it to look up statutes. He works closely with Connie Rubirosa, the Assistant District Attorney who had previously aided McCoy. Because of this, he has occasionally discussed McCoy with her — usually with complaints — in an attempt to understand his new boss. As evidenced by his first appearance, he is familiar with former District Attorney Arthur Branch, having apparently been in Branch's office on at least one occasion. In the Season 20 episode "Innocence", Cutter's former Hudson University law professor raises an issue regarding Cutter's qualification to practice law. Although he did the required undergraduate work, a few college credits were not recorded into his academic record. As a result of the missing credits, Cutter never received an undergraduate degree, a Bachelor of Arts (BA). Despite the lack of an undergraduate degree, he attended and graduated from law school; however, he "perpetuated" the oversight to the Bar Overseers by misrepresenting to them that he had received a BA and was admitted to the New York State Bar. He made the same misrepresentation when he applied for a position with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. At the end of the episode, he received a letter of reprimand from the Bar Overseers which also stated that the flaw in his academic background did not prejudice his past convictions. The letter would be published in the Law Journal the next day, and he was able to retain his law license.
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