The show focused on the romantic and personal lives of the main characters, often using legal proceedings as plot devices for contrast and drama of a character. For example, the acrimonious divorce proceedings of a client may provide a backdrop for Ally’s decision to break with a boyfriend. Opposing legal arguments were also frequently used to explore many faces of various social issues.

Cage & Fish (which becomes the Cage / Fish & McBeal or Cage, Fish, & Associates at the end of the series), the fictional law firm where most characters in the play, is presented as a highly sexualized , symbolized by the unisex public bathroom. Attorneys and secretaries of the company routinely date, flirt with, or having a romantic history together, and often run into former or potential romantic interests in the room or on the street.

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