It's an odd move, building in obsolescence like that. As Daffy Duck says when he wows the theatrical agent by blowing himself up, it's a great trick but you can only do it once. Sure they can. Allowing for deflation, one year seems about right for 1995. In Bochco's trademark Anymegalopolis, U.S.A., people follow trials the way other people follow sports.
Lawyers are bigger than movie stars.
No need to worry about coming up to speed after missing an episode or two. He puffs out his chipmunk cheeks and freezes friend and foe alike with his tiny but chilly eyeballs. We see him shutting up obnoxious drunks with a hiss and a glare and playing the news media like a saxophone. Somebody had better give Hoffman some kind of endearing quirk, though, or let him smile now and then. Otherwise he's quickly going to become a one-note bore.