Joey Heric

Joey Heric is a fictional, recurring character on The Practice, played by John Larroquette, who won a Primetime Emmy Award for the role in 1998 and was nominated again in 2002.

Joey is a wealthy, wisecracking, narcissistic psychopath with a habit of stabbing his gay lovers to death. Despite his psychological problems, he is a brilliant schemer, who delights in and excels at manipulating the legal system for his own benefit. He first appeared as a murder defendant who had hired Bobby Donnell's firm to represent him, while in his second appearance (again as a murder defendant) he chooses to represent himself, with Bobby appointed by the court as second chair. When he returns several years later, he is now a licensed attorney, who hires Bobby's firm to help him with his first murder trial—only for Bobby to discover that Joey's primary motivation in becoming a lawyer is to continue to manipulate the legal system for his own amusement.

Larroquette's final appearance as Joey was a cameo in the season six finale, in which Joey appears on the news to publicly hint that he may be the culprit behind the O'Malley shooting—a twist on the firm's infamous misdirection strategy known as "Plan B."

Larroquette would eventually join the cast of The Practice's spin-off, Boston Legal, but as a different character, despite the fact that both shows share the same continuity.