Eugene Young (character)

Eugene Young is a fictional character played by Steve Harris on the American legal drama, The Practice, created by David E. Kelley. Eugene was one of the original cast members and stayed as a main character until the end of the series, which ran between 1997 and 2004.

At the opening of the series, Eugene played an attorney working for Bobby Donnell, and before long was made a partner along with Lindsay Dole and Eleanor Frutt, precipitating the firm changing its name to Donnell, Young, Dole, and Frutt. In one of the first episodes, Eugene comments that he has been a lawyer for seven years ("Trial and Error"). He had been the first to join with Bobby, several years prior to the start of the show (he may or may not have done so immediately upon his becoming a lawyer). He was a private investigator before that, and his detective skills (including some strong arm tactics) come up from time to time in his legal career.

Like many of the attorneys on the series, Eugene's home life is tumultuous--while identified as married in the fifth episode, the tenth episode states him as being separated (and in all probability that was the case from the onset of the series). Still, in that episode, "Dog Bite," he turns down a date from an attractive D.A., though his reason for doing so is because his son "is not ready for that." Soon the divorce is finalized and his wife takes custody of their son, who is only about twelve years old at the time. Eugene struggles to be a good father and to keep his son on the straight and narrow. He admits more than once that part of what drives him is that his brother died in prison after being falsely convicted. His dream was always to change the system for the better, and one avenue of how to do that he long thought of was an appointment as a judge.

At some point in his life, Eugene was pulled over and beaten by the police for matching the general description of a wanted suspect. Perhaps as a direct result of that, Eugene (especially in the series' early seasons) had no problem playing the "race card" to get some of his African American clients off the hook. It also prompted him to get involved with the defense of a police officer who was fired for admitting that he had a racial problem ["First Degree"]. The police officer felt that his years on the force had turned him into a racist, and was seeking disability and an early pension. Even though the thought of giving an admitted racist disability benefits was uncomfortable, Eugene felt that there was an opportunity for greater good--it may prompt more police officers to admit when they are having problems with racism. In the course of that proceeding, Eugene did allow his pent up feelings regarding his beat down to seep through, angrily charging that "racism is a cancer that must be eradicated where you find it" and that it is an epidemic in the police department.

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