Ling Woo wasn't originally intended to be a regular. David E. Kelley liked Lucy Liu so much as a guest star, he and the writer decided to reveal that she has a law degree and join the firm after a few episodes, giving her a reason to be there.
During a September 2022 interview of Leslie Jordan conducted by Megan Mullally at the Library of Congress's National Book Festival, Jordan recalled that when he met Robert Downey Jr. on the set of Ally McBeal, it was actually not the first time they had met: "I am sober 20, 25 years-completely sober. But I did [have a period of severe alcoholism]. I went to jail five times in one year. The last year of my drinking, I was just on a tear. I had the best time. But anyway. They arrested me and they had me in a holding cell. And I looked over in my room. My roommate was Robert Downey Jr. So. I thought, now that's something, you know, and many, many years later, after, you know, we had--he had cleaned up. I had cleaned up. We were both on a TV show called Ally McBeal. And I don't know if you remember, but everybody in the world was on that. There was Calista Flockhart and Ellen's wife, Portia de Rossi. Lucy Liu. Oh, there was just a whole list of girls. And I was just enthralled meeting everybody. And they were introducing me in the dressing room. And I turned around and there stood Robert Downey Jr, and he said, 'Do I know you?' And I said, 'Zip it.' He said, 'What?' I said. 'Zip it!' He followed me out and asked, 'did we use drugs [together]?' I said, 'No, no, no. 152 Pod A, Cell 13 You were top. I was bottom.' But here's the crazy story. And this is a wonderful story. When I-- When I got out. Of the--of the jail. I worried there was a kid on our pod who was HIV positive and the other prisoners treated him unmercifully. I would sit down with him to eat and the other guys would say, 'Don't eat with him. He's got AIDS, don't eat with him.' And even the kid would get a little teary eyed and he'd look at me and say, 'You don't have to do this, like eat with him.' And I say, 'Oh, no, I do. Trust me, I do have to eat with you.' And. . . . so when I got out, I worried myself sick about who would watch after him. Now that and I thought I bet Robert would--I don't know him, but he seems nice and kind and I was the only person that I knew in the whole United States that was privy to his current address. And so I wrote this letter asking him to please watch after that kid. And I wrote R. Downey Jr 152 Pod A, Cell 13, top bunk, and I threw it in the mail and didn't think anything more about it. Well, when I bumped into him four years later, he took me outside. He said, 'I want to talk to you.' He goes, 'You wrote me that letter.' And I said, Yeah.' And he got kind of teary eyed. He said, 'I carried that letter with me, my entire incarceration, and I want to really thank you.' So I'm responsible for most of his success!"
Lara Flynn Boyle auditioned to play Ally. Although she didn't win the role, David E. Kelley liked her so much that he wrote the character of Helen Gamble on "The Practice - Professione avvocati (1997)" just for her. She also appeared in an episode in the last season as a different character.
The average size worn by the women on the set was 0-2. Jane Krakowski, who wore a size 6, reportedly said that some days she felt like a "fat cow."