Defense attorney Derek Strauss, played by Greg Germann, has returned to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit just in time for Season 27’s explosive two-part crossover with Law & Order. And true to form, Germann’s portrayal of the cutthroat attorney kept the squads on their toes in the courtroom.

While Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and her elite squad are tasked with apprehending these heinous criminals, it’s up to the steadfast A.D.A.s to secure justice once and for all, and that’s sometimes much easier said than done. Not only are they burdened with gathering a wealth of evidence that will secure a conviction, but A.D.A.s have to duke it out against the suspects’ defense attorneys, who always throw the squad’s investigation through a wringer in hopes of poking holes in the prosecution. While A.D.A. Sonny Carisi (Peter Scanavino) knows how to hold his own, defense attorney Strauss never fails to complicate the squad’s courtroom progress.

Defense attorney Derek Strauss made a troubling return to the courtroom during SVU‘s explosive two-hour crossover event with Law & Order, when he represented a millionaire with malignant investments in a black market surrogacy mill and human trafficking scheme. Check out some of Germann’s previous credits and his SVU history as defense attorney Derek Strauss, below:

Boasting a lucrative multi-decade career in entertainment, Germann first rose to fame in the early ’90s after appearing in a variety of television and film projects. Aside from his notable appearances in big-screen projects like Child’s Play 2 (1990), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1993), and Sweet November (2000), Germann also made guest appearances in series like Miami Vice, Tour of Duty, and L.A. Law.

Germann continued to garner recognition as Andy Del Arto in the ’90s legal drama Sweet Justice, and later starred as Richard Fish in the hit comedy legal series Ally McBeal. Germann clearly has a talent for procedurals, appearing on both sides of the courtroom during his lengthy time on screen.

In terms of his more recent projects, many also know Germann for his recurring roles as Hades in Once Upon a Time, Eric “Rico” Moyer in Ned and Stacey, and Dr. Thomas Koracick in recent seasons of the long-running medical series Grey’s Anatomy.

Greg Germann plays defense attorney Derek Strauss on Law & Order: SVU

As of SVU‘s Season 27 midseason premiere, Germann has guest starred across four seasons of SVU and appeared in five action-packed trials as defense attorney Derek Strauss, always managing to give the squads cause for alarm. Strauss is famous for showing up to prosecute officers and detectives after investigations turn south, excelling in painting portraits of police brutality in an effort to build his political career.

Germann made his SVU debut in Season 14’s “Undercover Blue” after a member of the 16th Precinct family, Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters), was framed for an assault he never committed. Strauss made a grand entrance as the A.D.A. tasked with trying the police officer, running a grueling case against the cop, and managing to get Cassidy to accidentally incriminate himself on the stand. Luckily, after the incident was revealed to be a grand conspiracy, Cassidy’s charges were dropped, and Strauss was successfully muzzled.

Strauss returned in Season 15 of SVU after Detective Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) landed in hot water for being accused of shooting a teenage drug dealer without justification. While Amaro tried to work through the proper legal channels and get a plea deal, Strauss revealed he wanted to charge Amaro with a hate crime, making Amaro pivot to preserve the truth: it had been a justified shooting and a devastating accident, and he planned on convincing a grand jury to see that.

Strauss did his best to twist the narrative and make Amaro confess, but Amaro’s emotional testimony convinced the jury that he was innocent, leading the charges to be dropped upon Amaro’s indictment.

Defense attorney Derek Strauss is former adversary of Benson’s

Strauss also gave Olivia Benson a titanic headache in Season 15 of SVU after the infamous serial killer William Lewis died by suicide and framed Benson for murder. After Benson narrowly survived a heinous kidnapping at the hand of Lewis, it was wild that he managed to haunt her from beyond the grave as defense attorney Derek Strauss took it upon himself to handle the case and indict Benson for murder.

After the grand jury failed to agree, Strauss expanded the investigation to include Benson’s former assault of Lewis when she was held hostage, when she (understandably) lost her cool on Lewis upon escaping her binds. Fortunately, the sum of Lewis’s trail of terror carried more weight with the jury, leading to Benson’s indictment.

But Strauss wasn’t gone for good; Germann made his way to the SVU courtroom again in Season 18’s “Genes” to represent a rapist, managing to get a wealth of evidence discarded from the trial before ultimately losing the case. With Strauss’s most recent SVU appearance in Season 27 — when he successfully represented a corrupt eugenist with millions invested in a human trafficking baby mill operation — it’s clear that he’s less about morals and more about power. But with Benson’s squad and the passionate A.D.A.s, Strauss will never go down without a fight.