Gil Garcetti, the consulting producer for the show, was a former District Attorney for the city of Los Angeles. On a side note, his son Eric Garcetti served as the Mayor of Los Angeles.
The reason why a big fuss was made about gifts the new judge received, has to ethical concerns and rules about gratuities and conflict of interest, and how it would compromise a court officer's judgment. The same issues apply with ex-parte conversations, namely one party or attorney for the matter before the court, might exert undue influence on the judge's decision-making in private.
The show was inspired by the book "Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse" written by Steve Bogira, about the criminal justice system in the city of Chicago. Steve Bogira helped write the pilot and is consultant for the show.
The "good scotch" given to Judge Carmichael ( Simone Missick ) is Balmoor 21, which is a fictitious prop brand, much like the Glengoolie scotch in Archer (2009).
The production code was T11.10127.