Pearlman was the ASA heading the Narcotics cases in Season 1, assisting Lieutenant Cedric Daniels' detail in prosecuting the Barksdale Organization, a violent drug crew whom Detective Jimmy McNulty suspected of beating the Baltimore Homicide Unit out of 10 murders. She appears telling Daniels to "make lemonade" with the lack of quality police he has been given, and appears as the liaison between the detail and judge Daniel Phelan on legal matters. She approves the unit's level of "exhaustion" of conventional means – a requirement to authorize a wiretap – helping them make a case against Avon Barksdale. Throughout the season, she has a sexual relationship with McNulty.