David E. Kelley is stepping away from his school-set drama Boston Public to devote more time to ABC's The Practice and his new Fox series, girls club, sources confirmed this week.

As Boston Public enters its third season this fall on Fox, the writer-producer will turn over his duties as executive producer and head writer to Jason Katims, executive producer of UPN's Roswell and writer for ABC's My So-Called Life.

It is expected that Kelley will remain a consultant and writer for Boston Public.

Meanwhile, ABC is counting on Kelley to redirect The Practice, whose average viewership dropped last season to 12.3 million from 18.3 million in 2000-2001.

Kelley's latest series, girls club, revolves around three female lawyer-roommates in San Francisco.