04x12 - On Your Honor

[bunniefuu]

Previously on "L.A. Law..."

I hit a boy... in my car.

I k*lled him.

Oh, God.

I mean, I got out to see if he was okay,

but his body had been knocked way down into this ditch.

You have shown a certain pension for brute force

when dealing with the office staff.

I also think we should have talked about it.

Thank you, Michael, for pointing that out to me.

What a caring and compassionate group of people you are.

Come on, Douglas.

But I think we should take a break from each other.

Don't you think we should work on this?

We've done nothing but work on it.

Now Stuart's off to appellate court,

and I'm home changing diapers.

And with Rosalind Shays at the office,

I don't even feel missed.

You are missed plenty, believe me.

Are you about done?

I'll be a while, actually. Do you need something?

I need my chair. I need my desk.

I need my office. Get off the phone.

Norman, I'll call you right back.

So here we are, platonic friends.

Seems perfectly natural.

[scoffs]

The Kuzak sarcasm.

Oh, I miss it.

I miss you, Michael.

I miss you, too, Grace.

You're gonna win this thing, Michael. I know it.

So let's you and I go to bed right now.

I understand.

You know, let's you and I go to bed...right now.

Grace?

Hey, Bruce.

Uh, Grace, this is Steve Sterling

from the governor's office.

Grace Van Owen.

It's nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Thanks.

Grace, I don't know if you've heard,

Judge Rabinow had a fatal heart att*ck last night.

I did hear. Um...

How old was he?

Only .

But he was fat and he had some habits.

Anyways, aside from the human tragedy of it all,

it's created a real docket crunch,

which is why Steven has come here.


-What can I do?
-You can take his place.

I beg your pardon? [drops folder]

The governor would like to appoint you

to the position of Superior Court Judge.

You applied for the job, Grace. Don't you want it?

I
-
-I
-
-I applied over two years ago, and...

nothing happened and...

Not true. It was received quite favorably.

We're acting on it now.

Just like that? I'm a judge?

You've been an outstanding district attorney.

Your intellect and your ethics

have been beyond reproach.

There's nobody more deserving.

I
-
-I have a lot of cases here.

I've got a trial starting
-
-

We'll reassign your cases.

Don't I, um...

Shouldn't I take some course or something on...

you know, judging?

Seven years in the trenches is training enough.

You can do this.

I don't know what to say.

Just say you'll except... Judge.

Okay.

I accept.

[theme music playing]

[music]

First off, I'm pleased to announce

I've instituted a policy which increases

the work yield of our office staff

without increasing our cost by one penny.

Figure out a legal way to own slaves, Doug?

Staggered lunch hours.

When secretaries eat together,

no work is getting done in the office.

Lunch hours become hours and a half,

and we pay the freight.

Don't you think that might be a little bit small, Douglas?

We live or die on small, Michael.

Small details. Small print.

Small increments of profit and loss

which add up to prosperity or the lack thereof.

All right. Let's move along.

Fajed vs. The United States of America, et al.

Why do I know this is one I'm going to hate?

You shouldn't. Sherri Fajed is an Iranian woman

that I did some immigration work for.

Her husband, unfortunately, was aboard that plane

that was sh*t down by the Navy.

We're involved in this why, Victor?

She's got a damn good cause of action, that's why.

We're gonna go after the government, the Navy,

and the manufacturer of the radar.

Do we have an offer?

Yeah, the offered all the victims ,,

but that's just a token

Well, a token may be better than nothing.

These cases are being dismissed out of hand

on public policy grounds.

Yeah, I know, and so could this one.

We have an evidentiary hearing on a motion to dismiss today.

The client doesn't want to settle, though.

Keep us informed on this one, Victor.

Halliday vs the Spike?

The Spike is a jewelry store that specializes in

erotic body piercing for its customers.

Oh, God.

Linda Halliday availed herself as a service,

and as a result, certain parts of her body became infected.

These would be... erotic parts.

In this context, yes.

DOUG: Don't we handle any normal cases anymore?

Simple stuff, like real estate closings,

probate proceedings?

Let's go, Douglas! I have a day full of meetings.

That's it. Except lastly, I'm pleased to announce

that the overjet is a part of my past,

and the braces have at long last been removed.

[applause]

Thank you. And on that, we're adjourned.

Oh, Jonathan?

I, uh, spoke to Gracie last night,

and they found the boy's body.

When?

Two days ago. There was no evidence.

I don't think they'll ever be able to trace the driver.

That's good.


-Yeah.
-Thank you.

The problem is that we need to get our overtime costs down,

and cutting down on long lunch hours

is one way to do it.

Have any of us been guilty of taking long lunches?

No, you haven't.

Consider it a safeguard.

A way to improve office coverage.

A signal to the rest of the staff.

You're treating us like children.

No, I'm not.

Boy, this is lousy timing.

You're already turned us down for our pay raises and now
-
-

Firm revenues are down.

We can't afford the raises.

I don't wanna seem disrespectful, Mr. Brackman,

but, well...

there are plenty of things that we can't afford.

Yeah, like our rent.

Gee. Any other complaints, ladies?

Yeah. The new word processors.

They flash messages at us.

"My world is calm."

"My world is productive."

"I love my world."

Plus, video display terminals can cause

birth defects and miscarriages.

What do you want me to do?

We want you to look into making them safer.

And we want you to give us our raise.

We want you to lay off our lunch hour.

All right. Look...

let me give it some thought,

and I'll get back to you tomorrow.

Great.

And, Mrs. Fajed, could you please tell the court

what your husband was doing in Iran

at the time of this incident?

All of our relatives still live back there.

He was visiting family.

He was coming back, then, uh, then it happened.

Ma'am, when did you first learn

that your husband's plane had been sh*t down?

In the morning, I heard that the Navy had sh*t down

and Iranian aircraft.

And when I heard that it was a passenger flight

from Bandar Lengeh to Dubai, I thought...

"Oh, God."

I just had this sick feeling.

Somehow I knew he was on it.

What did you do?

I put on the television,

because all the news stations were talking about it.

They showed pictures of the ocean,

with bodies floating.

And they said there were no survivors.

I kept praying and praying.

Maybe he took another flight.

Maybe he changed his plans.

Maybe he, uh...

I got the call that night.

They told me my husband...

And they said he was dead.

Yes.

Do you have children, Mrs. Fajed?

Yes. I have a daughter, nine, and a boy, seven.

They are slitting right there.

Could you describe what life has been like

for you family after the death of your husband?

Objection.

The sole issue of this hearing

is whether the court should entertain this cause of action.

Her damages aren't relevant to this proceeding.

Your Honor, the assistant U.S. attorney

is asking you to dismiss my client's claim,

and I think that before you consider that,

you should consider her economic and emotional suffering,

as well as the fact that she has no other place

to redress this harm except in an American court.

The objection's sustained.

I'm not listening to any evidence on damages here.

I have nothing further, then, Your Honor.

One question, ma'am.

At the time of your husband's death,

he still was an Iranian citizen, was he not?

What difference does that make?

Well, when a United States m*llitary action

results in a causality to an Iranian man,

that smacks more of foreign policy than a civil lawsuit.

There were women and children on that plane.

You can't just k*ll innocent people

and call it foreign policy.

That would never happen in Iran, would it?


-They were civilians!
-Judge!

Civilians blew up the Pan
-Am .

Your student civilians took the hostages.

Objection, Your Honor!

Mr. Richards, that isn't relevant.

But it is relevant, Your Honor.

Iran is a country where the civilians

can be every bit as dangerous as the m*llitary.

So when our servicemen see any type of aircraft

coming at them, there's got to be a concern.

It's a t*rror1st state.

Objection!

That is why we moved here, Mr. Richards,

because this is not a t*rror1st nation.

But this country sh*t down that plane!

This country k*lled my husband!

All right, Michael, check it out.

What do you think?

Come on, this is serious.

If I have any complaints about the fit,

I have to tell them by :, and that's in minutes.

This is the new uniform, huh?

Yeah, it feels a little tight through here.

Do you think it looks tight?

No. No, it's...it's fine.

Don't start with me, Michael.

[chuckles] What?

You know exactly what?

This uniform helps sell the Laker Girls.

The Laker Girls help sell me.

It's great exposure for my choreography.

So let's try not to be overly dismissive.

Okay, okay. I was just admiring your exposure, that's all.

[knock on door] Would you get that?

That's a delivery from the office.

You work too hard, Mr. Litigator.

You have a delivery?

No.

Grace!


-Michael.
-Gracie.

Uh, uh...

This is, uh, uh
-
-

Kimberly

Kimberly Dugan, Grace Van Owen.


-Hi.
-Hi.

I, uh
-
-I just came by to say hi,

but you got company
-
-

No, no, that's fine! Come on in.

We were just...

We were just looking over Kimberly's uniform.

She's a... she's a Laker Girl.


-Oh.
-Yeah.

I have to go try on my other outfit

and make a phone call. So excuse me?


-Sure.
-Thanks.

I'm sorry. I should have called first.

No, no, no, that's okay. Come on in. Sit down.

Here, here.

Look, the reason I came by...

Michael...

today I became a judge.

What?

Yes!

Rabinow d*ed, and
-and they asked me to take his place,

and I said yes.

Michael, I am a Superior Court judge.

Gracie!

This is fantastic.

Oh, but, God, I'm scared.

Why?

I start tomorrow.

I'm jumping into Muni for arraignment,

and then on Wednesday, Superior for sentencing.

[laughs]

Do I look grown
-up enough to be as judge?

Oh, you are going to be a great judge.


-You think so?
-I know so.

I never thought it could happen.

You know, I had given up on the idea.

I never thought it could actually happen.

A judge!

Now, I know this is tight.

Do you guy think this is tight?

No. It's fine.

Very nice.

This court's in session!

The Honorable Grace Van Owen presiding.

Case number .

People vs. David Shauger.

Illegal possession of firearms, with prior.

Wade Reading, Your Honor. Plead: Not guilty.


-Question of bail?
-Our's okay.

Trail date of April th,

Mr. Shauger, see probation.

Next case.

Case number .

People vs. Boslen, West, Terrace, Mursey and Wyatt.

That's mine!

These are the Valley Girl Robbers, Judge.

What?

They picked up Mr. Douglas Wittenberg,

who's present here today, at a shopping mall.

Apparently, they convinced Mr. Wittenberg

that he was about to be... fortunate

and persuaded him to remove his trousers.

At which point, they fled with said trousers

and his wallet.

We didn't, like, know his pants were loaded.

I want full charges pressed. Larceny and fraud.

We want a lawyer! Somebody good.

And I want my slacks back!

Welcome to the bench, Your Honor.

How hard are we gonna push this?

How bad do you wanna win?

Well, I feel real strongly about the lunch issue.

I feel real strongly about the raise.

Question is whether I'm prepared

to lose my job over this.

You're not gonna lose your job.

Are you sure?

Look, we're so used to thinking

of ourselves as subordinates,

that we refuse to recognize the power that we have.

Roxanne, we're secretaries.


-Hi.
-Hi.

First of all, we're good secretaries,

and good secretaries are hard to find.

I happen to know that Douglas Brackman

doesn't speak for the entire firm.

He's the managing partner, Rox.

That doesn't mean they're behind him.

The truth is, they don't like him very much.

So let's just see what he comes back with.

What if it's nothing?


-We walk.
-[groans]

Along with all of the other secretaries in the firm.

Rox, this is making me nervous.

No. They have never dealt with us as a group before.

I can't believe that Arnie and Michael and Leland McKenzie

would let Douglas cost them their entire office staff.

What'll they do?

I think they'll cut him off at the knees.

I think we'll get everything we want.

All right.

And as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, sir,

do you think that this litigation

would compromise national security?

There'd be no escaping it.

What would be on trial here

is the integrity of the Nader Weapons System.


-So in effect
-
-
-Why?

Well, it was the Nader System that identified

the passenger plane as a hostile aircraft.

It would be impossible for us to have a trail

on the limitations of this technology

without giving away classified information

as to how the system works.

So the disclosure of this information

would be a national security breech.

Of the highest extreme.

We're talking about the Navy's most advanced air defense system.

But their complaint also goes to the negligence

of the Naval officer who ordered that plane to be sh*t down.

That officer relied upon the data

supplied by the radar system.

Whether or not his order was negligent

depends upon the reliability of the computer.

And, once again, we would be required

to tell how the system works.

Soviet spies would be sitting in court, taking notes.

Thank you, Mr. Stoner.

I have nothing further.

Sir...

now, there is a very easy way for you to avoid disclosure

of all this top
-secret information, isn't there?

Yes, there is. Dismiss the complaint.

Yes, that would be one way.

Another would be for you to admit liability

so that this trial could be solely about damages.

But the Navy wasn't negligent.

The Navy sh*t down that plane, sir.

I understand, but given the technological data available

and the circumstances of the event,

the Navy's actions were entirely proper.

Are you telling this court that it was proper for us

to k*ll people?

We're sorry the tragedy occurred.

That's why we've offered compensations.

But the United States Navy

is not a negligent institution, counselor.

You know damn well you were negligent,

you're just too worried about your public image to admit it!

Not true.

October th, .

One of your FA
-s accidently dropped

a
-pound b*mb on one of your own ships. Is that right?

Accidents will happen, counselor.

October st, very next day,

you lose $ million worth of missiles at sea.

Objection. There is no relevance here.

Overruled. Mr. Stoner put it in issue.

Thank you, Your Honor. November , ,

the Navy att*ck jet crashes

in to a Georgia apartment complex,

k*lling two civilians, injuring four more.


-Correct?
-Yes, but
-
-

November th, , one of your destroyers

collides with a merchant ship of the Malaysian coast.

Is that true or false, sir?

True.

And while that was happening,

two of your A
- att*ck jets

mistakenly dropped bombs

on a California campsite.

These things have nothing to do with this case.

Oh, yes, they do.

Because it is a pattern of negligence

which has k*lled innocent people.

It is that pattern which contributed

to the k*lling of my client's husband.


-Objection!
-Overruled.

We have ships stuck in the middle of a w*r zone

with hostile aircraft buzzing around.

Move to strike, Your Honor.

We were in combat with three Iranian speedboats

when the radar picked up an aircraft

coming right at us, from Tehran, at a high speed!


-Move to strike, Your Honor.
-Mr. Stoner.

The captain made his decision in seconds, counselor!

Move to strike!

It's so damn easy for the fat
-cat lawyers

to sit back and second
-guess us!

Your Honor, move to strike!

You get your ass in the f*ring line in the Persian Gulf

and your thinking might change in a hurry, mister!

Mr. Stoner, that's enough!

Nothing further.

And it was a relatively small amount of cr*ck.

Given that my client, other than the three drug convictions,

has no criminal record

and has demonstrated no thr*at to society,

I respectfully request three months, suspended.

We'd like six months served, Your Honor.

Approach.

Six months, Billy? There's no intent.

Grace, Your Honor,

she's a drug addict, and she's four months pregnant.

You put her away she stays clean,

and the baby's got a chance.

You can't punish her status.

Come on, Nancy, is she on the stuff?

Put her in the program.

She's already been through it, twice.

All right. All right, I'm giving her five months,

and if she delivers earlier, I'll let her out.

Oh, come on!

Listen, if the fetus dies, she could call for manslaughter.

You want that?

Step back.

One year, seven months, suspended. Next case.

People vs. Andrew Stedman.

Mr. Stedman was convicted on two counts

of first
-degree m*rder, Your Honor,

in a drive
-by sh**ting.

The People, as previously submitted to Judge Rabinow,

are seeking life imprisonment

with a possibility of parole in years.

Given the defendant's four prior convictions

on robbery and as*ault

as well as the attempted r*pe conviction,

we feel the life sentence is warranted.

How old is the defendant?

, Your Honor.

Pursuant to the order of Juvenile Court,

he was tried as an adult.

Your Honor?

Yes.

I'll hear from defense counsel.

Your Honor, this is just a boy.

He's years old.

While an adult trial is one thing,

and adult sentence is quite another.

Life imprisonment would be cruel and unusual.

He sh*t and m*rder*d two people. Mr. Wiserman.

Yes, I understand that.

And in lieu of a plea from me,

I would like you to hear a statement

from Martin Stedman, the young man's father.

Your Honor,

this is my fault.

I've never been there for the boy.

I always had to work, and, uh,

and I wasn't there for him.

But he's got good in him, Judge.

I'm....

I'm a drunk.

And it's... it's my fault.

If he can get some help,

then he's gonna be okay.

I'll take this under advisement.

Who am I to be making this kind of a decision?

He is years old.

You're the judge.

Yeah.

With hours of experience.

I thought it was tough being a D.A.,

having to put people away.

Or to ask for death sentences.

But there, I always knew I was just an advocate,

that it was someone else who had to make the actual decision.

And now there is no someone else.

And right after this, there'll be another

tough decision staring you down.

And another one after that, and another one after that.

How do you do it?

You decide what kind of judge you want to be.

What kind of a world you want to affect.

And you move in that direction as hard as you can

using the law as your boundary.

But I could be wrong.

Sometimes.

And when you are, you'll be challenged.

Appealed. overturned on appeal.

But you stay true to yourself.

And how will I always know what it is that I want?

I mean, with this kid, I am not sure.

Well, you struggle with it.

You b*at yourself up, uh, in your car,

over supper, in your bed.

But the main thing is,

when you get up on that bench,

you leave all those doubts in chambers.

Up there, you never show the indecision.

You make that room your courtroom.

They listen to your rules.

This is hard.

Yes, it is.

Very hard.

Roxanne, re those requests?

Yes?

The computer people will reprogram the unit

to get rid of its subliminal messages.


-Good.
-As for the raises...

there isn't a lot I can do.

As for the lunch hours,

I'd like you to give the new system a try.

What you've given us is nothing.

Excuse me?

I said...

what you've given us is nothing!

It's unacceptable!

Shall we?

What's this?

This, Douglas, is the secretarial staff walking out.

The terms of your employment

require you to remain here until : P.M.

It is now...:.

You've heard our demands, Douglas.

When there's a serious response on the table,

we'll come back.

There won't be any other responses, Roxanne.

As if now, you're all fired.

, is as high as they'll go.

It is a lot of money.

You said the amount was two million.

No. No, what I said was,

high
-income husband leaving behind

a widow and two children,

no question of liability,

the high end is gotta be about two million.

But there are other factors here.

Such as?

Such as the defendant is the United States of America.

Such as the plaintiff is Iranian.

You think the judge will dismiss it?

He could. Two other federal judges

have already dismissed the same claim by other victims.

You don't know how hard it was to get out of Iran.

The politics, the threats.

Even the kids, they didn't want to leave their friends,

but my husband would tell them

America is a moral place.

It is a land of justice.

Yeah.

A quarter of a million dollars is not nothing.

I will accept on one condition.

I want a public statement from the Navy

that they acted improperly.

If they admit guilt, I will accept their offer.

Not a chance, Sherri.

Publically, neither the government or the Navy

will accept blame. They just won't.

Then I am fighting, Victor.

That was my husband.

I cannot just allow them to
-to sweep this away.

Okay.

Your Honor, Miss Fajed is suing over events

that transpired during m*llitary hostility.

This is foreign policy.

You cannot send a message to our armed forces overseas

that while they are stationed in combat zones,

risking their lives daily to protect you and me

and everyone else in this country,

that their actions are going to be second
-guessed

by lawyers and by judges

sitting high and mighty back here.

This was a terrible tragedy. We all know that.

But tragedies happen in combat.

Your Honor,

this lawsuit is barred as a political question.

It is precluded by the state's secret doctrine,

and the United States has not waived sovereign immunity.

In the interest of national security,

I respectfully request that you dismiss this complaint.

Thank you.

This wasn't m*llitary combat.

It was a mistake.

A Navy mistake which resulted in a civilian airliner,

in the middle of commercial airways,

being blown up.

Now, Your Honor, that's no different

than if they'd sh*t down an American airliner

off the coast of Florida.

Calling this foreign policy, sir, is an insult.

Because it is not our foreign policy

to blow up passenger planes.

It is not our foreign policy to k*ll innocent people

and then crawl behind the cloak of national security

in order to shield ourselves from responsibility.

National security? What about national morality?

Because of what we did,

this woman lost her husband.

Because of what we did,

those children lost their father.

The United States of America did this,

and we have to make good on that, Your Honor.

We have to.

Because what kind of people are we if we don't?

Thank you.

McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak.

I mean, McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney, Kuzak, and Becker.

Hold on.

[phones ringing]

Does anyone know how to turn these on?

Yeah, push that button on the right.

Which one?

I'll show you.

Uh, Benny, you don't know how to type, do you?

No. Just a second.

It's a disaster out there.

Douglas, the office is chaos.

It was too late to line up temps.

We'll be fully staffed as of tomorrow.

That's beside the point. Roxanne was my secretary.

You had no right to fire her.

I had every right. I'm the managing partner.

Oh, so now it's come down to pulling rank.

I'll pull whatever I have to pull.

And you don't think this could have been resolved a little more amicably?

They walked out.

Yeah, but this whole thing was precipitated

by your stupid lunch hour edict.

I didn't think it was stupid at all.

I also think that if we're going to make a rule,

we have to stick to it.

But the truth is, these women

are being nickeled and dimed to death.

Listen, Michael, nickels and dimes

are the lifeblood of this firm.

Since you and Arnie are too grand to worry abut them,

I have to.

Well, we can't all be as petty as you are, Douglas.

You don't have to be. I'll putty up the cracks.

I'll stoop and pick up what falls to the ground.

Try to remember, though, that the only reason

you can tend to your high
-minded, high
-profile cases

is because I look after the details and the dirty work.

The day you try to preempt me, though,

that's the day I walk out.


-Come on, Douglas.
-It's a ploy.

Just you try me and see.

Decisions on hiring and f*ring staff are up to Douglas.


-It's his call.
-I agree.


-And I have to live with it?
-Yes, you have to live with it.

Mr. Stedman, will you please rise?

I've reviewed the transcripts of the trial

as well as the probation reports

and the affidavits filed in support of leniency.

And I'm rejecting the defense counsel's request

for a
-year sentence.

This was a serious crime, Mr. Stedman.

It was premeditated. It was cold
-blooded.

And it caused the violent death of two people.

The fact that you were seeking revenge

of the g*ng slaying of a friend of yours

is not a mitigating factor.

On the two counts of first
-degree m*rder,

I am sentencing you to life imprisonment.

Sentence to begin immediately in the Youth Authority.

Your Honor, this is just a boy.

There is no precedent for a sentence like this.

There is now.

You're a m*rder*r, young man.

If you k*ll people, you live your life in jail.

Next case.

Why didn't you come to me?

I don't wanna come running to you

every time I have a problem, Arnie.

The secretaries there have to learn how to stand together.

Well, I don't wanna discourage your career

as a labor leader, Roxanne, but the truth is,

you're in a different boat than these other secretaries.

Why?

'Cause you have money, that's why.

You don't need the job. You can afford to lose it.

You led these other women into battle, and they can't.

So long as I am working there,

I am affected by the working conditions.

Besides which, I never expected that we would get fired.

Well, maybe you should have.

I just never thought that the firm would back Douglas.

Well...

they did.

And I don't know what we're gonna do.

I guess what I'm gonna have to do is go see Douglas.

I'm the one who led the charge here.

I'm the one who's gonna have to take responsibility.

You ready to grovel?

No.

But I'm ready to talk.

This is a very difficult situation.

If I allow this cause of action to be sustained,

it could result in top
-secret information being disclosed.

What's more, it would put our m*llitary's rules on engagement on trial,

which, of course, would be a very serious precedent.

As a matter of public policy,

we simply cannot second
-guess our soldiers' ability

to defend themselves in times of hostilities.

On the other hand, I've got a grandchild

who starts first grade next year.

And the thought of him one day in school

reading abut sovereign immunity

and seeing it defined as America's right

to blow up passenger planes from countries we don't like,

that terrifies me even more.

In years on the federal bench,

I've probably thrown out over a hundred complaints

against the government on national security

and political question grounds.

I'm tired of doing that.

Mr. Richards, your client k*lled innocent people.

Maybe there was no negligence, that's entirely possible.

But I'm not dismissing this cause of action.

If the Navy really wants to keep its secrets,

then pay those victims what they deserve.

I'll certify this ruling for appeal,

so the whole thing's going to take awhile.

But for now, this lawsuit lives.

That's all.

Thank you, Your Honor.


-Congratulations.
-Thank you. Thank you.


-Step one.
-I know.

[knock on door]

Hi, Leland. You wanted to see me?

Yes. Come on in, Victor.

I heard about the judge's ruling.

Yeah, the press hasn't stopped calling.

I know. That's what I want to talk about.

I don't want this firm handling the case, Victor.

Excuse me?

One of Rosalind's clients,

or one of our clients I should say,

has bid on a big defense contract

that's worth many millions of dollars,

and they're concerned that our involvement

in a lawsuit against the Pentagon

could hurt their chances.

And?

And their concern must necessarily become our concern.

What a minute. What are you saying?

That I can't represent her?

I'm sorry, Victor.

No! She's my client!

I'm not going to turn my back on her!

We had a meeting last night on this and took a vote.

This is the decision of the partners.

Yeah, well, you can all go to hell!

Don't you talk to me like that!

Don't you tell me to abandon my client

so that you can pad your damn purse!

You can't win this case, Victor.

I can win. I am winning.

All you won is the right to march in from of

a red, white, and blue American jury

and ask them to find, for an Iranian,

against the United States.

You think that'll happen?


-It might.
-Oh, come on, Victor!

You could comb this entire country

and not find people sympathetic to Iran.

She is not Iran, Leland!

She's a person! She's a victim!

You're up against a bigotry you can't b*at!

You forget, when that plane went down,

there was no public outcry here.

The people in this country weren't outraged.

No, this case can't be won.

And I'm surprised that you can't see that.

You know, when I first joined up with this place,

it was headed up by a man

who would never back down in the face of prejudice,

even if it was endorsed by a partnership vote.

I have to look out for this firm.

Uh
-uh. You've turned into a scared old man, Leland.

You're more concerned with your pension than your principles.

You wanna make this personal now, Victor?

I didn't start attacking you personally.

And I have to turn away from clients who are hurt!

When I find myself and the things that I believe in

compromised by office politics, I take it very personally.

Yeah.

I've made my position clear.

Yeah, you have.

And at the risk of sounding redundant,

let me make my position clear.

You can still all go to hell!

[door closes]

I'm willing to concede that what we did wasn't too smart.

Agreed.

You have no idea how frustrating it is

not to be taken seriously.

Actually, I have a pretty good idea.

In fact, I suspect one of the reasons

you were so quick to walk out

is that you didn't take me seriously.

I know I haven't commanded a wealth of respect

from my fellow partners, Roxanne,

and I know you know that.

But what I also know is the disrespect comes with the territory.

Somebody has to be the son of a bitch around here,

and that somebody is me.

Do you really think that the things we asked for

were all that unreasonable?

No. I just can't give them to you.

If the lawyers here have all deferred their bonuses,

the secretaries have to defer their raises.

I've seen various complaints about the word processers.

I'll look into them, but that's it.

What about the lunch hour?

Roxanne, why has this become so important?

Just like you want respect, Douglas,

so do we.

You're treated with respect.

We're not out to cheat you.

You get an honest day's work out of every one of us.

I'm not saying I don't.

That's exactly what you're saying.

If you've got a problem with someone slacking off

or padding their overtime, get rid of them.

If you've got people putting in full day's work out there,

let them use their lunch hour however they want.

Don't rob the people who work for you

of their dignity, Douglas.

You want it back the way it was?

Yes.

[sighs] You got it.

Good.

So, the storm has passed.

[door closes]

This one has, anyway.

Things get a little, uh, nasty sometimes.

Seems to me things have been nothing but nasty around here.

There's still residual resentment over Rosalind.

Arnold is seething.

Victor is seething.

And every day it's somebody else's turn to quit.

I come to work wondering what crisis will present itself next.

Well, we'll survive.

Well, I'm not so sure I will.

I'm getting to old for hand
-to
-hand combat.

This was once a pleasant place to work.

There was fellowship. There was trust.

Hey. It's not that bad, Leland.

Really, it's not that bad.

Yeah, it is.

For me...it is.

Sherri?

Hi. What's up? I wasn't expecting you.

I want to accept the , and settle this case.


-What?
-You heard me.

What's the matter, Sherri?

The INS subpoenaed my phone records.


-What?
-Maybe it means nothing.

Maybe it means they are about to start deportation proceedings.

Victor, I cannot lose my residence, I cannot.

Sherri, the INS just doesn't deport people.

They do if they find subversive activities.

My husband and I were politically active.

They could probably come up with something if they wanted to.

Politically active. You attended a few protests. We all have.

Yes, but when a naturalized citizen protests,

he is being patriotic.

If an alien protests, he is a dangerous dissident.

Victor, you and I both know if the INS targets somebody,

you can't stop them.

Yes. I also know that it's just abut impossible to deport somebody to Iran.

I am not taking any chances.

If the lawsuit goes away, I think Immigration would, too.

Sherri, don't you quit. Don't you quit.

Drop it, Victor.

It is time to forget about justice

and concentrate on survival.

If I didn't have kids, I would fight,

but I cannot risk being sent back to Iran.

I know you tried.

Knock, knock.

Permission to enter and have

ex parte communication, Your Honor?

Granted.

[clears throat]

Very nice.

I...brought you a gift.

Oh, my!

Look at this!

Oh, Michael! Oh!

I almost traded it in for a rope.

Two days on the job,

they're already calling you "The Hanging Judge."

Yeah, well...

I had to sentence a
-year
-old kid

to a life term yesterday.

You didn't have to, Grace.

He'll be paroled in , Michael.

If I want to take a stand against g*ng v*olence,

I have to be tough about it.

Mm
-hmm.

[chuckles]

I think you're gonna be good at this job, Grace.

Thank you for this, Michael.

I'm proud of you, Grace.

I'm really proud of you.

Thank you, Michael.

Michael, I'm really sorry about surprising you

that way the other day.

It's just...

I guess that when something big happens,

instinctively you're still the one

that I wanna rush off and tell.

Yeah. Me, too.

[chuckles]

Why'd you do that?

Don't know.

Now that...

we shouldn't have done.


-Yeah, you're right.
-Maybe you should go.

Yeah. Yeah, I better go.

Bye.

Bye.

[music]

As a judge...

I have to avoid...

the appearance...

of impropriety.

I know.

I know.

GRACE: Don't rip my robe!

[theme music]