The Practice (1997–2004): Season 2, Episode 28 - Rhyme and Reason - full transcript

Everybody else is going.
I don't care about
everybody else. You're not.

Dad?
Never mind Dad.

- You are not going on
an unsupervised camping trip.
- In a backyard, Mom.

- A large backyard.
- Billy's older brother's
gonna be watchin'--

Billy's older brother is 15.
Can we just eat, please?

That is not supervision
for nine 13-year-olds.
I'm sorry.

- Is it just overnight?
- Girls and boys.
No, I am sorry.

I'm so sick of
never being able to--
[ Man ] Kevin.

- She treats me like I'm 10!
It's, like, ridiculous!
- I'm treating you like you're--

Don't speak to me
in that tone of voice,
young man!

Benny Ray is going.
Kyle Tanner is going.



Kevin, I don't care
what they're doing.

- If Kyle Tanner jumped off
a bridge, would you?
- Shut up, Carol.

[ Carol ] Unacceptable.
The other kids think
I'm a joke because--

- We're not talking about
other kids.
- Why do I have to--

That is enough.
You don't talk to
your mother that way.

[ Huffs ]
Oh.

It's a bunch of kids
in an overnight tent.
Is it really that big a deal?

Yes. They're not
old enough to--
Will the parents be home inside?

John, support me please.

What message do we send?
If you stomp away from the
table, you get what you want?

- Mommy's big on messages.
- All right, Carol.

Kevin told me to shut up,
and that's unacceptable.
Yes, it is.

I think maybe we have
to explain the reason and not
always hit him with "no."

Honey, I did give him a reason.
He just can't accept it because
all his friends are going.



[ Carol Screaming ]
No!

[ Line Ringing ]

[ Cell Door Opens, Closes ]

[ Sirens Wailing ]

Where did you get the gun?

The safe.

I keep it in
a safe upstairs.

Kevin knew the combination
in case--

You say you didn't wanna
kill her?

What did you think would happen
if you shot her?

I was just so mad.

I don't know.

What have you done?

A little face lift,
that's all.

What's this? What's that?
None of it works,
but it looks like it does.

And the point being--
The point being...

any new client who comes
in here will feel confident
that we have all the resources.

I'm afraid of computers.
Where's my stuff?
Where's my photos?

I have a meeting
with John Monahan
of Crutcher and Dunn.

He's exploring the idea
of using us for their
class action asbestos.

- Really?
- They heard about
our tobacco cases.

Asbestos?
Plaintiffs. We'd be on
the side of merit, Ellenor.

And the case is huge.
You'd be able to fill
your other ear with metal.

- Funny.
- But we're never gonna land
them unless we look up to it.

Is that what this is about?
Partly.

They want us to actually
try the case?
They want a meeting.

But I think
that's what it's about.

Arms up.

I go into appeals
this afternoon.

You got the video?
We got it.

So we have a chance.
With the video,
we got a shot, right?

I'd go so far as
to even say a good chance.

But courts don't like to put
killers back on the street.

But the Constitution--

That's like, uh, sacred
to those judges, right?

Sacred, I don't know.
But, yeah,
most of them have read it.

Ms. Gamble, this boy
is an honor student.

He's never been caught in
the hall without a pass.

This is a book report
he wrote about
some poetry last fall.

Just take a second
and read it.

This is a good kid.

- Mr. Larson, you're a friend
of the family?
- That's right.

I know your firm.
It's as good
as any in this town.

But you're primarily
a civil litigator, right?

I mean no offense, but--

Well, sometimes
"friends of the family" lawyers
can do more harm than good.

This boy's in a lot of trouble.

He needs an experienced
criminal defense attorney.

I appreciate your candor.
I do plan to find someone--

Well, he should've been in
this room from the beginning.

Do you know Bobby Donnell?

I've certainly
heard of him,
and not all good.

For this stuff,
there's nobody better.

What's more,
he doesn't phone it in.
Call him.

First thing,
I'd like to speak
to him and his dad.

Good.
No problem.

The boy who shot his mother.
Oh, God.

Paper said it was
'cause he couldn't go on
some camping trip or somethin'.

Where do these kids come from?
I mean, how do they get--

His own mother?

Oh, man!
What happened up in here?

Kendall. You get
kicked out of school?

Teacher conference.
Half days all week.
Mm-hmm.

Hey!
What's up, player?
What's up, man?

My mom's outta town.
I'm a menace. Right, Dad?

Uh, when the cat's away--
Red Sox tomorrow night.

Oh!
Man, this place is the bomb!
Who did it?

Do I hear Kendall,
or do we have another rat?

- Lindsay!
- How you doin'?

I'm all right.
How are you?

Becky, you mind me leavin'
him here for the afternoon?

I gotta be
at appeals court at 2:00.

No problem.
Appeals for what?

Sholey.
The shooter on those teenagers.

Really?
What's the grounds?
Bad confession.

It was bad too.
The videotape is on
your desk, all cued up.

Uh, thanks.

I hate to sound
like a broken record,

but I don't know
how you could fight
to turn that guy loose.

- He killed
two innocent teenagers.
- My dad can get anybody off.

Right, Dad?

Son, I argue legal rights.

And you get
the guy off, right?

[ Eugene ]
Lookit here, chief.

Meet me in
the conference room, okay?

I'll be right in.
What's new in there?

I'm sorry.
I-I didn't mean
for him to hear--

72326,
Commonwealth versus Kevin Blair,

minor, murder
in the second degree.

Robert Donnell for
the defendant, Your Honor.

Helen Gamble
for the Commonwealth.

[ Bobby ]
We ask, pending trial,
that Kevin be committed...

to the custody of his father,
John Blair.

Given it's a murder, Your Honor,
the Department
of Youth Services--

- In the interests of Kevin--
- I'm sending him
to D.Y.S. for now.

Let's conference this afternoon
and make a plan.

[ Bobby ]
Thank you, Your Honor.

[ Door Opens, Closes ]

Thanks for taking this.
Why me?

Well, I think
the media's gonna go nuts.

He is a pretty good kid.
I'd like to work it out
quickly and quietly.

[ John ]
What happens now?

He'll meet with
the court psychiatrist.
I'll be there for that.

Then we'll sit down
with the judge.
The big decision...

is whether he gets tried
as an adult or a juvenile.

Adult?
He's 13.

I understand.
But when it's murder--

This isn't Arkansas.

The political pressure
to go adult
will be huge.

Oh, God.
Fortunately,

Helen Gamble, the D.A.,
isn't leaning that way.

We also caught a break
getting that judge.

She is completely impervious
to politics.

I'm glad she didn't
grant custody to me.

I love my son.

But he killed my wife.

It's hard for me to look at him.
[ Sobbing ]

Mr. Blair.

Obviously,
this is the worst thing
you'll ever go through.

It-It-- It's--

And I know he probably
needs me to hold him,

hug him.

I can't bring myself to.

Would you...

please tell him
how much I love him?

Sure.

You know what
criminal lawyers do.

We make sure that
everybody gets their right
to a fair trial.

That's what I do.
You know that?
I know.

I'm not in the business
of getting murderers off.

But you do sometimes.

It's my job to make sure
that the government
can prove their case.

'Cause if they don't,
if they can't,

then they shouldn't be able
to put people in jail.

I know.

You do?
Yeah.

If somebody kills somebody,

you keep the police
from provin' it,
and you get the guy off.

In your own words,
I need to hear it.

I just got so mad.

I went running to get the gun.

Were you thinking
you'd shoot her
when you got the gun?

I don't know.
Maybe a little.
"Maybe a little"?

Kevin, I know
this is difficult.

But for me to help you--

Tell me what
you're thinking right now.

I wanna wake up.

You wanna wake up?

I want this to be a dream.

It's not a dream.

No.

And I would remind the court,

this tape wasn't available
to the defense
at the time of the trial.

No, we understand that, counsel.
Are you saying your client...

would not have been convicted
but for this confession?

[ Eugene ]
There's no question about it.
The State had no witnesses,

even though
they lied to my client
as you'll see in this tape.

Let's roll it.

[ Tape Loads ]

We all know you were
the shooter, Brad.
This really isn't about that.

But if you help me out here,
maybe there's something
I can do for you.

Shouldn't I get
a lawyer or somethin'?

I think I need my lawyer.

[ Detective ]
Cigarette?
No.

If you get a lawyer,
he instructs you not to talk,

this thing
gets all adversary.

You've been here before.
They'll send in
some rookie public defender...

who cares more about
coverin' his own ass.

You get
your life sentence.

But, hell,
by tellin' you to keep quiet,
his balls stay protected.

You gotta think about
a few things here, Brad.

We have two eyewitnesses
fingering you as the shooter.

No P.D.'s gonna
change the result.

And the other--
these were teenagers you killed.

You're facing double life...

with bunkmates who are gonna
redo the plumbing
inside your rectum.

The only friend in life
you got right now is me.

I'm the only one
that can help you.
Why you wanna help me?

You didn't go there
to shoot them kids, did you?

You only wanted their car.

The shooting was something
you didn't mean to happen.

I'm right, aren't I?

I know those kids
weren't angels,

and I know that you're not
a cold-blooded kind of person.

They fought back, didn't they?

You just wanted their car.

They fought back.

Three hours
and 13 minutes later,

my client confessed to killing
Wanda and Steven Simmons.

And your claim
is that this confession
is unconstitutional?

He asked for his lawyer.
As soon as that happened,

the interrogation, by law,
has to stop.

That tape made clear
the defendant never asked
for his lawyer.

Are you serious?
He only said--
He never officially asked.

He said at the very start--
That he thought maybe
he should get a lawyer.

But he never directly asked.

- "I think I need my lawyer."
- I have to admit, Mr. Coffee,
you're splitting hairs.

If a suspect says,
"I think I need my lawyer,"
his intent obviously--

- But he changed his mind.
- He's not allowed
to change his mind.

He's not allowed
to change his mind?

His mind can't be changed
by the police officer.
No, it can't.

As soon as a suspect
asks for his lawyer,
discussion stops.

Here, it didn't.

It sounds cliché,
but "normal kid."

Who killed his mother?
Yes.

Normal 13-year-old boys,
they don't--
I understand.

What I'm saying is
I found no psychosis,
no schizophrenia.

Then why?

He lost his temper,
and a gun was handy.

Do me a favor, Doctor,
and have the decency
to not sound casual about this.

This boy,
he was close to his mother.

They had a very
good relationship.

He seems stunned that
she isn't coming back.

Doesn't that suggest some sort
of diminished capacity?

He shoots her,
but he can't understand
why she's not living?

Uh, it isn't that.
Cognitively, he knows.

But emotionally,
he's experiencing deep grief.

And there's nothing
in his history?

I've only spent
a couple of hours so far,
but so far, I've found nothing.

Well, boys just don't
shoot their parents.

Give me something.
You want a reason, Judge,
turn on the news.

Nightlinewill put on experts.
They'll talk about
family values, bad parenting.

Pick up a newspaper.
You'll see articles about
too much television.

Maybe he got dropped
on his head at birth.

There's no shortage of opinions.
And you can throw them all out.

There must be a sign.
Sure, there's a sign.

In Little League,
he threw his bat a few times.

He fought at recess on occasion.

If you're desperate for a sign,
cling to those.

But there simply is
nothing overt...

to explain why this kid
had an impulse to kill.

No reason as to why he couldn't
control that impulse.

You want it
to be comprehensible.

We all do.
It may never be.

Thank you, Doctor.
Thank you.

[ Door Opens, Closes ]

So, what are you
going to do?

Uh--

Uh, I'm not sure yet.

On the one hand, he--

I think I have to
charge him as an adult.

That is not the way
to go, Helen.

You said yourself
"quickly and quietly."
I understand.

But I'm looking at
a pretty mature,
well-adjusted kid here.

Who gets served?

The reason you brought me in
is because this case
is different.

It's not about win/lose.
Now, what gets served?

That's what I keep asking.
What gets served?

Well, let's make a decision.

I'm afraid it's gonna have
to be made by you, Your Honor.

Fine.

I'll set the hearing
for tomorrow.

This kid is gonna lose his life.

Part of me hopes
you win this.

But that question,
"Who gets served"--

[ Sighs ]
Where my duty lies,
I gotta go adult.

[ Ellenor ]
I don't like it.

[ Jimmy ]
I don't even know what it is.
[ Rebecca ] It's a painting.

But it's all jumbled.

What kind of message
does that send?

You teach kids
to color inside the lines.
They come in and see that--

The message it sends
is flush is expensive.

Lindsay bought it?
Ah! Got it on loan.

She wants it here when
our asbestos clients come in.
Oh, please.

Ellenor, don't "Oh, please."
You know it works.

Clients just glance
at our track record.

What matters to them
are the cars we drive.

If they're expensive,
we must be good.

If we look rich,
we must be winners.

You really think
we could get this trial?

Hey, we got an interview.

Timing couldn't be better.
We're hot off of beating
the tobacco industry.

Bobby's name is in
all the papers with
this kid shooting his mother.

What are we talking about here?
[ Ellenor ]
Class action.

Thousand-plus plaintiffs.
Even if we split
the contingency,

we're lookin' at
seven figures minimum.

- Seven for us?
- For us.

I love that painting.
[ Chuckling ]

Think they'll
win it this year?
The Sox?

Next year.
Every year is next year
for the Red Sox.

Yeah. It must be tough
playin' in this town.

Fans have a million years
of frustration pent up.

Wonder how they manage
to play at all.

I can't feel sorry
for ballplayers.

Makin' that kind of money
to play a game in the summer
and take the winters off--

[ Scoffs ]
They don't get my sympathy.

You're that lawyer
for that killer, aren't you?

Sholey--
that guy who killed
those two teenagers.

You're his lawyer.
Yeah.

Can I ask you somethin'?

How do you do that?
I mean, isn't it hard to--

You know,
people like that?

Every man or woman
gets his day in court.

I understand.

But this guy's pure scum,
isn't he?

He's a human being.

It's just...

those teenagers,
they were my kids.

I'm, um,

sorry.

You like what you do
for a living, Mr. Young?

It's nice to see
you do draw lines.

You'd never sympathize
with a ballplayer.

[ Slams Newspaper Down ]

It went okay.
I didn't think the D.A.
came back with much.

So? We could win?

We should win, Brad,
unless they want
to rewrite the law.

But there is no time limit.
My bet is they're gonna sit
on this case a long, long time.

And what,
not do anything?

You gotta understand.
Us winning means
turning you loose.

You killed two people.
Setting you free isn't gonna be
on anybody's list of priorities.

But it went good?
I think it did.

Yes.

When I was assigned
this case,

every instinct was
let's not make this a bigger
tragedy than it already is.

But he committed
a very adult crime.
It was knowing.

He walked upstairs,

turned the combination
on a safe to the left,

to the right
and back to the left.

He loaded bullets
into a revolver.

He walked back downstairs...

and executed a human being.

[ Bobby ]
If he is tried as an adult,
he receives a life sentence.

Let's not dance around
that reality.

He's got no defense
of the crime itself.

As an adult,
second degree murder carries
an automatic life sentence.

- We have to face that.
- We also have to face
what he did.

[ Bobby ]
He's 13 years old.

If he had impregnated
his teacher,

the teacher would go to jail
and the world would be saying,
"He's a child."

But because of the politics
and outrage of murder,

the world says, "Adult.

"Treat him as an adult.

Don't be soft."

As much as I feel for this boy,
and I do,

as much as I feel
for his family,

I can't escape--

I can't look at him and say,
"He's just a kid."

[ Bobby ]
You can say that, Helen,

because he is a kid.

And if you're saying
there's no chance
of rehabilitation...

with a 13-year-old,
then...

you're saying rehabilitation
shouldn't even exist
as a concept.

He didn't steal a car, Bobby.

I'll take this under advisement.

[ John ]
How you doin', kid?

We'll, uh--

We're gonna
get through this.

I'm sorry, Dad.

I know.

Will you tell Carol
I'm sorry?

Yeah.

Does she hate me now?

No.

[ Jimmy ]
Asbestos clients.
Show time.

Here they come.
Here they come.

- Okay.
So you're gonna buzz me.
- What do I say?

- Anything.
Just stay on the line.
- This is so ridiculous.

Shh! There's no need to panic.
I'll walk you through it.

John, if you go into
a courtroom oozing anxiety,
the judge will see that.

Okay, you're gonna do
exactly as I say.
We're looking for Lindsay Dole.

[ Lindsay ]
Hold on.
Hi, Mr. Monahan?

It's me. Um, let's go
into the conference room.
Rebecca, could you show them?

Of course.

The reason I'm not panicked is
a 12-B-6 isn't just viable,
it will win.

Hi.

[ Lindsay ]
I have a meeting. I'm gonna
have to call you back.

Two minutes, you buzz me.

[ Door Closes ]

[ Sighs ]
I'm sorry it's a little crazy.

I've got a panicked
house counsel in Detroit.

- Well, we appreciate
your agreeing to the meeting.
- My pleasure.

Cutting to it--

Your success against
the tobacco company
has our interest piqued.

Especially since, uh--

Well, going up against
the asbestos industry, uh--

We're facing
a comparable Goliath.

- How many in the class?
- We're up to almost 1,300.

Certified?
[ Woman ]
Mm-hmm.

[ Monahan ]
We've already survived
a motion to decertify.

Most of the discovery
is done. We have
a September trial date.

- [ Phone Rings ]
- I'm sorry. Yes?

Hey, Lindsay.
Been to any wild orgies lately?

Calm-- Calm down, John.
John, listen. Who's the judge?

Albright. Albright.

[ Typing ]

Albright.
Okay, I've got him.

Has a reputation
for being colloquial.
I definitely want local counsel.

Oh, good news.
He's spoken at seminars
on frivolous litigation.

He'll be receptive to
the 12-B-6 and our Rule 11.

Now, I--
I don't want to file
till July, however.

I'm just curious.
You ever tried, uh,
mud wrestling?

The reason is
he has a summer home
on Lake Ontario.

He puts in a three-day
work week. He likes
to keep his docket down.

Statistically, he kicks 30%
more cases in July and August.

John? John,
I have to call you back.
I'm in a meeting with clients.

Okay? Okay.
Bye-bye.

I'm very sorry.

You've never done
an asbestos litigation,
have you?

No, but that's not the problem.

- Can I cut to what
I do perceive as a problem?
- Absolutely.

I had a chance to look over
some of the pleadings
and witness lists.

Public record. Sorry.
We may have a difference
in trial philosophy.

Which would be?
You seem to be
emphasizing causation.

On these kinds of cases,
we tend not to.

How do you prove a case
without causation?

Well, I'm not saying ignore it,
but when proving it
depends on science,

you're putting
two heavy burdens on a jury.

One, you're asking them
to understand it.

Two, you're asking them
to stay awake.

Anything they don't understand,
they get suspicious of.

And with asbestos,
just like tobacco,
you have a presumption.

They already know it kills.

The defense can't
pick apart that premise.

They can pick apart science.

I'm wary of
leaving evidence out.

Yeah, that's what I figured.

We're probably not
the right firm for you.

Be seated.

Under
Minnick versus Mississippi,
the law is quite clear.

When a suspect asks for
his attorney, all further
interrogation must stop.

The tape here
was very disturbing,

seeing the police lie
about having witnesses,

misrepresenting information.

Nevertheless,
this kind of police conduct
is entirely permissible.

And since we find
the defendant stopped short
of directly asking for counsel,

we unanimously find
the confession to be admissible.

The conviction
therefore stands.

Adjourned.
[ Gavel Raps ]

Permission to address the court.

Permission to address
this court.

Proceed.

You people
just ignored the law.

We've made our ruling,
and I see no--
I heard your ruling.

Uh, the other day,
I had to explain
to my 10-year-old...

how I could come into this room
and fight for a man
who killed two people.

Yesterday, I had to look
this man in the eye--

[ Judge Clarke ]
Counsel--
Counsel what?

You gonna give me
a speech, Judge?

Tell me how the Bill of Rights,
how the Constitution
has to count for something?

I gave that speech to my kid.
I told myself that...

while havin' to look
at the father
of two dead teenagers,

two kids my client shot!
[ Judge Callahan ]
Mr. Young--

Permission to address
this court!

Ten years I've been
puttin' them back out there--

criminals,
sometimes rapists,
sometimes murderers.

Ten years,
all the time tellin' myself
there's a reason.

You're 10 seconds
from a contempt order!

Do it! There are rules!
Rules, damn it!

We don't let the police
coerce confessions.

We don't let 'em
beat down doors
without warrants.

We don't let them
grill suspects after
they ask for their lawyers.

My client damn well asked for
his lawyer, and all three of you
sittin' up there, you know it!

- You're out of order!
- You're out of order!

You disgraced the bench,
this room.

You just raped
the Sixth Amendment!

I hold you in contempt.
I hold all three of you
in contempt!

Take him and
put him in lockup.

I'll rot in that cell...

if giving you respect
is a condition
for my getting out.

I'll rot.

Dad, did you hit somebody?
No.

How long?
Till morning.

I argued a called strike.

They'll let him visit
for an hour.
I'll keep him with me tonight.

He belongs in here with me.

- I'll be back.
- Thanks again.

So, what happened?
Sit down, buddy.

You heard me talk
of your Uncle Curtis?
Jail Uncle Curtis?

Yeah. You remember
what he went to jail for?

They thought he knocked off
a liquor store
and capped somebody.

But he didn't, right?
Yeah.

And, uh, the reason
he ended up in prison...

was that he fit the description
of whoever did do it,
and the police arrested him.

They kept him in a room
for 20 hours.

Kept makin' him drink coffee
and not lettin' him
go to the bathroom.

Kept tellin' him
that if he'd just confess,

that everything
would go better.

And that if he didn't confess,

they'd arrest my sister
and they'd both
get the death penalty.

Told him if he cooperated,

he could leave.

And after 20 hours,

they had him to the point...

where he would say anything
just to go home.

And he signed a confession
to a crime he didn't commit.

You hate the police,
don't you?

I don't hate the police.
Most of them are good people.

Kendall, most of my clients
did the crime.
I won't lie to you about that.

The reason I fight for 'em...

is as soon as we allow
the police to use
illegal methods,

sure, more guilty people
will be convicted,

but more innocent people
will too.

That's what I fight for.

Here he comes.
Stay calm.
Everybody calm. Look busy.

Um, file.
Are they hiring us?

I don't know.
Stay calm!
I'm calm. You stay calm!

- [ Rebecca ]
Shh!
- Hi.

Mr. Monahan.

Thank you for
letting me drop by
on such short notice.

- Sure.
- Listen, uh,
we've thought about it.

We would like
to hire you.

Really? I am serious
about our trial philosophy.

[ Monahan ]
I understand.
We're on board with it.

- You obviously get results.
- Fine.
Files will be delivered?

Today. I'd like to schedule
a coordination conference
for next week if possible.

We can do that.
Great.

I'll be in touch.
Good.

[ Door Opens ]

Let him get in the elevator.

Four, three, two, one.

[ Screaming, Laughing ]

Be seated.

For the past several days,
I've felt compelled to blame.

Easy access to guns,

television, movies,

brainwashing children
with violence--

all disgustingly denying
any accountability.

Blame.

But in this room, young man,
it comes down to
youraccountability.

I doubt that you
or anybody else
in this room...

will ever make sense
of why you killed your mother.

There's no rhyme,
no reason,

and ultimately no excuse.

You ended
your own childhood.

I'm granting
the district attorney's petition
to charge you as an adult.

- Adjourned.
- [ Gavel Raps ]

[ Sighs ]

I gotta know why.

We all fall where
we fall on this, Mr. Donnell.

Nobody's right,
nobody's wrong.
We all fall where we fall.

Yeah.
But you're the judge.

Yeah, that's right.

I'm the judge.
You wanna swap places?

You could've opted
for hope instead of--

What makes you think
I didn't?

You know,
I sit on that bench every day
seeing the evil in people.

Hope for me lies in the child.

Hope won't allow me
to see the child in him.

He murdered his own mother.

That doesn't sound like
legal reasoning to me.
Well,

legal reasoning can only deal...

with the consequences
of what he did.

And I'll be damned if I'm going
to send that message...

to the next
13-year-old with a gun.

This was about
one 13-year-old.

With the power
to make you hate God.

I have to believe
a child couldn't do that.

If a child could,

then that surely is
the death of hope.

An apology lets you out.

You don't get it.

Did you really think
we would set him free?

I'm naive enough to believe
the Sixth Amendment
means something.

Liberty doesn't lie
in the Constitution,
Mr. Young.

It doesn't lie in the law
or the courtroom.

It lies in a man's heart.

And in my heart, I wasn't
going to turn loose a man
who I knew would kill again.

"The spirit of liberty
is the spirit which
is not sure it's right."

If you're gonna quote
Learned Hand,

try to remember
the essence of his speech.

And the spirit
of your ruling, Judge,
is that you knew you were wrong.

We have to be able
to sleep at night too.

And you didn't sleep last night,
did you?

I congratulate you
on your righteousness.

I salute your ability
to look at death...

and feel
nothing but patriotism
for playing your part.

We all signed up
to do our jobs, Judge.
You betrayed yours.

And I will not stand here
and let you tell me
what's in my heart.

Now, there's no crime
to being a coward.

It just shouldn't be
cloaked in a robe.

Asbestos class action.

Lindsay's backing up her threat
to make us flush.

I'd probably celebrate more
if I were a partner.

You will be, Jimmy.

How you feelin'?
Your wounds healin' up okay?

Yeah. Yours?

You mean Spivak?

Uh, no, I--
Yeah.

I'm fine.
Just a guy.

Another one will come along.

Plenty of fish.

Schools.

I've had judges look
the other way before, but--

But what?

Some of the disgust
is my own.

When my son said,
"My dad can get murderers off.
He can get anybody off,"

it hit me like a train.

Since, I've been lookin'
at myself through his eyes.

What I do, what I am.

I needed that appeals court
for some kind of validation.

Eugene, the disgrace
of that ruling...

belongs to those judges,
not to you.

Explain that to my boy,
could you?

The courts didn't wanna put
a killer back out there.
I did.

Explain to him how
I'm the good guy, huh?

Look, it's not always
a meritocracy.

I mean, judges rule
for the wrong reasons
sometimes.

Clients choose you
because of paint jobs.

Lindsay landed a coup
with fake computers.
And you know what?

That case she got,
every firm in town
would drool over it.

It could make us
a lot of money.

But what I'll go home
and celebrate
a little tonight...

is that you and I
spent the last few days...

fighting for people
no firm in this town
would touch.

And we both lost.

Maybe it's right we lost.
I don't know.

But what I do know is
what makes the courtroom
a noble place...

is that people like you
go in there and fight.

Sometimes,
on principle alone.

I don't know how long
I can keep doin' it.

Me neither.

♪ Let the river rock you
like a cradle ♪

♪ Climb to the treetops, child
if you're able ♪

♪ Let your hands tie a knot
across the table ♪

♪ Come and touch ♪

♪ The things you cannot feel ♪

♪ And close your fingertips ♪

♪ And fly where
I can't hold you ♪

♪ Let the sun rain fall ♪

♪ And let the dewy clouds
enfold you ♪

♪ And maybe you can sing to me
the words I just told you ♪

♪ If all the things you feel
ain't what they seem ♪

♪ Then don't mind me ♪

♪ 'Cause I ain't nothin'
but a dream ♪

♪ And you can follow
And you can follow ♪

♪ And you can follow ♪

[ Woman ]
You stinker!