Harry's Law Episode 1.05 A Day in the Life

Harry and Adam are in Judge Coulis' court, defending their client Justin Graham against a murder charge, prosecuted by Harry's old nemesis, DA Josh Peyton. In her opening statement, Harry is just saying her client is in fact innocent and didn't murder his wife, when one of Peyton's assistants enters to whisper in his ear. Peyton approaches the bench with stunning news: a severed finger was just located in Graham's deposit box, and yes, it's his wife's. When Harry is too stunned to speak, Peyton proposes a brief recess. Harry and Adam immediately consult with their client, who suspiciously asks for a moment to think...

Graham claims that he picked his wife's finger up as a memento - he was delusional, in shock! Harry stands up to leave; she's no longer representing Graham, who can't understand why. She'd represent him if he did murder his wife, but she won't represent him for lying?! Why not just switch the defense to diminished capacity? Back at the store, Harry is just asking Adam to draft a motion to withdraw when the cops burst in the door. They throw Malcolm to ground to arrest him for possession, despite his protests that it's a lie. Harry and Adam rush to the police station, only to be met by Tommy, who offers to cover for Harry when she has to go back to court. Still, the cops won't tell them anything about Malcolm.

When Malcolm demands to have his lawyer present for what he assumes will be an interrogation, Detective Garcia admits Malcolm's not really under arrest. They had to take him down hard for his own protection. They're trying to nail a dealer known as Doughboy, who now fronts for a crew that supplies dealers. Since Doughboy will only sell to people he knows, they want Malcolm to wear a wire for a one-time deal - maybe they can shave some time off his parole in return. Plying his lawyer skills, Malcolm insists he'll only help if his probation is terminated and his record expunged completely. Emerging from his confab with the cops, Malcolm tells Adam and Tommy that he's not being charged. Adam's suspicious, but Tommy concludes that his mere presence must have scared the cops silly.

Harry meets with Judge Coulis and Peyton to recuse herself from the case, claiming her client lied to her. The judge quickly denies her request as silly - the trial has already begun! - but Harry's not having it. She wasn't making a request, she's out. When Harry threatens to tank the trial, Judge Coulis threatens right back: Harry will be found in contempt and referred to the Board of Overseers, who will surely disbar her. Harry WILL proceed with trail. Later, back at the store, Harry's problems seem relatively minor compared to Malcolm's. Knowing his criminal record could keep him out of law school, Malcolm's already agreed to Detective Garcia's deal. Unwilling to trust a promise from a detective, Harry asks Adam to get an executed agreement with the DA's office.

In court, Officer Burrows, the cop who was first on the Graham murder scene, is on the witness stand. At first the cops had no reason to suspect Graham, until investigation revealed that their investigation pointed directly to him. On cross-examination, Harry tries to obfuscate: the screams the neighbors heard didn't have to belong to a woman - it could have been Graham. When Peyton objects, Harry levels with Burrows. They both know Graham killed his wife. Furious, Judge Coulis declares a mistrial, and tells the Bailiff to cart Harry off to jail for contempt. For her parting shot, a worried Harry asks not to be put in the same cell as her client - because as everyone knows, he kills people!

Adam visits his old pal in the DA's office, ADA Kepler, who points out that the only person who can expunge Malcolm's record is a judge. Adam knows the judge will follow Kepler's recommendation, and besides, if the city wants Malcolm to be an agent of the police, these are the terms. Just then his cell phone goes off - Harry's calling from jail! Adam rushes over to post bail, only to learn that Harry's incarceration is about more than bail. Judge Coulis shows up to explain her point: she's been following Harry's trajectory, and admires her for leaving her cushy corporate digs to do something more meaningful. But why commit career suicide in of all places, Judge Coulis' courtroom? Sadly, Coulis has recommended Harry for permanent disbarment, and it's breaking her heart.

Wearing a wire, Malcolm stops by Doughboy's storefront, a discount carpet store, and asks to buy two "rolls of plush pile." While waiting for his boss, Doughboy makes a nasty comment about an old friend of Malcolm's, now dead, showing his true colors. When the boss enters, Malcolm immediately recognizes him as his old pal Tank, and quickly smashes the tiny microphone hidden in the zipper of his hoodie. Tank is alarmed to see Malcolm, but Malcolm assures him he's clean, and yes he's going to be a lawyer. He's just making this one-time buy for a friend. Tank tells Malcolm to come back tomorrow night to make the buy.

Back at the store, Malcolm tells everyone what happened, explaining that the cops don't know he cut the bug; they just think it was technical failure. Malcolm thought he was helping nail Doughboy, who's bad news, but Tank was like a brother to him, and once saved his life. Harry advises Malcolm that this is one of those moments in life when he's going to have to decide what kind of man he's going to be. Tommy blows in, having just heard that Harry may be disbarred. She's not to worry, because Tommy's come to defend her! Harry insists nobody's defending her. The only real shot is to fall on the grenade and beg for mercy. Claiming they're like family, Tommy wants to go with her, but Harry's going to do it alone. Meanwhile, Damien stops in to talk to Malcolm, just to make sure he's not in trouble.

When Harry's called before the three-member Board of Bar Overseers, she doesn't trivialize her actions, but does explain that she asked to be dismissed. For their part, the judges can only see that Harry tanked the trial. If they don't disbar an attorney for doing that, when would they? Why didn't Harry just fake being sick or something? When Harry is rendered speechless, Adam jumps in, asking for a recess. Over lunch, Adam urges Harry to fight, but she can't see it. Fight to defend drug dealers and murderers? Maybe she should just throw in the towel. Stunned, Adam refuses to let Harry give up, explaining that she's not just throwing away her life, but his, Jenna's and Malcolm's as well. Besides, she's not even remotely ready to retire. This job is the most fun she's ever had in her life!

Harry returns to the board hearing, finally ready to pitch her Hail Mary. The judges spoke of the need to safeguard the integrity of the legal profession - to which she asks, "What integrity?" Maybe lawyers used to be revered when they were founding the country, but now they're thought of as greedy and corrupt. Somewhere along the way justice became about winning. In this particular case, it became Harry's "moral responsibility" to put a murderer back on the street. It all makes her want to vomit! Do the judges realize they just told her it would be better to lie, pretending to be sick, in order to "get away" with turning on her client? It's all a big game.

So for Harry, the real question is, will she tank a trial again? And the funny thing? She knows she won't. The truth is she has too much to lose. Harry finally loves practicing law, ever since she started doing it in a shoe store, with people she adores. She admits she screwed up, and it's the judges' call. Afterwards, Harry, Adam, Jenna and Tommy wait nervously in the hallway, worrying about Malcolm. When Harry asks Tommy why he came, he explains that he's there because he cares about her; they're like family. When the judges return, they confess that Harry's condemnation of the legal system didn't fall on deaf ears. They're not sure what the answer is, but it can't be throwing one of their better lawyers out. If Harry will do 100 hours of pro bono work per year for the next five years, she'll live.

That night, Malcolm returns to the carpet store to make the drug buy. Doughboy's the only one there, so Malcolm demands to see Tank, who's happy to see Malcolm. Just when it looks like Malcolm's going to be true to his friend, he directs the conversation so there will be no doubt Tank is at the top of the food chain in drug land. When the deal's done, Tank lovingly tells Malcolm that if he ever sees him buying drugs again, he'll kill him. That's when the cops burst through the door to make the arrest - making it look like they're arresting Malcolm, too.

Afterwards, everyone sits around the shoe store dejectedly. Malcolm isn't sure whether Tank and Doughboy knows he sold them out, but he does know he feels dirty, having turned on a friend. Harry reminds Malcolm that he was a drug addict in his old life, and to really turn a corner, he's going to have to keep turning his back. Harry apologizes to her crew for jeopardizing the store and their jobs - they all mean a lot to her, and they probably won't be hearing such sentiment again from her until 2014. Just then, Tommy bursts through the door with a giant cake, filled with lit candles. When Harry tries to blow out the candles and make a wish, they start to detonate like firecrackers, forcing Jenna to grab a fire extinguisher.