Created by: Robert King, Michelle King
Starring: Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles, Chris Noth, Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry, Archie Panjabi, Zach Grenier, Matthew Goode, Cush Jumbo, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Alan Cumming, Graham Phillips, Makenzie Vega, Mike Colter, Michael J. Fox, Sarah Steele, Skipp Sudduth, Mary Beth Peil, America Ferrera, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Scott Porter, Michael Ealy, Jerry Adler, John Benjamin Hickey, Matthew Perry, Michael Boatman, Chris Butler, Parker Posey, Anna Camp, Titus Welliver, Dreama Walker, Gary Cole, Martha Plimpton, Jill Flint, Kevin Conway, Carrie Preston, Monica Raymund, Jess Weixler, Miriam Shor, Stockard Channing, Nathan Lane, Marc Warren, Dylan Baker, Joe Morton, Mamie Gummer, Jeremy Strong, Dallas Roberts, T.R. Knight, Maura Tierney, Amanda Peet, Steven Pasquale, Vanessa L. Williams, Margo Martindale, Mike Pniewski, Anika Noni Rose, Tim Guinee, F. Murray Abraham, Lisa Edelstein, Emily Bergl, David Paymer, Sonequa Martin-Green, Ana Gasteyer, Felix Solis, Nitya Vidyasagar, Chris Bowers, Chelsea Handler, Elizabeth Reaser, Denis O'Hare, Rita Wilson, Miranda Cosgrove, Emily Kinney, Kelli Giddish, Rachel Brosnahan, Norbert Leo Butz, Susan Misner, Christian Pedersen, Amy Sedaris, Kurt Fuller, Romany Malco, Michael Kelly, Morena Baccarin, Jonathan Groff, Kristin Chenoweth, Kyle MacLachlan, Wallace Shawn, Christina Ricci, Ben Rappaport, Melissa George, Jason O'Mara, Michael Cerveris, Jeffrey Tambor, Jordana Spiro, Hunter Parrish, Eric Bogosian, Christian Borle, Frankie J. Alvarez, Laura Benanti, James LeGros, Mary Stuart Masterson, Murray Bartlett, Genevieve Angelson, David Hyde Pierce, David Krumholtz, Connie Nielsen, Euan Morton, Linda Lavin, Taye Diggs, Oliver Platt, Edward Asner, J.D. Williams, Ron Rifkin, Gloria Steinem, Christopher McDonald, Nicole Roderick, Nikki M. James, Will Patton, Matthew Morrison, Peter Gallagher, Brian Muller, Rob Bartlett, Dominic Chianese, Mo Rocca, Megan Hilty, Zak Orth, Amy Irving, Pedro Pascal, Bridget Regan, Patrick Breen, Zach Woods, Blair Underwood
156 episodes
(TV-14 - adult language, adult themes, adult situations, violence)
PLOT:
Alicia Florick is the wife of a former state's attorney for Cook County. He has been imprisoned after a sex and corruption scandal. Alicia must deal with the public humiliation. She must also fend for her two children. After years of being a housewife and mother, she returns to work as a litigator at the law firm Stern, Lockhart & Gardner. She must now prove herself in the courtroom.
season 1 -
After having to return to work following her husband's corruption scandal and incarceration, Alicia Florick is assigned her first case – a straightforward retrial of a woman accused of murdering her ex-husband. Since her firm successfully deadlocked the first jury, sticking to the same strategy should work again, but Alicia soon discovers that she has a real fight on her hands. Alicia and Will represent a stripper who was raped at a bachelor party by the groom, a young man from a wealthy Chicago family. On the personal front, Alicia confronts Peter over his indiscretions; debates whether or not the children should visit him in prison. The kids find doctored photos of Peter's indiscretions, but hide them from their mother. Alicia returns to her old upscale neighborhood to defend a former friend's teen son, who is accused of murdering a security guard at a friend's house. The 18-year-old man admits he was at the home but claims he's innocent of the crime. Cary is assigned to help Alicia with the case, even though he has never tried one in court. Alicia discovers evidence that a juror may have been bribed with $35,000 in a class-action lawsuit against a major pharmaceutical company. Alicia's client was paralyzed after taking one of the company's drugs. Meanwhile, Peter's lawyer tries to get Alicia to help in her husband's defense and attempts to bribe her with gifts. Alicia and Will represent three widows of train engineers who have been accused by the company that they, not the company, were responsible for their deaths in a train crash. Alicia and Will have 72 hours to find the smoking gun to prove that the company was responsible. On the home front, Jackie and Alicia clash when Jackie goes against Alicia's wishes and takes the children to visit Peter in jail for his birthday. Alicia and Will work on the appeal of a death row inmate accused of killing a police officer. Knowing that her client was convicted of the crime under Peter's regime as state's attorney, Alicia agrees to his request of a conjugal visit in order to obtain any information Peter may have regarding the original case. Alicia serves as co-counsel to a handsome storefront lawyer who is defending an Orthodox Jewish couple being sued in a slip-and-fall case. Alicia is assigned because one of the defendants is a law partner's daughter. The victim claims she was badly injured when she tripped on a wire outside of the couple's house, but Alicia believes the incident may be a scam. Meanwhile, Will and Diane make a round of layoffs at the firm. Alicia defends a scientist accused of arson after the lab the woman works in is torched. It's soon learned that the scientist is the target of a hate group. Meanwhile, Alicia is asked to testify on her husband's behalf at his bail hearing, but she is uncertain if she wants him to return home; and Zach becomes determined to uncover the identity of the person who is leaving damaging photos and DVDs at the Florrick's front door. Alicia represents the firm's senior partner after he is arrested for DUI and assaulting a police officer, and she must deal with the murky office politics that come with the case. Meanwhile, Chelsea Handler interviews Peter's mistress, who is promoting a tell-all book about her affair with Peter. Alicia investigates a judge's questionable motives after he overturns a simple plea bargain she arranged and sentences her juvenile client to nine months in detention. Her investigation reveals the judge has a history of unusual sentences and may be a racist. Meanwhile, Diane is offered a judgeship and considers leaving the firm. A Tucker Carlson-type TV commentator continually accuses a Chicago mother of killing her missing 3-year-old child, causing her to commit suicide. The firm represents the grieving husband in a wrongful death suit against the TV commentator and his television network. Alicia represents the wife of her husband's nemesis, Glenn Childs, in a divorce case. A star high-school quarterback dies from an overdose of painkillers, and Alicia defends the family physician who is charged with murder for prescribing the medication. The doctor claims he is innocent, and Alicia attempts to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, Jackie suffers a stroke, and Childs asks Kalinda to work for him to help undermine Peter's appeal. Alicia defends a wealthy man in civil court who is accused of murdering his wife. Part of his wife's body is found near where the man lives, which makes him look guilty. The rest of her body is later found on the daughter's property, which raises the possibility that she killed the wife. The man is found not guilty in his criminal trial but Alicia suspects he may have committed the crime. Meanwhile, Peter's appeal begins, and Diane buys a gun for protection when a drug dealer she put in prison years ago threatens to kill her. Sonya Rucker, whose company is a client of SL&G, has a crisis. Her babysitter, Lisa Pruit, was murdered at Rucker's home and her husband, Jason Rucker, is the lead suspect. Will and Diane call in Alicia and Cary to help with the case. Cary thought he had the following day off and has taken mushrooms with a friend in from Seattle; he must pull himself together for the next 48 hours. At the crime scene, Kalinda notices a small item that appears to be a rubber nub from the bottom of a laptop. When contact is finally made with Jason, who claims to have been in a movie, they bring him into the firm and have him take a polygraph test before the police arrive to arrest him. As Will, Alicia and a tripping Cary question Jason, they discover that he was at his studio where he works on his graphic novel. Lisa was working with Jason on a graphic novel at his studio, but their relationship did not go any further than that. At first, Kalinda suspects the neighborhood security guard is responsible, but turns her attention towards one of Lisa's classmates, Max, when she discovers a rubber nub is missing from the bottom of his laptop. Max may have got Lisa pregnant, but when she wouldn't have an abortion, he killed her and tried to frame Jason. Kalinda is subpoenaed to testify at Peter's appeal trial where she describes working for both Peter and Childs. Peter wins his appeal and is released on electronic monitoring. Alicia defends a man accused of murdering a financial adviser who lost the man's life savings in a Ponzi scheme. At home, Peter adjusts to house arrest and begins his comeback strategy with his legal team after his son shows him incriminating photos that were left at their door weeks earlier. Alicia and Will defend an attorney who's arrested for murder because he allegedly leaked the witness list to his client, a drug lord, which resulted in the murder of the star witness. Now under house arrest, Peter strategizes how to handle his retrial the next steps in his public rehabilitation. An emergency courtroom is set up in a hospital conference room. Will represents Kate Willoughby, whose unborn child requires an in-utero surgical intervention on its heart. Lifestate, Kate's insurance provider, has put a stop to the surgery two days before it's scheduled because they don't cover experimental procedures. SLG is also in charge of a class action lawsuit against Lifestate and the case with the Willoughbys would set the precedent for the 68 other cases where Lifestate denied coverage. Lifestate's lawyer offers Will a deal, drop the class action suit and they'll find the money to save her baby, but Will says no. When it looks like the outcome will be in favor of Kate, Lifestate's defense claims that Kate's husband inaccurately filled out their application for coverage and thus voids their contract for insurance. With Kalinda's help, Will gets leverage on Lifestate's unethical practices and rather than the information becoming public, a settlement is reached and the baby's surgery is a success. On the personal front, Peter continues to repair his reputation through religion; while at the office, Alicia and Will share a kiss which leads to Alicia sleeping with Peter. Alicia and Will defend a college student accused of killing her roommate while under the influence of a sleep aid. As they defend their client Will and Alicia must deal with the tension that exists between them since the night of their kiss. Meanwhile, Diane continues her flirtatious relationship with a conservative ballistics expert. Jeffrey Sanborn's widow, Karen Sanborn, is seeking punitive damages for her husband's death which her new attorney, Jonas Stern, claims was the intentional act of SLG's client, Charles Clay, owner and editor of The Cook County Vindicator. A Muslim extremist group claimed responsibility for the pipe bomb explosion at the newspaper's office after Charles published a controversial political cartoon that showed Muhammad being humiliated. Managing editor, Jeffrey Sanborn was killed in the blast. As Jonas and his team try to convince the jury that Charles published the cartoon to sell more newspapers, SLG looks closer at the crime scene and realizes that the bombing was an inside job. Also, Alicia plays on Jonas's dementia, throwing him off during the trial while Cary foils Jonas's attempt at poaching a number of SLG associates. On the personal front, Peter and the family attend a church service, but he uses this opportunity to secretly meet with Gerald Kozko about his potentially damning testimony. Alicia is furious at Peter for making her believe he had found religion and was trying to be a better man. She leaves and the episode ends on Peter going after her with the electronic monitoring alarm going off. When Peter crosses the threshold, the electronic monitoring alarm begins to sound followed shortly by the phone ringing. When the police arrive, Peter is back in the apartment and Zach blames a skateboarding trick gone wrong on the broken sensor. Will participates in a mock trial as a judge. Alicia's building manager is arrested because of a smuggling ring and is in danger of being deported. SLG divorce lawyer David Lee is representing Caroline Wilder, the soon-to-be ex-wife of rock star Max Wilder. Just before the court date, Max Wilder ends up in a coma, with the soon-to-be ex-wife and the soon-to-be new wife fighting for control of his estate. Eli Gold comes to Alicia to discuss Peter's re-election. Alicia goes to Eli for a favor. In the meantime, the contest between Alicia and Cary is decided. Alicia is celebrating her victory with Kalinda when she gets a request from Will to get client, and accused wife killer, Colin Sweeney, to sign off on the new language in his company's merger. When she arrives, she finds that he is handcuffed to a dead woman. Colin claims she attacked him and killed his dog. Alicia and Diane facilitate an immunity deal for an undercover cop who will testify in front of a grand jury that his fellow officers, Task Force members, have been conspiring with gang members to deal in illegal firearms. Two hours later, the cop is dead. The cop's widow files a multi-million dollar wrongful death suit against Cook County and the City of Chicago and Alicia is her lawyer. Now working for Childs, Cary offers $300,000 to settle the wrongful death suit. Alicia rejects the offer and preps for trial. Kalinda finds the cache of illegal weapons, but the Task Force officers maintain their innocence in the death of their comrade. Further investigation reveals that the cop's widow was the one who tipped off the gang member of her husband's true identity. Alicia confronts her and the widow confesses, her husband was physically abusive, beating her on a regular basis and by telling the gang he was a cop, she knew they would kill him and this was her way out for her and her children.
season 2 -
Alicia is about to join Peter on the dais as Will calls. Eli grabs the phone and gets Alicia to take Peter's hand. Will leaves two messages: the first saying he understands they should just drop it, then the second saying that he loves her, and he's not dropping this. Eli deletes the second message. Before they have a chance to settle things, Will gets caught up in the law firm merger and has to deal with the new partner, Derrick Bond. In court, Alicia is appointed as a counselor to an accused murderer who insists on defending himself. Dissatisfied that Alicia wins a not guilty verdict for a young Army Reservist accused of murdering his wife, Cary has the case re-tried in military court. In military court, the rules are different and the law is presented differently stacking the decks against Alicia. But Alicia has a plan and calls Cary to the stand as a witness as a way of producing evidence which gives a break in the case and saves her client. Meanwhile as the campaign kicks into full gear, Childs resorts to dirty tricks in an effort to mar Peter's reputation. For the first time, Lockhart, Gardner, & Bond go squarely on the offensive with prosecutors, filing a multimillion-dollar malicious prosecution suit against the S.A.'s office for ruining an innocent defendant's life. Childs is desperate to defend his department's decisions while covering himself; Diane and Will debate how to best utilize Alicia in a case against her husband's political opponent; and Kalinda and Cary go head-to-head in trying to determine the true culprit's identity. All of the maneuvering builds to one explosive conflict between Alicia and Glenn Childs that could make or break the case—and ultimately, the campaign. Alicia once again faces the impossibly sweet young Nancy Crozier, only this time she's her co-counsel and – supposedly – on the same side of the case. Although Alicia's prepared for her innocent-with-a-dagger routine, it was originally thought that it could work toward their common goal: defending their linked clients in a civil suit. But when Nancy proves as dangerous as the opposition, Alicia fights on two fronts and ultimately outmaneuvers her to protect her client. DA Wendy Scott-Carr announces her intent to run for State's Attorney at a gala dinner in front of Alicia, Peter, and the LGB partners. While Peter and Eli try to figure out what this means for their campaign, Alicia is called back to the firm on an urgent matter. A massage therapist claims that a famous humanitarian and women's rights activist sexually assaulted her. Will gets into a scuffle with the humanitarian's lawyer. In the next few hours, the firm investigates the massage therapist and mulls over her potential case. The humanitarian offers to endorse Peter in return for Alicia's firm backing off the case; Peter refuses but gets the endorsement anyway. Finally, the therapist decides that she doesn't want exposure and decides not to sue. LGB crosses swords with a brilliant disabled attorney named Louis Canning who is cynically deployed by a desperate pharmaceutical company to battle the claim that their new billion-dollar antidepressant caused the grisly murder-suicide of LGB's client's parents. Caitlin Fenton is the test case. Win and it opens the door for tens of millions of dollars in class action money. Lose and countless other victims will be unable to collect any compensation for the death of their loved ones. After receiving a critical peer review from new partner Derrick Bond, Alicia is saddled with the DUI case of teen star Sloan Burchfield, who ran her Escalade into a pole after a night of underage drinking. While Alicia is able to convince the judge of Sloan's innocence in this matter, D.A. Cary drops a bombshell before the case is closed: Yasmine Morgan, another club-goer from that night, is accusing her of attempted murder. LGB takes on the case of Matthew Wade, an alderman who has been indicted for taking campaign contributions in exchange for getting a mosque built on the site of an abandoned housing project. To complicate matters further, the money came from now-deceased bundler Royce Crombie, who allegedly has ties with Islamic extremists. Matthew is being charged with aiding and abetting a terrorist organization. Ten years ago, Carter Wright was accused of starting a fire that killed his ex-wife. He's been on death row ever since. When LGB gets a cryptic call about the case from a courthouse clerk, they realize that something must have been overlooked by his previous counsel and they have less than 8 hours before the deadline to file an appeal. When drugs are found in the possession of wealthy student Jonathan Murphy and his working class girlfriend Alexis Symanski, Jonathan's father calls in LGB. But the case gets more complex when the drugs are found to have come from a pharmacy where the clerk was murdered. Jonathan and Alexis finger a man in a photo line-up as the guy who sold them the drugs, but it turns out the exercise was a trap: the man's been dead for four years. Jonathan and Alexis have just become the primary suspects in Cary's murder investigation. While defending Scott Bauer, an internet spam distributor accused of murdering his father, Alicia and Will are stymied by hostile judge Edward Weldon due to an altercation he had with Will on the basketball court. To make matters worse, the prosecution was able to get a picture entered into evidence that showed Scott dressed in a Nazi SS uniform for a WWII war reenactment. Between the judge's biased rulings and the jury's dislike of Scott's profession and hobby, Alicia and Will feel their case slipping away. As Cary and Alicia go head to head again in a prison murder case, Cary uncovers an unlikely connection between the accused and one of Bond's clients. Meanwhile, Glenn Childs and Wendy Scott-Carr join forces after Peter's campaign is discovered race-baiting the electorate. In order to get Peter to stop, Wendy threatens to reveal that Zach and Becca had sex, resulting in Becca getting a secret abortion. The threat of a new scandal rocks both the campaign and the Florrick household. Alicia takes on a class-action lawsuit and tries to round up more signatures for the case than shrewd lawyer Louis Canning. Kalinda discovers a key-tracking software has been installed on Alicia's computer, which makes them believe that Canning is spying on Alicia. However, they find that Derrick Bond seems to be getting information from the tracking. This leads to Will and Diane resolving to oust Bond. Meanwhile, Derrick brings in a super PAC as a client. Will takes on the defamation case of wunderkind internet billionaire Patric Edelstein, the 25-year-old founder of Sleuth.com. Patric is suing the makers of a biopic that he claims is defaming him, and while Will knows the case will be a tough sell he also knows that he can milk this 'cash cow' for hundreds of billable hours. After meeting with Patric in the deposition, however, Will begins believing in the kid. After a talk with Honeycutt, the cynical lawyer representing the studio, Will resolves to try and win the long-shot defamation case instead of just trying to milk it for the cash. While meeting with the screenwriter, though, Will gets a better idea: challenging Patric's right to publicity. If he claims that the studio is usurping Patric's right to control his own publicity, he can get a settlement without proving the much-more-difficult defamation claims. Kurt McVeigh, the right-wing ballistics expert with whom Diane has an on-again off-again relationship, is on trial for testimony he gave in a murder trial. Pablo Beltran, the accused cop killer in that case, was sent to prison partially on the back of McVeigh's testimony. When extreme misconduct from the DNA lab caused Beltran to go free, however, he decided to go after McVeigh knowing that a judgment against the expert would end his career. As Eli decides how best to use a "Nannygate"-style political bombshell that could cripple Wendy Scott-Carr's campaign, Alicia helps Diane defend McVeigh and piece together the truth about Beltran's shooting. Eli appears to be sympathetic to the nanny. McVeigh proposes to Diane but she turns him down. LGB is suing a social networking website on behalf Shen Yuan, a Chinese dissident who was jailed and tortured for five years by his government. Shen claims that the website failed to protect his anonymity by turning his IP address over to the Chinese government. Alicia and Will know that if they can get a large enough settlement, the company will stop cooperating with the Chinese and they can help prevent the incarceration of future activists. But when Alicia sees Patric Edelstein, (the internet billionaire from 214) in the office, she begins to suspect that the firm has an ulterior motive for taking Shen's case. As Peter finds a silver bullet that might drive Glenn Childs from the campaign for good, Will and Diane attempt to wrestle control of the firm away from Derrick Bond once and for all. When LeMond Bishop's wife leaves him, LG represents the drug kingpin in a series of increasingly nasty divorce proceedings. LeMond is intent on trying to reconcile with the woman he still loves, but she is resolute. He cheated on her, and now he has to pay. Alicia and Will must convince the court that their client is fit to be a father despite his underworld dealings or he could lose his family for good. Meanwhile, Kalinda is subpoenaed by a grand jury to answer for a variety of crimes she's committed in the past. But is Glenn Childs actually after Kalinda, or is he really trying to take down Alicia and LG? Kalinda meets with Blake. He teases her that he knows her secret and reveals that Kalinda slept with Peter in exchange for helping her with a situation. Jarvis Bowes has spent the last 30 years in a psychiatric hospital after being convicted for the rape and murder of Malory Cerone. While institutionalized, he wrote a song which was covered by a pop band and has recently hit the top of the charts. Now Alicia and Lockhart/Gardner are helping Malory's daughter sue Jarvis for the proceeds from the song, claiming he wrote it about killing her mother. But when Alicia looks into Bowes' crime, she finds that the roots of the song may be even more disturbing than they had initially thought. Meanwhile Alicia and Diane help Eli attempt to secure citizenship for Natalie, but their case hits a snag when Natalie's father is wrongfully arrested and threatened with deportation. Alicia and LG take a class action suit against GoView, a video-on-demand company that created working conditions so miserable that several employees committed suicide. Opposing counsel is once again Louis Canning, this time taking the case over from former LG partner turned rival Jonas Stern. Stern had been on the verge of settling, but Canning insists on a trial. When Alicia finds an internal memo proving that GoView looted the employee pension fund, they are stuck with a case that is slowly becoming unwinnable and a piece of evidence that would leave their class with nothing if it came to light. Lockhart/Gardner represents a small drilling contractor in a contract dispute against a major oil conglomerate. Things seem straightforward at first, but quickly get out of hand when a South American dictator nationalizes the drilling company and takes over the case. Suddenly, Lockhard/Gardner is forced to cater to the dictator's whims, including taking orders from an aging actor who played a famous lawyer on television. Meanwhile, Peter and Wendi are neck-and-neck in the polls leading up to Election Day. In order to win over the people, Eli tells Alicia that she must enter the fray and show her support for Peter in a televised interview. Lockhart/Gardner nemesis Patti Nyholm returns, this time defending a hospital in a liver transplant case. A woman with only weeks to live has been bumped from the transplant list, and our firm only has days to reverse the hospital's decision before the liver goes to someone else. The case takes an unexpected turn when Nyholm turns the tables – she's been wrongfully terminated by her firm due to her pregnancy, and she wants to hire Will and Alicia to take her case. But can she be trusted? With the revelation of Peter's one night stand with Kalinda, Alicia takes action, throwing Peter out of their home, and deals with the emotional fallout from Peter, their children, and her mother-in-law Jackie. Alicia is assigned to defend a woman who is being sued by a widow whose husband was murdered by someone he met on the defendant's website. Once again, Alicia and Will are up against the somewhat ditsy Nancy Crozier. When her case turns to accusing the defendant of murder – and Carey Agos takes an all too obvious interest in the civil proceedings – Alicia and Will realize they have to change their strategy. At the office, Alicia lays it on the line with Kalinda, who decides to get a job elsewhere. The firm defends a man accused of murdering a judge. Alicia and Kalinda temporarily put aside their strained relationship to work on the case. Meanwhile, Eli decides to bring his consulting business to Lockhart/Gardner, but Alicia is against the idea.
season 3 -
A new, more confident Alicia takes center stage in defending a Muslim college student accused of assaulting a Jewish student during a campus brawl. At first, the case seems relatively easy – there's no physical evidence linking their client to the crime, and the trumped up hate crime charge they're fighting smacks of Peter trying to make a statement during his first week back in the job. When Kalinda finds a photo that seems to prove their client was elsewhere at the time the crime was committed, it appears that Lockhart/Gardner has secured the win. The trial takes a turn, however, when Cary and the prosecution reveal their plan: this new evidence may have exonerated Alicia's client from the assault, but it makes him the primary suspect in a murder investigation. The author of a book about a Mount Everest expedition is being sued for libel, and Lockhart/Gardner is handling his case. The plaintiff claims that the book makes it look like he let a man die near the top of the mountain in order to get to the peak, and his reputation has suffered ever since. After Will gets the case dismissed in US court, though, the plaintiff decides to re-sue in the British courts. Lockhart/Gardner must defend their case again, this time in an unfamiliar judicial system where the burden of proof lies with the defendant. Meanwhile, Eli and Kalinda work together in order to try and uncover a political scandal before it happens. As part of Peter's duties as the new state's attorney, he must find a law firm to handle the county's civil needs. Diane believe that Lockhart/Gardner has the inside track to win the job, and she's startled when Peter seems to be setting them up by telling her that the firm will need to submit to a voluntary audit if they want to be considered for the contract. For the first time, the partners of Lockhart/Gardner question Alicia's true allegiance. Will and Alicia are stuck together in a hotel for a week of mandatory mediation in Lockhart/Gardner's latest case. Their client is suing her doctor for implanting a surgical device of his own design in her back during a medical procedure. She claims she had no idea she was being subjected to experimental medicine and has been in constant pain ever since. Complicating matters is that opposing counsel is Will's old flame Celeste Serrano. She knows all his tricks, and her strong connection with Will seems to spark a little jealousy in Alicia. Meanwhile, Eli takes charge of a crisis management case when a batch of tainted cheese leads to a listeriosis outbreak in an elementary school. Alicia works a pro bono case, defending a man who stands accused of committing murder during a convenience store robbery gone wrong. Even though her client is innocent, a witness has identified him as the shooter. Matters are complicated further when Diane, trying to keep the firm afloat during hard economic times, tells her to plead it out – she wants all of her attorneys on paid cases only. When Diane discovers that Celeste's old firm has gone under and his former partner is looking for a new place to take her lucrative bankruptcy division, Will attempts to get her on board at Lockhart/Gardner. Celeste, however, has other plans: she wants Will to leave the firm and come work with her. Lockhart/Gardner's case against an aviation company takes a huge hit when their key witness commits suicide and his testimony is ruled inadmissible. The only other person with inside knowledge of the plane's design flaw is Colin Sweeney, a venture capitalist that Alicia defended on a murder charge two years ago who has been in jail ever since. But his testimony comes with a price – his freedom. And Cary won't let him go unless he agrees to wear a wire and get a jailhouse confession from one of the most dangerous killers in the Illinois prison system. At the same time, Eli tries to get Peter the keynote address at the upcoming DNC while Alicia is told that she can take part in the hiring of a new first year associate. Cary clashes with Lockhart/Gardner yet again when two male students are accused of murdering a female classmate on a college booze cruise. Complicating matters is that both of the accused men are sons of foreign dignitaries and appear to be protected from prosecution thanks to diplomatic immunity. While one of the suspects walks, the other must stand trial because his father is from Taiwan – a country not recognized by the US. As Cary attempts to pin the murder on Lockhart/Gardner's suddenly vulnerable client, Alicia and Caitlin look for a way to prove that the other diplomat's son was the one who did the deed. Meanwhile, Eli is approached by his ex-wife in a professional capacity – she wants him to vet her in preparation for a possible state senate run. Lockhart/Gardner takes on the United States Government on behalf of a military contractor who claims that he was imprisoned and tortured by the Army in Afghanistan. While Diane and the team plow through boxes of censored documents looking for evidence, Alicia must meet with a government monitor whose authority overrides attorney/client privilege. When opposing counsel reveals damning new evidence about her client, Alicia is asked by the monitor to reveal information that would lead to his imprisonment...and if she doesn't, she could end up in jail herself. At the State's Attorney's office, Peter decides to follow up on a fifteen-year-old case claiming that Will Gardner stole $45,000 from a client at his old firm in order to fund his gambling addiction. An interview with a gang member on death row leads Cary and the SA's office to two dead bodies that had been buried in a vacant lot. One victim was another gang member, but the second was an innocent young woman who went missing several months ago. Ballistics evidence points to the woman's boyfriend, Lockhart/Gardner's client, as her killer. Will, Diane, and Alicia, however, believe that the murders were related and both victims were probably shot by a third gang member who is still at large. Because the only person who might know the truth is a vicious killer slated to be executed by the state in 36 hours, the Lockhart/Gardner team must find a way to get a stay of execution for a guilty man before time runs out for their client. Campaign manager Mickey Gunn comes to Eli for help. He has a promising young politician with a humorous skeleton in his closet: a drunken Facebook picture showing his client stooping in front of a Santa Claus statue, as if performing fellatio. Eli must figure out a way to spin the story before it sinks Mickey's client's campaign hopes for good. Will and Alicia are back in military court, this time defending a young female remote drone operator accused of murdering twelve civilians in Afghanistan. The prosecution argues that the order to fire the rocket was remanded, but the defendant fired anyway. When their only witness decides to testify for the prosecution, Will and Alicia must find a new way to persuade an all-military jury of their client's innocence. Faced with losing the cheese lobby, one of their biggest clients, Lockhart/Gardner turns to Eli in the hopes that he can convince the FDA to reinstate the food pyramid and promote cheese consumption. But in his counterpart for the fruit lobby, Eli finds an opponent who always seems to be one step ahead of him. The state's investigation into Will Gardner heats up when Peter assigns the case to Wendy Scott-Carr – a woman who will stop at nothing to weed out corruption. Alicia mentors Caitlin through her first arbitration case, defending a college professor who claims she was laid off after refusing her bosses sexual advances. But when Alicia learns that opposing counsel is Martha, the associate that she wanted to hire over Caitlin in Ep. 305, the proceedings swiftly become more antagonistic. When testimony reveals another possible cause for the defendant's job loss – her staunch right-wing beliefs – the case becomes an issue of freedom of expression. This twist removes the damages cap originally imposed by the arbitrator, making it potentially far more lucrative for Lockart/Gardner. With so much more at stake, Martha's boss Louis Canning starts taking a more active role in the case. It's Alicia vs. Louis once more, this time clashing as the puppet masters of their first year associates. While Alicia meets with Louis Canning, she checks her phone and realizes that she has twelve missed calls from her daughter Grace. When all attempts to track down Grace fail, Alicia fears the worst. As the hours pass, Alicia wonders if she's been prioritizing her work and her relationship with Will above her family. When the jury in a murder case comes back with a guilty verdict after the legal teams on both sides assumed there would be an acquittal, Will, Alicia, and Diane work to figure out what went wrong. With Kalinda's help, the firm learns that something made over half the jurors change their mind during deliberations. With time running out before sentencing, it's up to Lockart/Gardner to convince the judge to vacate the ruling. Her romance with Will over, Alicia looks to rekindle old friendships in order to find some companionship. When she learns that Kalinda played a major role in finding Grace, she realizes that a friendship she once thought was dead forever might be worth salvaging. Alicia, Will, Diane, and David Lee are being sued by a couple whose divorce Lockart/Gardner handled during Alicia's first year with the firm. The couple, having now reconciled, claim that the firm deliberately split them up in order to make a commission on the liquidation of the company they started together. Their argument has some merit, too, as David Lee used some less-than-savory methods in order to get full custody of the children for his client. But as the partners squabble over who was really at fault, the onus falls on Alicia, who as a first year associate was assigned to get their client to sign the crucial document that would let Lockhart/Gardner off the hook – a document that is now missing. As Wendy Scott-Carr's investigation of Will heats up, he hires Elsbeth Tasconi to represent him and fight back. Alicia and Lockhart/Gardner face off against the US Treasury Department once again, this time aiding Dylan Stack, a lawyer who represents the creator of Bitcoin – an online currency with mysterious origins. Alicia's client is being pressured to reveal the name of the anonymous Bitcoin creator so that the government can prosecute him for creating what they believe to be a currency in direct competition with the US Dollar. But when the judge rules that attorney/client privilege prevents Stack from having to reveal the name of his client, the Treasury Department changes tactics and decides to prosecute Stack himself as the creator of Bitcoin. Wendy Scott-Carr's investigation into Will continues. When Dana Lodge discovers some damning information that could send Alicia to prison, she approaches Kalinda with an ultimatum: help the SA's office prosecute Will, or they’ll go after Alicia. A grand jury has been empanelled, and it appears to be a foregone conclusion that Will Gardner will be indicted for bribing a judge. As Lockhart/Gardner circles the wagons and prepares for the worst, Alicia is brought into the fold and learns how bad things have gotten for the first time. Will's strategy is to try and tie Peter in as much as possible, hoping that Cary will persuade him to see that he might hurt himself by going after Will, but the SA's office has a secret weapon – inside information provided by Kalinda in exchange for keeping quiet about a document that might send Alicia to jail. With the future of the firm in the balance, Alicia herself is called to the stand and asked, under oath, to answer a tough question that she was not expecting – has she ever had a sexual relationship with Will Gardner? Eli's feud with David Lee continues when he realizes Caitlin's connection to his nemesis and decides to bury her with meaningless clerical work. His feud with rival crisis manager Stacie Hall also takes an interesting twist when she admits to having feelings for him while the two battle over a lucrative account. Lockhart/Gardner represents the families of three Americans who were detained and killed by the Syrian government during the civil war. They claim that the tech company ChumHum knowingly sold infiltration and decryption software to Syria in violation of US law – software that allowed the government to track down and murder its enemies. But if ChumHum knowingly sold their software to Syria, proving it is another matter entirely. And when the defense produces a photograph that shows that one the missing dissidents may still be alive, Will, Diane, and Alicia must decide whether or not it's worth jeopardizing their case for the chance to bring her home. The mood at the firm is exuberant following the grand jury's decision not to indict Will. But as a parting shot, Wendy Scott-Carr tipped the Chicago Bar Association off about Will's indiscretions 15 years ago in Baltimore. And, Will learns, there is no statute of limitations on disbarment. Alicia defends a documentary filmmaker who is accused of being responsible for the suicide of a college girl while making a movie about people who kill themselves. But their path to victory is blocked by old nemesis Nancy Crozier and a judge who seems to buy Nancy's folksy, innocent act at every turn. When the firm again turns to Caitlin in order to try and win over the judge and jury, Alicia begins to wonder if her protégé might be her biggest competition at Lockhart/Gardner. As Will serves out his suspension at home under the watchful eyes of his two nosy and manipulative sisters, the power vacuum at Lockhart/Gardner draws the attention of Eli, Julius, and David Lee, all of whom want their name on the company letterhead. Meanwhile, Peter struggles with his political campaign as he realizes that his decision to hire people based solely on merit has cost him many of his former allies. After being released from prison, Lockhart/Gardner client Colin Sweeney attempts to convince the shareholders of his former company to vote him back in as CEO. At the eleventh hour, however, a former employee publicly accuses Sweeney of sexually harassing her, going as far as to produce a baby who was allegedly fathered by Colin. With time running out, Alicia and the firm have 72 hours to prove the allegations are false before Sweeney is forced out of his company for good – a task made more difficult due to the fact that Sweeney will lie to anyone, including his own lawyers, to get what he wants. After getting engaged, Caitlin decides to leave Lockhart/Gardner and give up her career in order to start a family. At the state's attorney's office, Cary is forced to investigate employee fraternization on Peter's behalf, putting him in an awkward position thanks to his own transgressions with Dana Lodge. When Alicia's apartment building decides to convert to condos, she is faced with the possibility of having to move. Lockhart/Gardner represents a client who suffered severe injuries and lost his wife when a snowmobile malfunctioned and struck a tree. With a sympathetic judge and video evidence, the case seems like a slam dunk. All of that changes, however, when the opposition argues that the client's ability to maneuver the snowmobile was impaired due to injuries sustained during a fight on the ice when he was a professional hockey player. In order to counter, Alicia and her legal team decide to add the hockey league to the lawsuit as well. Unfortunately the league is represented by Lockhart/Gardner nemesis Louis Canning, who never goes down without a good fight. Without enough money to make a down payment on her old house, Alicia begins to take Canning's job offer overtures much more seriously. Things heat up between Diane and process server Jack Copeland. When Will's old girlfriend Tammy comes back to cover the hockey trial, Alicia realizes that she wronged Tammy in the same way that Kalinda wronged her. As Diane scrambles to keep the firm's partners placated while they attempt to fill the power vacuum created by Will's suspension, she delegates one of her responsibilities – a seat on a blue ribbon panel that's investigating alleged police misconduct – to Alicia. The case involves a police officer who shot and killed a man on a subway platform. When Alicia begins to suspect that the other members of the panel are unwilling to get to the bottom of what actually happened, Alicia goes toe-to-toe with some of the most influential judges and politicians in Chicago in order to find the truth. Meanwhile, Kalinda's tax audit takes a turn for the personal as she learns the motivation behind the IRS investigation may be about more than money. When Alicia's offer on her old house is rejected, she re-lives both pleasant and painful memories of her old life with Peter in the process of writing a letter to the seller in the hopes of changing their mind. Alicia and Diane represent one of a trio of girls who was convicted of murder at a summer camp five years ago. Recently, however, it was discovered that the crime lab mishandled the DNA evidence and a judge has overturned their sentence pending a new trial. Not wanting to face a wrongful conviction lawsuit, the state has offered the girls an Alford plea – they can go free, but only if they all sign a statement admitting that they were guilty of committing murder. While the girls weigh their options, Alicia and Kalinda work to try and prove the girls’ innocence before the window to accept the plea runs out. Mike Kresteva kicks off his candidacy for the governorship of Illinois by blatantly lying about an interaction with Alicia that makes Peter look bad. Infuriated, Alicia starts to realize that she really does want Peter to run. Meanwhile, she and Jackie duel over control of their old family house. Alicia and Diane are put in the odd position of representing a judge, the honorable Richard Cuesta, who has been accused of misconduct in a murder trial he handled for the state as a prosecutor twenty years earlier. New DNA evidence has overturned the conviction, and Cuesta faces removal from the bench if he's found guilty. With Cuesta backed against a wall, the Lockhart/Gardner team realizes that they must stretch the truth in order to mount their best defense. With tensions rising, Alicia and Diane realize that Judge Cuesta's adherence to the truth might make him his own worst enemy. When FBI agent Lana Delaney approaches LeMond Bishop, the drug dealer blames Kalinda for the federal attention – an accusation that might have grave consequences. Meanwhile, as new named partner Howard Lyman grows increasingly erratic, Will and Diane discuss hiring a new litigator. After two years, in the state's attorney's office, Cary Agos returns to his old home at Lockhart/Gardner. On the heels of a huge win against Louis Canning and a pharmaceutical company, Will and Diane are sent scrambling when Canning teams up with Patti Nyholm in a suit against the firm for fraud and malicious prosecution. When issues from Will's bribery investigation are raised yet again, it appears as if Lockhart/Gardner's two old nemeses have a new source of outside information – and they're trying to use it to bankrupt the firm. As Peter temporarily moves back into the old house, Alicia begins to wonder what her role in the family is becoming. Meanwhile, her new, open friendship with Kalinda hits a snag when Alicia accidentally unearths a dangerous loose end from Kalinda's past.
season 4 -
Zach gets pulled over by a cop and the campaign is turned fully about family values; Alicia deals with a reporter who inquires about the status of her marriage to Peter. Will's suspension is over, and he returns to the firm. The firm deals with a trustee appointed to watch over them in the wake of their bankruptcy. Kalinda comes face-to-face with her estranged husband. The firm attempts to renegotiate its building lease by sending Alicia to meet with their new landlord, Maddie Hayward, but it fails and it inadvertently ends with her donating to Peter's campaign which displeases Diane. Kalinda gets distracted by the presence of her estranged husband. Meanwhile on Will's first case after his suspension ends, he rejects the first (and a reasonable) settlement offer, which ends up complicating his case as he meets an active jury, which partakes in the cross-examinations. The firm argue against Viola Walsh and her internet billionaire client Neil Gross, representing two startup founders who developed voice recognition software and were negatively affected by tweaked search engine page ranking. Alicia's affair with Will seems to be on the verge of being revealed to the press, but it actually turns into another potential scandal for Peter. The firm's trustee briefly clashes with Diane, and Kalinda's husband, Nick, discovers more about her sexual dalliances. The firm sues a university claiming they were liable for the death of a student who died as a result of an extreme hazing ritual. Meanwhile Peter's mother, Jackie, tries to become more involved in her son's gubernatorial campaign after she recovers from her stroke. Eli and Alicia make one more attempt at staving off the publication of a potentially damaging article implicating Peter in another sexual scandal. The firm is called to Lemond Bishop's aid after his accountant is arrested. Alicia is tasked with hand-holding Bishop's son to prepare and comfort him in case his father is arrested. Eli, having forestalled the publication of a damaging magazine article must now contend with a blog threatening to post a story regarding the article not being published in the first place. Kalinda, through her husband, discovers something about her girlfriend, FBI Agent Delaney. Alicia is asked by military court judge Kuhn to represent a military lawyer as she brings suit against a military contract employee in civil court who attempted to rape her. Peter hires a new caretaker for his aging mother, Jackie, after she fires several others. Maddie Hayward announces she intends to run for governor against Peter. Meanwhile, the firm's Trustee begins adopting Steve Jobs' management style. The firm represents a comedian who exposes her breasts on live television, and is compelled to apologize to FCC commissioners to convince them not to fine the network. Cary, after many years, has a chance meeting with his father, which doesn't end well. Eli tries to deal with a new rumor regarding Peter's 'anatomy' and Peter hires a new assistant state's attorney after Alicia recommends a former military court lawyer, Laura Hellinger. Meanwhile, Lockhart Gardner is almost sold by the firm's trustee, saved only by last minute maneuvering by Diane, Will and David Lee. Will Gardner defends a client who is accused of killing her husband for his fortune, in Laura Hellinger's first case as ASA; the case alone could get the firm out of debt, freeing them of supervision of the trustee. However, when Will encounters the inebriated judge in a bar he (the judge) offers his opinion on not only the case, but on Will as a lawyer, and the firm brings a motion to substitute the judge for bias. A classmate of Grace kills herself after her boyfriend Connor breaks their relationship, and Grace becomes dangerously attracted to Connor. Eli tries to involve Alicia's children more in the campaign, after a tracker videotapes Grace, and Cary draws the suspicious eye of Kalinda's husband, Nick. Alicia and Diane represent the CFO of an online tax return company whose conversations with his husband could implicate him in defrauding the government. A famous lawyer, known for his appearances arguing before the Supreme Court of the United States offers to help the firm with the case, but soon attempts to throw in the towel to lay the groundwork for a Supreme Court appeal challenging the Defense of Marriage Act. Alicia's mother, Veronica, visits and seeks help in overturning a will that cut her out of her late husband's inheritance when his son convinced him Veronica was cheating. Cary approaches Nick the day after he was assaulted. Alicia and Will represent a client who allegedly murdered a woman in Chicago during a music festival, but is not the only one being tried for her murder. Another man is being tried in Minooka on exactly the same charge, and the outcome of that trial could prove their defendant innocent. Alicia is then tasked with assisting the prosecution in Minooka. Eli is approached by a representative of the Department of Justice investigating illegal campaign bribes, ostensibly relating to his ex-wife's campaign for the state senate. Nick is dropped by the firm as a client after it becomes apparent he is using his tow truck company to smuggle drugs. Will & Diane face mediation, requested by the trustee, Clarke Hayden. Displeased by the way they sabotaged his attempts to sell the firm, Clarke requests that Will & Diane be removed from their positions as managing partners. Alicia faces Louis Canning again, struggling to depose an executive in a lawsuit against a bank who foreclosed on houses with stagnant swimming pools, facilitating the spread of disease-bearing mosquitoes. Meanwhile, Eli files a harassment complaint against the Department of Justice, only to discover Wendy Scott-Carr has taken charge of the investigation against him. Cary is placed in a precarious position that could compromise his friendship with Clarke. Alicia, Diane and Will come to the aid of eccentric attorney Elsbeth Tascioni, who is arrested just prior to her hearing before the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport). Alicia struggles to get Elsbeth out on bail, while Diane and Will contend with the three French-speaking CAS judges and the court's reversed burden of proof – they must prove their client innocent of doping. Eli and his new second-in-command, Jordan, clash with each other over a new campaign issue: racial bias. Peter makes a speech at a minority-rights organization during which he is booed. The firm goes to court to fight their new creditor, Louis Canning, for an extension on their bankruptcy plan with Clarke Hayden playing an unexpected part in the eventual outcome. Alicia is offered partnership, which she is initially ecstatic about, but then balks once she realizes she must pay $600,000 as part of her capital contribution. With the firm still in debt $30 million, Alicia realizes the offer may not have been sincere. The fiancee of Neil Gross hires David Lee to negotiate her pre-nup and everyone works to ensure that young love triumphs. On the campaign trail, Alicia is once again at odds with Eli regarding her previous friendship with Maddie Hayward. As the firm finally clears its debt, Alicia, Cary and the other associates that were previously offered partnership are shocked to find that the partners have voted to delay their offers for a year. Tensions are exacerbated when Alicia and Cary are asked to prosecute in a mock trial against Diane and Will – the outcome of which has real consequences for their client, an energy beverage company being sued for the death of a young girl after she consumes one of their products. Elsbeth Tascioni, after being retained by Eli Gold, must now contend with the Department of Justice as Eli tries to secure his position on the campaign from Jordan. Peter prepares to engage Maddie Hayward in their first televised debate, with Diane Lockhart helping him prepare. Meanwhile, the firm attempts to bid for the State Attorney's tender to represent them in civil lawsuits. Eli, no longer on the campaign, fights in federal and state courts to clear his name as Frank Landau, head of the Democratic committee accuses him of buying votes for Peter's campaign. Alicia, after being promoted to partner, must now deal with asserting her new position of authority over her former peers. Lemond Bishop goes to trial, charged with the murder of a confidential informant. While defending him, Alicia goes up against her old law school classmate. In addition, Bishop instructs the firm to work with a peculiar lawyer on his defense. Meanwhile, with the firm now enjoying a surplus of cash, the partners debate on what to do with it, and explore the possibility of re-leasing the two building floors they lost during bankruptcy, and hiring a second investigator. Alicia and Will attend the inquest into the death of an Illinois Supreme Court Judge that died in a car crash; their client being the wife of the deceased who stands to earn millions from a life insurance policy. Cary has another chance encounter with his father, as he brings new business to the firm, which strains their already rocky relationship. Meanwhile, Peter beats Maddie Hayward and wins the Democratic primary. Also, using Alicia's family, Eli schemes against Jordan to get him thrown off the campaign. During the Chicago Shamrock Dinner, one of the firm's clients is murdered. As Alicia represented him, she is asked by the police to aid in their investigation. Unsure of her obligations towards her deceased client, she is pressured into divulging information that could potentially break attorney-client privilege. Diane is approached by Peter to fill the seat of a recently deceased Illinois Supreme Court Judge if he wins the governorship. Also in attendance at the Shamrock dinner is Republican gubernatorial candidate, Mike Kresteva, who ends up in a confrontation with Peter. Alicia represents Colin Sweeney again; this time against an apparently minor charge that could potentially turn into a life sentence for him if a Supreme Court decision is rendered before the firm can resolve the case. With the prosecution stalling, the firm must rush through trial in order to head off a conviction. Diane reconnects with ballistics expert Kurt McVeigh as she asks Kalinda to vet her after Peter offers her a judgeship, which ends up uncovering troubling information about her family's past. Alicia and Will represent a woman who accuses a recently admitted Princeton student of raping her. She sues in civil court as her accused rapist evades jail in a plea bargain. Her case is hurt however when she breaks a gag order and an internet hacker group, Anonymous, decides to get involved in the case. Diane, still being vetted as a potential Supreme Court Judge, has to deal with addressing concerns regarding her personal and business life. Meanwhile, Dylan Stack, one of the three alleged owners of Bitcoin, returns to Chicago to ask Alicia and her firm to help him execute a class action against prosecutorial overcharging. He ascertains that overcharging is what drove internet activist Aaron Swartz to commit suicide. He wants revenge. Cary, after being probed by the new investigator Robyn, is forced to reveal to Alicia he is leaving the firm to form his own and invites her to join him. Alicia is 'volunteered' by her mother Veronica, to render legal assistance to one of Veronica's recently widowed friends; initially expecting to only provide minimal assistance, Alicia enlists Cary's help, as she goes up against Nancy Crozier, and ends up representing more than twenty employees of a software company in their efforts to unionize to prevent their employer from firing them en masse. The case also inspires the firm's own clerical staff to seek better working conditions. Alicia's brother, Owen, has a change of heart regarding Alicia's marriage after Peter attempts to repair their relationship. Veronica, meanwhile, still disapproving of Alicia's continued commitment to Peter, attempts to interfere as Peter asks Alicia to renew their vows in Hawaii. Cary, still set on forming his own firm, tries to sign on Kalinda. On the night of the Illinois gubernatorial election, Zach witnesses what he believes to be vote tampering. Once brought to the attention of an emergency courtroom hearing however, the details turn out to be potentially ruinous for Peter's campaign. Alicia makes a decision regarding joining Cary's new firm as Cary is able to convince the firm's second investigator, Robyn, to join him after Kalinda refuses to take a lower offer.
season 5 -
Setting out to form their own firm, Alicia and Cary finalize their exit from Lockhart & Gardner. Realizing that delaying would allow them to collect a hefty bonus payment, all the fourth-year associates vote to delay leaving by two more weeks. Diane and Will work with Alicia to prove a man innocent after his execution is botched by the State. The firm's partners, led by a very suspicious David Lee, begin to actively investigate the associates by scanning their phone records. Meanwhile, newly elected Governor Peter Florrick makes Eli his new chief of staff. Neil Gross of internet giant Chum Hum, seeks Lockhart & Gardner's help in fighting the NSA regarding its recently leaked PRISM surveillance program. The NSA, while actively eavesdropping on the firm's phone calls, discovers a possible link to terrorism in a former client of theirs. Alicia is visited again by her mother, who offers her help unexpectedly. Diane Lockhart, still being sought by Governor Florrick as his nominee for Supreme Court Justice, is placed in a very difficult position as she is asked to disavow Will Gardner's past actions. Meanwhile, Eli tries to locate a golden gavel belonging to the Governor only to discover an old adversary has taken it. The firm is rocked by an interview Diane gave to a reporter in her efforts to secure the Supreme Court Justice nomination. In the interview Diane reveals, in clear detail, Will's actions leading up to his suspension that occurred the previous year. The partners and Will move against Diane, wanting her to surrender her stake in the firm. Alicia represents a client acting as a surrogate mother whose unborn baby suffers from a rare and severe chromosomal disability. The genetic parents wish to terminate the pregnancy, something the surrogate is refusing to do. Will, still unaware of Alicia's intentions to leave, makes an offer to Alicia to replace Diane as managing partner. As Diane prepares to move out of the firm to assume her judgeship, she also prepares to marry her longtime flame, Kurt McVeigh, which causes friction with Diane's old friends. Meanwhile, the firm is sued by one of their own paralegals for accommodating a hostile work environment, and she accuses many of the firm's lawyers of sexual harassment. The firm hires Elsbeth Tascioni to defend them against the suit. Eli must deal with Jackie as she attempts to take control of Peter's inauguration as Governor. Meanwhile, Diane becomes suspicious of Alicia after she catches her trying to download one of her client's files. Diane uncovers Alicia and Cary's plan to leave and start their own law firm. After revealing it to Will, who takes it very hard, Alicia is fired along with all fourth year associates and a frantic pursuit of clients begins. Lockhart/Gardner imposes a restraining order on the new firm, preventing them from lobbying their biggest client, Chum-Hum. Florrick/Agos responds in kind as the two firms battle each other in and out of court, while relationships crumble. Meanwhile, Peter, after hearing of his wife's firing, helps Alicia secure a client and rescinds Diane's Illinois Supreme Court Justice nomination. The day after Florrick/Agos split from Lockhart/Gardner, Alicia and Cary successfully take over Diane's last case that she was due to litigate before they left, but must contend with Will and Diane's stalling to hand over client files. Will, seething and also energized from yesterday's events, moves to expand the reach of Lockhart/Gardner, and starts with trying to destabilize Florrick/Agos, preventing them from moving into new offices. Meanwhile, the director of the Governor's Ethics Commission, Marilyn Garbanza, seeks to advise Alicia's new firm on ethical guidelines. After losing the Supreme Court Justice nomination, Diane is welcomed back to the firm. Clarke Hayden, the former trustee who managed Lockhart/Gardner during their bankruptcy, returns to provide financial advice to Florrick/Agos as they face financial difficulties. Meanwhile, Florrick/Agos suspects Lockhart/Gardner is spying on them after Alicia's children discover that the cameras on their home computers are being accessed remotely. Will tries to keep a client from leaving the firm for Florrick/Agos, and in doing so has a chance encounter with Alicia's brother Owen, who attempts to provide insight as to why Alicia left the firm with Cary. In addition, Lockhart/Gardner tries to fight off a malpractice lawsuit, regarding an apparent botched adoption that, at the time, Alicia was working on. Will also represents a client, Jeffrey Grant, who is stopped on trumped-up DUI charges and ends up being charged with murder. Lockhart/Gardner, rebranding itself to be known simply as 'LG', plans to open a new branch in New York; and despite the lack of decor, Florrick/Agos finally move into their own offices. Natalie Florres returns to Chicago to ask Alicia's help in defending an undocumented Mexican immigrant who is being threatened with deportation if he does not testify against a dangerous drug cartel lord. Marilyn, who notices Eli's renewed interest in Natalie, fears for the ethical implications of his relationship with her. Robyn, meanwhile, fearing for her own place at Florrick/Agos, seeks Kalinda's advice to become indispensable to the firm. Alicia and Cary represent a university lecturer accused of being a domestic terrorist by overzealous users of a social networking website. LG, being in need of more litigators, try to hire more associates, but Will, disregarding the wishes of the rest of the firm's partners, hires an alleged maverick mob lawyer as a partner, who causes trouble for Florrick/Agos when he steals their office furniture. Will's impulsive decision to hire him arouses the concern of Diane, who instructs Kalinda to investigate him. Jackie, realizing that Peter's new Supreme Court Justice nomination slept with her own husband many years ago, tries to force the nominee to bow out. Alicia, on the verge of finalizing her exit from LG, discovers that she has been bequeathed millions of dollars by an eccentric and now-deceased client. His surviving wife however, contesting the bequest, hires LG to contest the will. Meanwhile Florrick/Agos, having received few RSVPs to their Christmas party, ask Alicia to invite her husband. Eli, who realizes certain undesirable clients might be in attendance, tries to stop Peter from attending. Kalinda, busy investigating LG's newest lawyer, ends up getting arrested. Meanwhile, in the case regarding Alicia's bequest, Clarke Hayden makes his debut at court. The case also dredges up passionate emotions for Will, who now questions how genuine Alicia's affections were for him. Alicia and Cary represent the band who played at their Christmas party in a copyright infringement lawsuit against a TV network regarding the covering of a song by a music show of another cover of a song the band made. Will, after hearing about it, involves himself in the suit, and Alicia and Will both attempt to throw each other off during the case. Diane, concerned about the frantic nature of the firm's recent moves, such as the expansion into New York, and now Los Angeles, calls for a moratorium on soliciting new clients. Eli, after hiring Kalinda to investigate Marilyn regarding the father of her baby, uncovers video evidence of possible voter fraud committed during the Gubernatorial election campaign he led. Alicia, Cary, Diane, and Will are forced to work together to keep a couple out of jail when they're accused of smuggling drugs. Formerly a Lockhart/Gardner case before Alicia and Cary left, Will and Alicia both request the case be severed for the two accused. The presiding judge grants their request for a severance, but only for the jury: which results in a double jury trial. Meanwhile, Eli attempts to shield himself from culpability after the leaking of a video depicting possible voter fraud to the press, while Marilyn begins an investigation, which involves questioning Will. Will, however is unable to cooperate fully due to Peter's refusal to waive attorney-client privilege. Kalinda attempts to reconnect with Cary, but accidentally falls into a trap, which allows Florrick/Agos to poach a client from LG. Florrick/Agos and LG represent Lemond Bishop when he is arrested on a drug-related charge. However, the charge is based on information that could've only been known from within Florrick/Agos and this prompts Cary and Alicia to conduct an investigation, which leads them to conclude their phones are being wiretapped by the DEA. They are in fact being surveilled, but by the NSA who is sharing information to other government departments. Meanwhile, after Marylin submits an inconclusive report on her investigation into possible voter fraud, it escalates as the Department of Justice's Office of Public Integrity begins their own examination of the allegations and the video depicting the alleged crime, approaching Alicia and subpoenaing Will. Alicia, Cary and Clarke are in New York for Alicia's keynote speech at a conference for the American Bar Association. Alicia struggles to compose a suitable speech, so decides to draw upon her past for inspiration. Also in attendance is a prominent New York lawyer, who leaving her own firm, is eagerly sought after by both Florrick/Agos and LG. Will, still being pursued by Nelson Dubeck from the Office of Public Integrity, over possible voter fraud, decides to retain Elsbeth Tascioni to represent him against the investigation and a forthcoming grand jury hearing. Dubeck asks Alicia to submit to a voluntary deposition; Alicia agrees, having Cary act as her attorney. During the deposition, Dubeck claims Will will testify against Peter. Kalinda tells Will that she wants to leave LG, but not to work for Florrick/Agos; Will claims that they go through this routine every few months. Will is defending Jeffrey Grant at trial; Grant is suffering in general lockup, but refuses to accept protective solitary confinement. Kalinda finds evidence suggesting Grant's innocence, but, before she can bring it to court, Will sees more evidence of attacks against Grant, and requests solitary confinement. This apparently causes Grant to snap. Diane is arguing another case at the courthouse when she hears several gunshots. Kalinda, who is also there, enters Will's courtroom, where she finds the prosecutor, Finn, holding Will; both have been shot, and Will is unconscious. Grant is holding the gun, trying to kill himself, but the gun has run out of bullets. Later, at the hospital, Diane and Kalinda find Will's body. The episode ends with Kalinda calling Eli and Alicia, who are at a media event, to inform them of Will's death. In the wake of Will's death, Alicia grieves over him, distancing herself from her husband Peter in the process. She finds a voicemail that Will left her; due to an interruption, though, it said nothing substantial. Trying to determine what Will wanted to say, Alicia interviews the presiding judge who witnessed the shooting, and talks to ASA Finn Polmar, who was also shot, and Polmar's assistant. Ultimately, she arrives at a dead end, and is left to guess. Kalinda tries to understand why Will's client, Jeffrey Grant, went on a shooting spree. Diane breaks the news of Will's death to the partners at her firm, while David Lee tries to keep Will's top clients from leaving. Forced to do a deposition without Alicia, Cary takes out his anger on opposing counsel. After attending Will's funeral, Alicia and Diane establish a newfound rapport while reflecting over Will's life. They even consider merging their firms together, despite currently opposing each other in a divorce suit. Meanwhile alleged mob lawyer, Damien Boyle, overhearing their conversation, informs David Lee of it and both try to remove Diane as managing partner. Kalinda decides to help Diane after learning of their plans. Alicia, fearing that the newly appointed State's Attorney could be searching for a scapegoat over the botched Jeffery Grant prosecution, offers Finn Polmar her advice. And after being visited by Peter, who is concerned with how she is coping with Will's death, Alicia decides to distance herself even more from him. The proposal to merge LG with Florrick/Agos is scuttled as Diane has a change of heart after speaking to Cary about it, who is vexed he wasn't sooner informed by Alicia. LG's partners decide to merge with Louis Canning's firm, forming Lockhart/Gardner & Canning (retaining the late Will Gardner's name). While incredulous to Canning's intentions, Diane eventually agrees to work with him. After being approached by an NSA independent contractor who accidentally removed a USB flash drive with possibly classified documents, Florrick/Agos realize that their firm is being surveilled by the NSA. Alicia informs Eli and Peter, who later uses his connections to halt the surveillance. Cary and Clarke both try to save the job of the NSA contractor after he is subsequently suspended from his role at the NSA. Alicia continues to defend Finn Polmar against the State's Attorney Office, representing him in a disciplinary hearing into his past prosecutions. Alicia inadvertently becomes a witness to a homicide while in Colin Sweeney's house trying to get him to sign important business documents during his engagement party. Sweeney's fiancé, Renata is arrested for the murder. Being a lawyer representing Colin Sweeney she cannot defend Renata so Alicia refers Diane to represent her instead. The State's Attorney becomes personally involved, first appointing Finn Polmar to prosecute at the last minute, only to pull him off soon after. Still trying to assist Finn, Alicia suggests that Finn run for State's Attorney to protect his job, and after she gets Eli to gather the requisite signatures, Peter decides to endorse Finn. Meanwhile, Eli must deal with a picture of Zach holding a bong, and the ensuing controversy when Alicia's brother Owen, decides to offer up his own opinion on drug use. While on jury duty, Alicia has a chance encounter with a fellow juror who later invites her to drinks. During a day off, she decides to meet with her mother, Veronica. Diane defends a client whose son is accused of abetting the sale of drugs online on the anonymous marketplace, Silk Road, after bitcoins are traced to his computer. Kalinda's investigation reveals information that prompts Diane to withdraw from the case. Eli, concerned about Finn's lack of an organized campaign (or even a campaign manager) for the State's Attorney election, decides to arrange a TV interview for him. Meanwhile, with help from Kalinda, Diane realizes that David Lee and Louis Canning (who is now terminally ill) are moving against her. Alicia and Cary represent a billionaire who, in trying to settle a wrongful termination suit, ends up making insensitive comments that scuttle the settlement and jeopardizes their chances of prevailing in voir dire. Eli, still assisting Finn in his campaign, reveals he's been cleared of all wrongdoing in the Jeffrey Grant shooting; the State's Attorney, James Castro, is named as the one responsible. In an attempt to protect his own campaign, Castro presents Peter a photo of Finn exiting Alicia's apartment, insinuating that the two are having sex. Eli learns of the true nature of Alicia's and Peter's marriage after reprimanding a government intern for getting too close to Peter. Diane and Canning are at odds with each other again after they realize a conflict of interest exists between Diane's new co-counsel on a class action lawsuit and Canning's newest client, the defendant in the class action lawsuit. Eli tries to get Finn Polmar to withdraw from the State's Attorney race after he uncovers evidence that he possibly bribed another prosecutor to save his sister from jail. Jackie and Veronica clash as each vies to cook Zach's graduation dinner party; Jackie finally learns the truth of Peter's and Alicia's marriage. After a live-streamed deposition, Lockart/Gardner & Canning leave their conference room camera on, which allows Florrick/Agos an opportunity to eavesdrop. After Finn withdraws, Peter decides to offer Diane the chance to take his place. Alicia and Cary argue heatedly after the proposal to merge with Lockhart/Gardner & Canning resurfaces. Canning, after being thwarted in his attempts to buy Howard Lyman's vote, threatens to dissolve Lockhart/Gardner & Canning if Diane does not give up her managing partnership, which prompts her to try to join Florrick/Agos. Alicia bids her son Zach farewell as he embarks on a summer internship after graduating from high school. Eli, in a last-minute decision, proposes that Alicia run for State's Attorney.
season 6 -
Cary is arrested, charged with helping trafficking $1.3 million worth of heroin. Florrick/Agos struggle to come up with the bail money. Kalinda investigates on her own and re-acquaints herself with an old contact connected with the case. Diane's offer to join Florrick/Agos stands on the condition she gets an equal vote with Alicia and Cary. David Lee and Louis Canning get suspicious of Diane when she declares her intention to retire. Cary is held in jail, with bail set at $1.3 million and Florrick/Agos struggles to come up with the funds, when they are provided by a drug dealer client of Alicia's. Against Alicia's wishes, Eli conducts polling on any potential campaign for the State's Attorney office for Alicia and discovers that Alicia has a very good chance of winning against the incumbent. He schemes to get Peter's approval. Alicia takes over one of Cary's cases, which involves Neil Gross's wife, who having been made General Counsel of Chum Hum becomes concerned over Cary's arrest. Alicia must also find a new source for Cary's bail money, which is withdrawn after she is unable to prevent Bishop getting subpoenaed over Finn's source of funds dispute. Kalinda's investigation into the wire recording that implicates Cary takes a bad turn as one witness is killed by Bishop, who mistook him for the confidential informant. Diane, on the verge of retiring from Lockhart/Gardner & Canning, attempts to get a partner, Dean, to come with her to Florrick/Agos. Eli, meanwhile, now having Peter's approval to pursue Alicia's State's Attorney campaign, again tries to convince Alicia to run. Cary's bail is in jeopardy when the State applies to revoke bail after a key witness, a confidential informant, disappears. A pre-trial service officer must determine whether he continues to remain free. Florrick/Agos handle a case whereby the defendant and the plaintiff, both neighbors, try to resolve a patent infringement case outside traditional court – instead seeking a resolution inside "Christian Arbitration", whereby Biblical teachings are used to guide a conclusion. Alicia, constantly annoyed by people who think she is running for State's Attorney, tries to squelch all the speculation when a chance encounter with Gloria Steinem and veiled threats from the State's Attorney give her pause to reconsider. Eli meets with Alicia to discuss 'oppositional research' that he has conducted and arranges for her to meet her new campaign manager, Jonny Elfman, who advises her to drop Lemond Bishop as a client, which is something he refuses until he discovers from Kalinda that Alicia could be running for State's Attorney. The research uncovers that Neesa, her son Zach's then-girlfriend, had an abortion last year; her brother Owen is sleeping with a married gay porn actor, her mother Veronica spanked another parent's child in a department store and that Castro plans to use a photo of Finn Polmar exiting Alicia's apartment to suggest that they are lovers. Alicia tries to address them before any of these issues can affect her campaign. Eli also finally discovers Peter slept with Kalinda while he was State's Attorney. Alicia is pitted against eccentric lawyer Elsbeth Tascioni who now represents a corporation against its former CEO, who alleges unfair dismissal due to gender discrimination. During the trial, all the files on Florrick/Agos computer systems are maliciously encrypted by ransomware, which demands $50,000 for the decryption key. After making the payment, Diane accidentally provides her old LG e-mail address for the decryption key, which forces her to return to David Lee to ask for it back; while there Diane also discovers that LG's building lease is still signed to her. Kalinda reconnects with FBI Agent Delaney, and they both help defeat the ransomware by tracking down the author. Alicia and Peter clash when Peter insists that Alicia disinvite Finn Polmar from introducing her at her first press conference for her campaign. Alicia is urged by her campaign manager Johnny to conduct an interview with Pastor Jeremiah to try to convince him that she is no longer an atheist or at least, someone who is "struggling". Alicia draws upon her daughter's faith in Christianity for help. Eli's daughter Marissa also becomes Alicia's "body woman" or personal assistant. Diane attempts to evict Lockhart/Gardner & Canning from their existing offices. Alicia and Elsbeth, putting aside their previous lawsuit, band together to fight AUSA Josh Perotti's charge of intellectual property theft against Alicia's client, which evolves into economic espionage. Cary is spot checked by his pre-trial service officer and is re-arrested after he inadvertently leaves the state of Illinois, violating his bail conditions. While preparing for Cary's prosecution, Finn Polmar digs into Cary's history while working at the State's Attorney office under Peter. Finn uncovers while deputy State's Attorney, Cary personally checked-out two kilograms of cocaine, before it went missing. Kalinda urges Cary to subpoena Governor Florrick, as Cary was only acting under his orders when he was State's Attorney. While investigating, Kalinda finds Trey Wagner, the missing witness who was originally to testify against Cary. Finn accuses Castro of only wanting to discredit Alicia Florrick, and resigns as a prosecutor. Peter asks Eli to appoint him a new personal attorney, someone who turns out to be a family friend of the Florricks. Alicia is interviewed by a legal commentator, Frank Prady, who also wants to run for State's Attorney. Alicia's campaign for State's Attorney speeds up after Frank Prady's announcement. Eli and Elfman conduct a political focus group regarding her likeability. Meanwhile, Alicia takes on a rape case of one of Owen's students that moves a university hearing to civil court, where she faces Louis Canning. Through discovery, Cary and Diane finally hear the wiretap audio that implicates him in the drug trafficking charge; Cary and Diane practice cross-examination in an attempt to rebut it. Alicia annoys Eli after she volunteers at a soup kitchen and is photographed awkwardly. Incumbent State's Attorney Castro withdraws from the election and Finn begins his own private practice, leasing office space underneath Florrick/Agos & Lockhart. The State's Attorney race gets negative with Alicia facing a crisis of conscience regarding her campaign media strategy when Frank Prady proposes that neither goes dirty on each other. Frank also provides Alicia with campaign dirt that Castro gathered before leaving the race. Cary is approached by the FBI to collaborate with them in their own separate investigation of Lemond Bishop. Agent Delany presents Cary a wiretap of Bishop apparently discussing Cary's murder. Diane asks Kalinda to investigate to determine its authenticity and hires a bodyguard for Cary, something Bishop notices. Cary attempts to personally convince Bishop that he is no threat. Alicia confronts Peter over his apparent affair with his personal attorney, Ramona. The date has come for Cary's day in court. The prosecution offers him a deal that makes him consider serving jail time. Alicia's campaign runs into trouble after she makes a joke on paper threatening to kill a teacher at her daughter's school. Eli and Johnny scramble to spin it into something positive, but pressure Alicia into offering patronage to subside the potential controversy, something she is unwilling to do. With Finn's help, Kalinda tries to assist Cary, but it ends up backfiring. Preparing for his imminent incarceration after pleading guilty to a lesser conspiracy charge, Cary hires a prison consultant in an attempt to ameliorate the first few weeks of his imprisonment. Trying to assist Cary, Kalinda finds a probable lead which indicates the State's Attorney may have buried exculpatory evidence in an apparent violation of Brady disclosure case law. Alicia prepares for her upcoming debate, and goes against an English University Professor, Finn Polmar and Governor Florrick in mock debate preparations. Alicia's campaign manager Johnny and Eli clash during the mock debate when Peter mock debates Alicia. Alicia takes on Frank Prady in their first televised debate for the State's Attorney race, which gets interrupted by the jury verdict of two police officers charged with unlawfully killing a black man. During the interruption Alicia and Frank hold an impromptu debate. Governor Florrick visits the unfolding protest alongside Pastor Isaiah attempting to forestall any potential violence. Eli tries to distract the press away from a developing scandal regarding Ramona and Peter. Diane and Cary intervene to manage Neil Gross's divorce settlement talks with David Lee, but end up losing. Alicia confronts Diane and Cary after they make a major decision without her. Alicia's firm handles a defamation suit for Colin Sweeney who accuses a TV production company of defaming him with the depiction of a character very much like him murdering his wife. The defence argues it isn't defamation because it is true. Kalinda is asked by Lemond Bishop to pick up his son from school, and Kalinda witnesses first hand how he struggles with single parenthood. Alicia successfully lobbies for the campaign donations of a wealthy but crass and uncouth figure, much to Prady's annoyance and her own regret. Recovering from laryngitis, Alicia tries to prepare herself mentally for an interview with the editorial board of a conservative but Democratic-supporting newspaper in an attempt to gain their endorsement in the State's Attorney campaign. Imagining the different topics and questions that may be broached, Alicia grapples with the knowledge that Lemond Bishop contributed to and set up her PAC, a fact that is potentially ruinous for her campaign. She must also simultaneously help her firm deal with a wrongful eviction lawsuit from Louis Canning's firm, who the day before depositions, is hospitalized. Alicia is advised by her campaign advisers to go negative against Peter during his time as State's Attorney as a way of buffering herself against attacks on him by Prady. Eli finds out and warns Elfman to advise her not to criticise Peter. Finn teams up with Diane to represent a client in a civil suit who was injured by the misfiring of a 3D-printed plastic gun. Diane's husband Kurt McVeigh acts as an expert witness, but finds conflicting motivations with his wife. Louis Canning, who is still hospitalized, grants Alicia power of attorney to liquidate most of his assets and donate the money to the family of a deceased girl who donated her kidney to him. Diane goes on a hunting trip alongside her husband, which provides a unique opportunity for her to solicit a wealthy client. On the election day of the State's Attorney race, Peter evokes Alicia's displeasure after he delivers a speech which negatively affects voter turnout. Kalinda, continuing her role as driver to Lemond's Bishop son, Dylan, discovers she is being investigated by the State's Attorney office. Having won the State's Attorney race, Alicia must negotiate her exit package with her partners. In addition, people who contributed to Alicia's campaign attempt to call-in a favor as a quid pro quo for their campaign contributions. Eli educates Alicia on the proper way to handle them. Lemond Bishop pressures Alicia into quashing an ongoing SA investigation into him. Diane, Cary and Julius litigate a suit against the founder of a website, during which, the firm's emails are hacked, exposing many unseemly private opinions the firm's partners have of their clients and one another. Alicia agrees to engage in a TV interview, when hacked emails revealing Alicia's affair with Will are sent to the press. Eli contrives ways to pre-empt the public fallout, by "pre-spinning" the emails as merely a flirtatious dalliance. Peter also advises Alicia on the potential scandal and gives an interview to assist Alicia. An internal affairs investigation catches onto Kalinda's forgery of metadata that was inadvertently submitted as evidence that prompted Cary's earlier release from jail. Diane engages in a mock trial for a wealthy new conservative client indecisive as to whether he should fund an appeal for a wedding planner who was found guilty of discrimination against a gay couple. Diane is shocked to discover that she submitted falsified evidence in Cary's trial. Along with Kalinda, she immediately admits her mistake to the Police Review Board, but is faced with charges of obstruction of justice if she does not agree to testify against Lemond Bishop. Alicia is shocked to learn that voting machines were implanted with hacking microchips that apparently attempted to divert votes from Frank Prady to Alicia. The Election Review Board is prompted to investigate and she is offered representation from a respected civil rights lawyer by the Democratic Party. After being betrayed by her own lawyer before the Electoral Review Board, Alicia formally withdraws her name from the State's Attorney race and approaches Diane, Cary and David Lee to return as a partner to the firm, which has already been renamed Lockhart, Agos and Lee. Due to a misunderstanding, Alicia ends up believing they are being insincere and follows Peter and Finn's advice to consider starting her own firm. Kalinda attempts to deflect the State's Attorney away from Diane and herself by agreeing to turn over evidence on Bishop. Diane agrees to argue a test case for Reese Dipple against mandatory minimum sentencing. Alicia interviews a ghostwriter to possibly author her memoirs. In addition, Alicia tries coping with being unemployed and ends up inadvertently reconnecting with an old client who is now being charged with murder after Alicia successfully defended him six years ago from an attempted murder charge. Alicia agrees to defend him again, with Cary's and Finn's help. The case itself prompts Alicia to consider starting her own firm again. Peter reveals to Alicia his intent to run for vice president. Peter insists he will not run unless his entire family approves, something Alicia doubts. Alicia receives a voicemail from a client that indicates he was in the midst of being arrested; unable to find an official record of him being booked, she suspects he is being held at an unofficial black site. Alicia and Finn, who agree to be partners, try to get him out by filing a writ of habeas corpus. Charles Lester, Lemond Bishop's personal attorney, starts snooping around trying to find Kalinda after she disappears. Alicia expresses her disapproval to Eli after he tries to direct the depiction of Alicia in her memoirs as being more domesticated, much to her displeasure. Finn tells Alicia that he's reconciling with his estranged wife and then decides that a partnership with her will not work as there is too much sexual tension between them. David Lee discovers Louis Canning's wife, Simone, now works at the firm as a paralegal, and both he and Cary want to fire her, something Diane as senior partner does. This angers Canning, who vows to destroy the firm and in the last scene asks Alicia if she wants a legal partner.
season 7 -
Alicia attempts to revive her law career by working as a bond court attorney, representing indigent defendants and practicing privately. In her first day at bond court, she befriends a fellow attorney, Lucca Quinn, who passes cases off to her as a favor. Meanwhile, Louis Canning tries to attract Alicia to work for him, but she rejects the offer, which makes him set Alicia's next case up against Diane and David Lee, unbeknownst to her. After Alicia agrees to support it, Peter rushes to launch his VP campaign, deciding to fire Eli and hire a national campaign manager, Ruth Eastman. Eli decides to seek revenge against Peter and Ruth by becoming Alicia's campaign manager and revive her image. At Lockhart, Agos & Lee, Cary laments the outmoded work culture and decides to open up to the younger associates. Alicia argues a case regarding the vandalism of a museum photo, which escalates into a potentially lucrative civil dispute between a son and his mother's attempts at exhibiting naked photos. Lucca sits second chair on the case, while Alicia tries out a new investigator, who botches her assignments as the opposition gains valuable information. As Lockhart, Agos & Lee also look for a new investigator to replace Kalinda, Cary attempts to address associate concerns regarding senior partner Howard Lyman, but ends up antagonizing him and causing difficulty within the firm. Alicia finally settles on Jason Crouse as her investigator, who spurns a better offer from Diane to work with Alicia instead. Meanwhile, Eli's appointment as Alicia's chief of staff is initially vetoed by Peter, but he concedes and allows him to work with her, much to Ruth's discontent. In a strategic move, Alicia tries to smooth things over with Democratic Party committee leader Frank Landau, who torpedoed her State's Attorney campaign. Alicia takes on a new case involving a defendant who synthesized a designer drug, an apparent analogue to gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid. The case entangles Alicia in an undercover FBI-led task force operation involving judicial bribery. Howard Lyman, fearing getting pushed out of Lockhart, Agos and Lee, approaches Alicia for legal advice for a possible ageism suit. While at her house, Howard meets Jackie and begins a relationship with her. Diane agrees with the partners to offload excess case work to Alicia in an attempt to prevent Alicia from becoming Canning's pawn. On the VP campaign, Ruth pushes Eli to convince Alicia and her mother, Veronica Loy, to appear on a cooking reality TV show. Not surprisingly, the encounter goes awry, much to Ruth's annoyance. Reese Dipple appoints his general counsel Ethan Carver to liaise with Lockhart, Agos and Lee and compels Diane to take over a case advocating against euthanasia. Ethan suggests to Cary that he speak to Alicia to lobby Peter to veto an imminent physician-assisted suicide bill. Eli happens to overhear the conversation between Alicia and Cary, and schemes behind the Florrick family's back in an attempt to annoy Ruth. Alicia comes across a case where an African-American woman is wrongly accused of stealing from a clothing store. Eli gets desperate witnessing Peter's vice presidential campaign unfold without him at the helm. His daughter, Marissa, wanting him to move on, urges Alicia to fire him. Alicia and Lucca, agreeing to partner, take on the case of a student debtor trying to stave off harassment from a debt collection agency. Realizing the potential for a lucrative contingency fee, they convince their client to instead sue the private college where she incurred the debt, while Jason deals with the agency. Cary and Howard Lyman clash again, to the point Lyman demands a mediation, which Diane agrees to chair to stave off an ageism lawsuit. Alicia and Lucca take on the case of a former company vice president fired for failing a polygraph lie detector test. Concerned about her investigator's previous career as an attorney and subsequent disbarment, Alicia decides to investigate Jason's history. Ruth believes Peter's upward trend in the polls might give him an actual chance to run for President, something which prompts her to reach out to Eli. Diane, Cary, and David decide to hire three new associates, and face a contentious decision when faced with the choice of hiring a young African-American lawyer. Eli, still scheming behind Ruth's back, discovers that Peter played a role in the hacking of election voting machines last year that brought down Alicia's State's Attorney campaign. Louis Canning refers to Alicia the case of a defendant accused of recklessly crashing a self-driving car into another vehicle. Alicia is pitted against both Canning and Diane as well as Cary Agos (from her old firm). Eli, worried about how Peter and Alicia's marriage is perceived to the media, tries to arrange for them to temporarily live together. Alicia makes good on her agreement to vote with Frank Landau after being appointed to the election board. Eli tries to arrange for Peter to meet with a wealthy CEO to donate to Peter's campaign with a fake birthday party for Grace. Meanwhile, Jackie becomes engaged to Howard Lyman, much to Peter's disapproval. Ethan Carver asks Diane to argue a case that she strongly disagrees with politically. Involving pro-life and pro-choice advocates, the case's high profile displeases several clients of Lockhart, Agos and Lee. Alicia and Lucca debate ways to bring more business to their firm, and decide to poach clients from Louis Canning. Grace tries to help out in her own way and is able to land the firm new clients. Eli refers billionaire Courtney Paige to Alicia for legal advice after she decides to set a salary floor of $75,000 per year for all of her employees. Jason, while still investigating for Alicia and Lucca, begins working part-time as an investigator for Lockhart, Agos and Lee. Alicia and Lucca agree to co-counsel alongside Louis Canning defending Chum-hum in a racially motivated tortious interference case against an African-American restaurant owner that went out of business, blaming the racial bias inherent in the Chum-hum's maps application. Both sides trudge through massive quantities of emails, photos and other documents during the discovery process attempting to find a breakthrough. Ruth become suspicious of the nature of Alicia and Jason's relationship, which invokes Eli's concern. Ruth and Eli both discover Jason personally investigated Alicia. Eli convenes a focus group to assess how far Alicia's rehabilitation is going in an attempt to convince her to run for a state senate seat. Lockhart, Agos and Lee are abandoned by their newly hired associates, right in the middle of a highly technical case representing Ethan Carver just before a filing deadline. Diane decides to hire the one associate they didn't the first time while Cary tries to stop the associates from working for Louis Canning. Alicia and Lucca represent a respected surgeon accused of conspiring to kidnap, sedate, and rape the mother of one of his patients. Alicia loses her investigator after Ruth asks Eli's girlfriend, Courtney Paige, to hire him for two months out of town in an attempt to remove him from her life. The jury finds Alicia's client guilty, but the judge vacates the verdict as a matter of law, which Alicia suspects he did because Eli warned him about an impending bribery sting. Stung from breaking up with Courtney Paige, Eli confesses to Alicia that it was he who deleted a voicemail message she received from Will Gardner six years ago. Alicia, Peter and the rest of her family ride through Iowa attempting to visit every single county for the caucus vote. Extremely angered by Eli's confession, Alicia ruminates on the possibilities of what might have been had she chosen to be with Will Gardner instead of Peter; she also ignores Eli and agrees with Ruth to spite him. Lucca represents Jackie Florrick in pre-nuptial negotiations with her fiancé Howard Lyman. Diane and Cary face a state discriminatory hiring investigation. David Lee squirreled away $2.2 million in Howard Lyman's name in an attempt to prevent Alicia from getting a better exit package when she was running for State's Attorney. Alicia's neighbors become annoyed at her running her law firm from her apartment, and attempt to serve her an eviction notice which Grace tries to resolve by herself. With Peter's presidential campaign over, Eli returns to become Peter's Chief of Staff and before leaving, Ruth warns Eli regarding Peter's continuing viability as governor. Alicia and Cary team up to defend an old client against his former record label's assertion regarding ownership of a song he wrote. Cary offers Lucca and Alicia a chance to return to the firm. Marissa, after finding out about Eli's confession, urges Alicia to forgive Eli. Alicia decides to sue a sitting judge after a former bond client of hers reveals he has been in prison for eight months on a minor misdemeanor charge. Alicia and Lucca lose the case only to be subject to a malpractice suit by the same client. Cary Agos agrees to represent her and Lucca. Alicia still aches from the missed voice mail from Will, and tries to elicit more detail from Eli about it before forgiving him entirely. Freelance investigator Jason Crouse returns from California, and takes up work with both Diane and Alicia; helping Diane in arbitration attempting to prevent the defunding of a school newspaper, and in Alicia's malpractice suit. Cary offers Alicia another chance to rejoin Lockhart, Agos & Lee, but only as a junior partner. Alicia returns to work at Lockhart, Agos & Lee, alongside Lucca but finds it difficult to adjust to worklife back at the firm when she and Lucca take on the case of the firm's own IT director who discovers a prototype device and is approached by media outlets to sell it. Eli's daughter, Marissa, is approached by an FBI agent who tries to elicit information about people in Alicia's life, including Ruth, who urges her to leave Peter. Eli deduces the FBI are after Peter. Alicia is appointed to join a panel of lawyers and attorneys for the Pentagon to reach a legal justification for the targeted killing of an American civilian who recruits for ISIS. After definitely gaining confirmation that the FBI is investigating Peter, Eli tries to hire Elsbeth Tascioni, but she recuses herself after realizing she could be conflicted out due to a client she represents. Eli hires Elsbeth's ex-husband, Mike Tascioni, in an attempt to find out who that client might be. Jason Crouse is hired by David and Cary in an attempt to discern if Dianne is trying to turn the firm into a female-only run firm. Alicia and Jason become lovers. Alicia and Jason spend the weekend together, only to be interrupted by her mother and brother. Veronica seeks Alicia's help after she was apparently scammed out of money. A grand jury is empaneled against Peter, headed by AUSA Connor Fox. Eli, with Alicia's help, is able to determine that the premise of the investigation is based on a prosecution Cary was involved with in 2012. David Lee and Cary ask Alicia if Diane has approached her about forming an all-female firm. Soon after, Diane approaches Alicia about pushing Cary out as named partner. Diane and Cary represent a client who is being accused of defamation after paying for a billboard ad that asserts a gun store ultimately is responsible for his daughter's death, due to the former's irresponsible business practices. Alicia is next to be deposed by the grand jury and with Eli's help is able to develop a strategy in an attempt to encourage the doubts of an incredulous grand juror. Alicia's daughter, Grace is accused of plagiarizing her college admissions essay. Alicia witnesses Jason meet and kiss another woman at a bar, and comes to a realization about the nature of their relationship. Alicia and Diane argue a privacy case for billionaire Reese Dipple, representing a therapist who sues a security company over a drone due to concerns about privacy for himself and his patients and he shoots down the drone in the course of the trial. The opposition is represented by former Lockhart/Gardner associate Caitlyn D'Arcy. AUSA Connor Fox attempts to use Marissa to force Eli into testifying against Peter, prompting Eli to hire Diane as his attorney. Peter encounters Jason in Alicia's house for the first time, which prompts Alicia to ask Peter for a divorce. Peter, on the verge of being indicted, asks Alicia to hold off the divorce until after his trial. Against Cary's wishes, Diane and David vote to promote Alicia to the rank of named partner again, prompting Cary to resign and allow Diane to buy him out of the firm. Cary is subpoenaed to testify in Peter's upcoming trial. Jeff Dellinger, a former NSA employee, changes his mind about entering the US from Canada at the last minute at the US preclearance area at the Toronto airport. This starts a tug of war between the US and Canada over jurisdiction with Alicia and Lucca at his side. He eventually seeks asylum, which Canada grants (with suspicious haste) much to the dismay of the US representative at the hearing. Meanwhile AUSA Fox arrests Peter at Alicia's apartment. Peter is offered a plea deal, which he rejects. Kurt wants to sell his business to be closer to Diane and accepts an offer from his former star pupil, Holly Westfall, and asks Diane to check the sale contract. Diane determines that Kurt's firm was undervalued and confronts Holly. Alicia hosts a party for Jackie's and Howard's Ketubah signing. Her brother Owen, her mother Veronica, Zack and Grace, Eli, his daughter Marissa, Peter, Diane and her husband Kurt all attend. Zack arrives with his girlfriend and announces his intent to marry her and move to France, something which both Peter and Alicia disapprove of. Peter loses his trial lawyer, Mike Tascioni, because Mike's dog Tom, an emotional support animal, is sick. Eli hires Jason to find incriminating evidence against Peter. Diane proposes to Alicia she becomes one of two named partners alongside herself, renaming the firm to Lockhart, Florrick & Associates. Cary hires Louis Canning to represent him during Peter's trial. Jackie discovers that Alicia is divorcing Peter. Peter's trial begins with Diane defending him in court. Alicia and Eli try their hardest to keep Peter out of jail. The firm's conference room wall is accidentally destroyed when tradesmen mistake Lockhart, Florrick & Associates for another law firm, which forces the firm to evacuate to a lower floor. Diane tries to lure more female lawyers in an attempt to expand the firm, but faces opposition from David Lee who threatens a sex discrimination suit. Alicia hires Jason to investigate for Peter's trial, which puts him in an awkward position. Jason confides to Lucca his fear that if Peter is convicted, Alicia will not divorce him but will stand by him because it's in her character to be self-sacrificing. Diane asks her husband, Kurt to testify for her in Peter's trial which pits him against one of his own former star pupil, Holly Westfall, who embarrasses him by claiming that Kurt oversells his findings to the benefit of his clients. Alicia, through Louis Canning tries to keep Cary on the same side. Geneva Pine is a surprise witness against Peter. Canning gives Alicia evidence that Pine is lying in revenge for his ending their affair but Peter denies the affair and orders his lawyers not to use Canning's evidence. AUSA Connor Fox offers a plea bargain of two years in jail, which Peter decides to accept however before he can communicate his decision to Fox, Alicia and Peter are notified that the jury has returned from deliberations. The jury rises from deliberations, but not with a verdict: they want to hear the actual audio of a transcript that was provided in Peter's trial. Peter's defense scrambles to find a legal precedent to re-open trial proceedings to allow the jury to hear testimony related to the audio. Alicia, reminiscing on her time with her former lover, Will Gardner, is able to locate one. Cary, who is now a lecturer, is approached by Alicia and Jason to help out with Peter's trial, and is able to find a lead on the missing bullets from the original case Peter oversaw as State's Attorney. However the strategy backfires when ballistics tests reveal the bullets were fired from Locke's gun, suggesting his guilt and helping to prove the prosecution's case. While they are able to prevent the jury from seeing the ballistics tests, Diane and Alicia clash when Kurt McVeigh agrees to testify for the prosecution and they disagree as to whether they should undercut him in cross examination. Lucca cross examines Kurt anyway and imputes he had an affair with Holly Westfall, angering Diane. Eli, realizing the imminent end to Peter's political career, tries to maneuver his political backers into one day supporting Alicia. Aware of his own demise as Governor, and before the jury can return a proper verdict, Peter agrees to a one-year probation plea deal with AUSA Fox. Lucca encourages Alicia to talk to Jason. She finally agrees but Jason is nowhere to be found. She phones Jason to tell him the trial is over and talk to him about their future but gets his voicemail. Alicia agrees to stand by Peter's side as he resigns from office but sees Jason's profile in the wings and leaves Peter to chase after Jason, only to find that it was not him. Diane walks up to Alicia, slaps her, and walks away.
Starring: Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles, Chris Noth, Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry, Archie Panjabi, Zach Grenier, Matthew Goode, Cush Jumbo, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Alan Cumming, Graham Phillips, Makenzie Vega, Mike Colter, Michael J. Fox, Sarah Steele, Skipp Sudduth, Mary Beth Peil, America Ferrera, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Scott Porter, Michael Ealy, Jerry Adler, John Benjamin Hickey, Matthew Perry, Michael Boatman, Chris Butler, Parker Posey, Anna Camp, Titus Welliver, Dreama Walker, Gary Cole, Martha Plimpton, Jill Flint, Kevin Conway, Carrie Preston, Monica Raymund, Jess Weixler, Miriam Shor, Stockard Channing, Nathan Lane, Marc Warren, Dylan Baker, Joe Morton, Mamie Gummer, Jeremy Strong, Dallas Roberts, T.R. Knight, Maura Tierney, Amanda Peet, Steven Pasquale, Vanessa L. Williams, Margo Martindale, Mike Pniewski, Anika Noni Rose, Tim Guinee, F. Murray Abraham, Lisa Edelstein, Emily Bergl, David Paymer, Sonequa Martin-Green, Ana Gasteyer, Felix Solis, Nitya Vidyasagar, Chris Bowers, Chelsea Handler, Elizabeth Reaser, Denis O'Hare, Rita Wilson, Miranda Cosgrove, Emily Kinney, Kelli Giddish, Rachel Brosnahan, Norbert Leo Butz, Susan Misner, Christian Pedersen, Amy Sedaris, Kurt Fuller, Romany Malco, Michael Kelly, Morena Baccarin, Jonathan Groff, Kristin Chenoweth, Kyle MacLachlan, Wallace Shawn, Christina Ricci, Ben Rappaport, Melissa George, Jason O'Mara, Michael Cerveris, Jeffrey Tambor, Jordana Spiro, Hunter Parrish, Eric Bogosian, Christian Borle, Frankie J. Alvarez, Laura Benanti, James LeGros, Mary Stuart Masterson, Murray Bartlett, Genevieve Angelson, David Hyde Pierce, David Krumholtz, Connie Nielsen, Euan Morton, Linda Lavin, Taye Diggs, Oliver Platt, Edward Asner, J.D. Williams, Ron Rifkin, Gloria Steinem, Christopher McDonald, Nicole Roderick, Nikki M. James, Will Patton, Matthew Morrison, Peter Gallagher, Brian Muller, Rob Bartlett, Dominic Chianese, Mo Rocca, Megan Hilty, Zak Orth, Amy Irving, Pedro Pascal, Bridget Regan, Patrick Breen, Zach Woods, Blair Underwood
156 episodes
(TV-14 - adult language, adult themes, adult situations, violence)
PLOT:
Alicia Florick is the wife of a former state's attorney for Cook County. He has been imprisoned after a sex and corruption scandal. Alicia must deal with the public humiliation. She must also fend for her two children. After years of being a housewife and mother, she returns to work as a litigator at the law firm Stern, Lockhart & Gardner. She must now prove herself in the courtroom.
season 1 -
After having to return to work following her husband's corruption scandal and incarceration, Alicia Florick is assigned her first case – a straightforward retrial of a woman accused of murdering her ex-husband. Since her firm successfully deadlocked the first jury, sticking to the same strategy should work again, but Alicia soon discovers that she has a real fight on her hands. Alicia and Will represent a stripper who was raped at a bachelor party by the groom, a young man from a wealthy Chicago family. On the personal front, Alicia confronts Peter over his indiscretions; debates whether or not the children should visit him in prison. The kids find doctored photos of Peter's indiscretions, but hide them from their mother. Alicia returns to her old upscale neighborhood to defend a former friend's teen son, who is accused of murdering a security guard at a friend's house. The 18-year-old man admits he was at the home but claims he's innocent of the crime. Cary is assigned to help Alicia with the case, even though he has never tried one in court. Alicia discovers evidence that a juror may have been bribed with $35,000 in a class-action lawsuit against a major pharmaceutical company. Alicia's client was paralyzed after taking one of the company's drugs. Meanwhile, Peter's lawyer tries to get Alicia to help in her husband's defense and attempts to bribe her with gifts. Alicia and Will represent three widows of train engineers who have been accused by the company that they, not the company, were responsible for their deaths in a train crash. Alicia and Will have 72 hours to find the smoking gun to prove that the company was responsible. On the home front, Jackie and Alicia clash when Jackie goes against Alicia's wishes and takes the children to visit Peter in jail for his birthday. Alicia and Will work on the appeal of a death row inmate accused of killing a police officer. Knowing that her client was convicted of the crime under Peter's regime as state's attorney, Alicia agrees to his request of a conjugal visit in order to obtain any information Peter may have regarding the original case. Alicia serves as co-counsel to a handsome storefront lawyer who is defending an Orthodox Jewish couple being sued in a slip-and-fall case. Alicia is assigned because one of the defendants is a law partner's daughter. The victim claims she was badly injured when she tripped on a wire outside of the couple's house, but Alicia believes the incident may be a scam. Meanwhile, Will and Diane make a round of layoffs at the firm. Alicia defends a scientist accused of arson after the lab the woman works in is torched. It's soon learned that the scientist is the target of a hate group. Meanwhile, Alicia is asked to testify on her husband's behalf at his bail hearing, but she is uncertain if she wants him to return home; and Zach becomes determined to uncover the identity of the person who is leaving damaging photos and DVDs at the Florrick's front door. Alicia represents the firm's senior partner after he is arrested for DUI and assaulting a police officer, and she must deal with the murky office politics that come with the case. Meanwhile, Chelsea Handler interviews Peter's mistress, who is promoting a tell-all book about her affair with Peter. Alicia investigates a judge's questionable motives after he overturns a simple plea bargain she arranged and sentences her juvenile client to nine months in detention. Her investigation reveals the judge has a history of unusual sentences and may be a racist. Meanwhile, Diane is offered a judgeship and considers leaving the firm. A Tucker Carlson-type TV commentator continually accuses a Chicago mother of killing her missing 3-year-old child, causing her to commit suicide. The firm represents the grieving husband in a wrongful death suit against the TV commentator and his television network. Alicia represents the wife of her husband's nemesis, Glenn Childs, in a divorce case. A star high-school quarterback dies from an overdose of painkillers, and Alicia defends the family physician who is charged with murder for prescribing the medication. The doctor claims he is innocent, and Alicia attempts to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, Jackie suffers a stroke, and Childs asks Kalinda to work for him to help undermine Peter's appeal. Alicia defends a wealthy man in civil court who is accused of murdering his wife. Part of his wife's body is found near where the man lives, which makes him look guilty. The rest of her body is later found on the daughter's property, which raises the possibility that she killed the wife. The man is found not guilty in his criminal trial but Alicia suspects he may have committed the crime. Meanwhile, Peter's appeal begins, and Diane buys a gun for protection when a drug dealer she put in prison years ago threatens to kill her. Sonya Rucker, whose company is a client of SL&G, has a crisis. Her babysitter, Lisa Pruit, was murdered at Rucker's home and her husband, Jason Rucker, is the lead suspect. Will and Diane call in Alicia and Cary to help with the case. Cary thought he had the following day off and has taken mushrooms with a friend in from Seattle; he must pull himself together for the next 48 hours. At the crime scene, Kalinda notices a small item that appears to be a rubber nub from the bottom of a laptop. When contact is finally made with Jason, who claims to have been in a movie, they bring him into the firm and have him take a polygraph test before the police arrive to arrest him. As Will, Alicia and a tripping Cary question Jason, they discover that he was at his studio where he works on his graphic novel. Lisa was working with Jason on a graphic novel at his studio, but their relationship did not go any further than that. At first, Kalinda suspects the neighborhood security guard is responsible, but turns her attention towards one of Lisa's classmates, Max, when she discovers a rubber nub is missing from the bottom of his laptop. Max may have got Lisa pregnant, but when she wouldn't have an abortion, he killed her and tried to frame Jason. Kalinda is subpoenaed to testify at Peter's appeal trial where she describes working for both Peter and Childs. Peter wins his appeal and is released on electronic monitoring. Alicia defends a man accused of murdering a financial adviser who lost the man's life savings in a Ponzi scheme. At home, Peter adjusts to house arrest and begins his comeback strategy with his legal team after his son shows him incriminating photos that were left at their door weeks earlier. Alicia and Will defend an attorney who's arrested for murder because he allegedly leaked the witness list to his client, a drug lord, which resulted in the murder of the star witness. Now under house arrest, Peter strategizes how to handle his retrial the next steps in his public rehabilitation. An emergency courtroom is set up in a hospital conference room. Will represents Kate Willoughby, whose unborn child requires an in-utero surgical intervention on its heart. Lifestate, Kate's insurance provider, has put a stop to the surgery two days before it's scheduled because they don't cover experimental procedures. SLG is also in charge of a class action lawsuit against Lifestate and the case with the Willoughbys would set the precedent for the 68 other cases where Lifestate denied coverage. Lifestate's lawyer offers Will a deal, drop the class action suit and they'll find the money to save her baby, but Will says no. When it looks like the outcome will be in favor of Kate, Lifestate's defense claims that Kate's husband inaccurately filled out their application for coverage and thus voids their contract for insurance. With Kalinda's help, Will gets leverage on Lifestate's unethical practices and rather than the information becoming public, a settlement is reached and the baby's surgery is a success. On the personal front, Peter continues to repair his reputation through religion; while at the office, Alicia and Will share a kiss which leads to Alicia sleeping with Peter. Alicia and Will defend a college student accused of killing her roommate while under the influence of a sleep aid. As they defend their client Will and Alicia must deal with the tension that exists between them since the night of their kiss. Meanwhile, Diane continues her flirtatious relationship with a conservative ballistics expert. Jeffrey Sanborn's widow, Karen Sanborn, is seeking punitive damages for her husband's death which her new attorney, Jonas Stern, claims was the intentional act of SLG's client, Charles Clay, owner and editor of The Cook County Vindicator. A Muslim extremist group claimed responsibility for the pipe bomb explosion at the newspaper's office after Charles published a controversial political cartoon that showed Muhammad being humiliated. Managing editor, Jeffrey Sanborn was killed in the blast. As Jonas and his team try to convince the jury that Charles published the cartoon to sell more newspapers, SLG looks closer at the crime scene and realizes that the bombing was an inside job. Also, Alicia plays on Jonas's dementia, throwing him off during the trial while Cary foils Jonas's attempt at poaching a number of SLG associates. On the personal front, Peter and the family attend a church service, but he uses this opportunity to secretly meet with Gerald Kozko about his potentially damning testimony. Alicia is furious at Peter for making her believe he had found religion and was trying to be a better man. She leaves and the episode ends on Peter going after her with the electronic monitoring alarm going off. When Peter crosses the threshold, the electronic monitoring alarm begins to sound followed shortly by the phone ringing. When the police arrive, Peter is back in the apartment and Zach blames a skateboarding trick gone wrong on the broken sensor. Will participates in a mock trial as a judge. Alicia's building manager is arrested because of a smuggling ring and is in danger of being deported. SLG divorce lawyer David Lee is representing Caroline Wilder, the soon-to-be ex-wife of rock star Max Wilder. Just before the court date, Max Wilder ends up in a coma, with the soon-to-be ex-wife and the soon-to-be new wife fighting for control of his estate. Eli Gold comes to Alicia to discuss Peter's re-election. Alicia goes to Eli for a favor. In the meantime, the contest between Alicia and Cary is decided. Alicia is celebrating her victory with Kalinda when she gets a request from Will to get client, and accused wife killer, Colin Sweeney, to sign off on the new language in his company's merger. When she arrives, she finds that he is handcuffed to a dead woman. Colin claims she attacked him and killed his dog. Alicia and Diane facilitate an immunity deal for an undercover cop who will testify in front of a grand jury that his fellow officers, Task Force members, have been conspiring with gang members to deal in illegal firearms. Two hours later, the cop is dead. The cop's widow files a multi-million dollar wrongful death suit against Cook County and the City of Chicago and Alicia is her lawyer. Now working for Childs, Cary offers $300,000 to settle the wrongful death suit. Alicia rejects the offer and preps for trial. Kalinda finds the cache of illegal weapons, but the Task Force officers maintain their innocence in the death of their comrade. Further investigation reveals that the cop's widow was the one who tipped off the gang member of her husband's true identity. Alicia confronts her and the widow confesses, her husband was physically abusive, beating her on a regular basis and by telling the gang he was a cop, she knew they would kill him and this was her way out for her and her children.
season 2 -
Alicia is about to join Peter on the dais as Will calls. Eli grabs the phone and gets Alicia to take Peter's hand. Will leaves two messages: the first saying he understands they should just drop it, then the second saying that he loves her, and he's not dropping this. Eli deletes the second message. Before they have a chance to settle things, Will gets caught up in the law firm merger and has to deal with the new partner, Derrick Bond. In court, Alicia is appointed as a counselor to an accused murderer who insists on defending himself. Dissatisfied that Alicia wins a not guilty verdict for a young Army Reservist accused of murdering his wife, Cary has the case re-tried in military court. In military court, the rules are different and the law is presented differently stacking the decks against Alicia. But Alicia has a plan and calls Cary to the stand as a witness as a way of producing evidence which gives a break in the case and saves her client. Meanwhile as the campaign kicks into full gear, Childs resorts to dirty tricks in an effort to mar Peter's reputation. For the first time, Lockhart, Gardner, & Bond go squarely on the offensive with prosecutors, filing a multimillion-dollar malicious prosecution suit against the S.A.'s office for ruining an innocent defendant's life. Childs is desperate to defend his department's decisions while covering himself; Diane and Will debate how to best utilize Alicia in a case against her husband's political opponent; and Kalinda and Cary go head-to-head in trying to determine the true culprit's identity. All of the maneuvering builds to one explosive conflict between Alicia and Glenn Childs that could make or break the case—and ultimately, the campaign. Alicia once again faces the impossibly sweet young Nancy Crozier, only this time she's her co-counsel and – supposedly – on the same side of the case. Although Alicia's prepared for her innocent-with-a-dagger routine, it was originally thought that it could work toward their common goal: defending their linked clients in a civil suit. But when Nancy proves as dangerous as the opposition, Alicia fights on two fronts and ultimately outmaneuvers her to protect her client. DA Wendy Scott-Carr announces her intent to run for State's Attorney at a gala dinner in front of Alicia, Peter, and the LGB partners. While Peter and Eli try to figure out what this means for their campaign, Alicia is called back to the firm on an urgent matter. A massage therapist claims that a famous humanitarian and women's rights activist sexually assaulted her. Will gets into a scuffle with the humanitarian's lawyer. In the next few hours, the firm investigates the massage therapist and mulls over her potential case. The humanitarian offers to endorse Peter in return for Alicia's firm backing off the case; Peter refuses but gets the endorsement anyway. Finally, the therapist decides that she doesn't want exposure and decides not to sue. LGB crosses swords with a brilliant disabled attorney named Louis Canning who is cynically deployed by a desperate pharmaceutical company to battle the claim that their new billion-dollar antidepressant caused the grisly murder-suicide of LGB's client's parents. Caitlin Fenton is the test case. Win and it opens the door for tens of millions of dollars in class action money. Lose and countless other victims will be unable to collect any compensation for the death of their loved ones. After receiving a critical peer review from new partner Derrick Bond, Alicia is saddled with the DUI case of teen star Sloan Burchfield, who ran her Escalade into a pole after a night of underage drinking. While Alicia is able to convince the judge of Sloan's innocence in this matter, D.A. Cary drops a bombshell before the case is closed: Yasmine Morgan, another club-goer from that night, is accusing her of attempted murder. LGB takes on the case of Matthew Wade, an alderman who has been indicted for taking campaign contributions in exchange for getting a mosque built on the site of an abandoned housing project. To complicate matters further, the money came from now-deceased bundler Royce Crombie, who allegedly has ties with Islamic extremists. Matthew is being charged with aiding and abetting a terrorist organization. Ten years ago, Carter Wright was accused of starting a fire that killed his ex-wife. He's been on death row ever since. When LGB gets a cryptic call about the case from a courthouse clerk, they realize that something must have been overlooked by his previous counsel and they have less than 8 hours before the deadline to file an appeal. When drugs are found in the possession of wealthy student Jonathan Murphy and his working class girlfriend Alexis Symanski, Jonathan's father calls in LGB. But the case gets more complex when the drugs are found to have come from a pharmacy where the clerk was murdered. Jonathan and Alexis finger a man in a photo line-up as the guy who sold them the drugs, but it turns out the exercise was a trap: the man's been dead for four years. Jonathan and Alexis have just become the primary suspects in Cary's murder investigation. While defending Scott Bauer, an internet spam distributor accused of murdering his father, Alicia and Will are stymied by hostile judge Edward Weldon due to an altercation he had with Will on the basketball court. To make matters worse, the prosecution was able to get a picture entered into evidence that showed Scott dressed in a Nazi SS uniform for a WWII war reenactment. Between the judge's biased rulings and the jury's dislike of Scott's profession and hobby, Alicia and Will feel their case slipping away. As Cary and Alicia go head to head again in a prison murder case, Cary uncovers an unlikely connection between the accused and one of Bond's clients. Meanwhile, Glenn Childs and Wendy Scott-Carr join forces after Peter's campaign is discovered race-baiting the electorate. In order to get Peter to stop, Wendy threatens to reveal that Zach and Becca had sex, resulting in Becca getting a secret abortion. The threat of a new scandal rocks both the campaign and the Florrick household. Alicia takes on a class-action lawsuit and tries to round up more signatures for the case than shrewd lawyer Louis Canning. Kalinda discovers a key-tracking software has been installed on Alicia's computer, which makes them believe that Canning is spying on Alicia. However, they find that Derrick Bond seems to be getting information from the tracking. This leads to Will and Diane resolving to oust Bond. Meanwhile, Derrick brings in a super PAC as a client. Will takes on the defamation case of wunderkind internet billionaire Patric Edelstein, the 25-year-old founder of Sleuth.com. Patric is suing the makers of a biopic that he claims is defaming him, and while Will knows the case will be a tough sell he also knows that he can milk this 'cash cow' for hundreds of billable hours. After meeting with Patric in the deposition, however, Will begins believing in the kid. After a talk with Honeycutt, the cynical lawyer representing the studio, Will resolves to try and win the long-shot defamation case instead of just trying to milk it for the cash. While meeting with the screenwriter, though, Will gets a better idea: challenging Patric's right to publicity. If he claims that the studio is usurping Patric's right to control his own publicity, he can get a settlement without proving the much-more-difficult defamation claims. Kurt McVeigh, the right-wing ballistics expert with whom Diane has an on-again off-again relationship, is on trial for testimony he gave in a murder trial. Pablo Beltran, the accused cop killer in that case, was sent to prison partially on the back of McVeigh's testimony. When extreme misconduct from the DNA lab caused Beltran to go free, however, he decided to go after McVeigh knowing that a judgment against the expert would end his career. As Eli decides how best to use a "Nannygate"-style political bombshell that could cripple Wendy Scott-Carr's campaign, Alicia helps Diane defend McVeigh and piece together the truth about Beltran's shooting. Eli appears to be sympathetic to the nanny. McVeigh proposes to Diane but she turns him down. LGB is suing a social networking website on behalf Shen Yuan, a Chinese dissident who was jailed and tortured for five years by his government. Shen claims that the website failed to protect his anonymity by turning his IP address over to the Chinese government. Alicia and Will know that if they can get a large enough settlement, the company will stop cooperating with the Chinese and they can help prevent the incarceration of future activists. But when Alicia sees Patric Edelstein, (the internet billionaire from 214) in the office, she begins to suspect that the firm has an ulterior motive for taking Shen's case. As Peter finds a silver bullet that might drive Glenn Childs from the campaign for good, Will and Diane attempt to wrestle control of the firm away from Derrick Bond once and for all. When LeMond Bishop's wife leaves him, LG represents the drug kingpin in a series of increasingly nasty divorce proceedings. LeMond is intent on trying to reconcile with the woman he still loves, but she is resolute. He cheated on her, and now he has to pay. Alicia and Will must convince the court that their client is fit to be a father despite his underworld dealings or he could lose his family for good. Meanwhile, Kalinda is subpoenaed by a grand jury to answer for a variety of crimes she's committed in the past. But is Glenn Childs actually after Kalinda, or is he really trying to take down Alicia and LG? Kalinda meets with Blake. He teases her that he knows her secret and reveals that Kalinda slept with Peter in exchange for helping her with a situation. Jarvis Bowes has spent the last 30 years in a psychiatric hospital after being convicted for the rape and murder of Malory Cerone. While institutionalized, he wrote a song which was covered by a pop band and has recently hit the top of the charts. Now Alicia and Lockhart/Gardner are helping Malory's daughter sue Jarvis for the proceeds from the song, claiming he wrote it about killing her mother. But when Alicia looks into Bowes' crime, she finds that the roots of the song may be even more disturbing than they had initially thought. Meanwhile Alicia and Diane help Eli attempt to secure citizenship for Natalie, but their case hits a snag when Natalie's father is wrongfully arrested and threatened with deportation. Alicia and LG take a class action suit against GoView, a video-on-demand company that created working conditions so miserable that several employees committed suicide. Opposing counsel is once again Louis Canning, this time taking the case over from former LG partner turned rival Jonas Stern. Stern had been on the verge of settling, but Canning insists on a trial. When Alicia finds an internal memo proving that GoView looted the employee pension fund, they are stuck with a case that is slowly becoming unwinnable and a piece of evidence that would leave their class with nothing if it came to light. Lockhart/Gardner represents a small drilling contractor in a contract dispute against a major oil conglomerate. Things seem straightforward at first, but quickly get out of hand when a South American dictator nationalizes the drilling company and takes over the case. Suddenly, Lockhard/Gardner is forced to cater to the dictator's whims, including taking orders from an aging actor who played a famous lawyer on television. Meanwhile, Peter and Wendi are neck-and-neck in the polls leading up to Election Day. In order to win over the people, Eli tells Alicia that she must enter the fray and show her support for Peter in a televised interview. Lockhart/Gardner nemesis Patti Nyholm returns, this time defending a hospital in a liver transplant case. A woman with only weeks to live has been bumped from the transplant list, and our firm only has days to reverse the hospital's decision before the liver goes to someone else. The case takes an unexpected turn when Nyholm turns the tables – she's been wrongfully terminated by her firm due to her pregnancy, and she wants to hire Will and Alicia to take her case. But can she be trusted? With the revelation of Peter's one night stand with Kalinda, Alicia takes action, throwing Peter out of their home, and deals with the emotional fallout from Peter, their children, and her mother-in-law Jackie. Alicia is assigned to defend a woman who is being sued by a widow whose husband was murdered by someone he met on the defendant's website. Once again, Alicia and Will are up against the somewhat ditsy Nancy Crozier. When her case turns to accusing the defendant of murder – and Carey Agos takes an all too obvious interest in the civil proceedings – Alicia and Will realize they have to change their strategy. At the office, Alicia lays it on the line with Kalinda, who decides to get a job elsewhere. The firm defends a man accused of murdering a judge. Alicia and Kalinda temporarily put aside their strained relationship to work on the case. Meanwhile, Eli decides to bring his consulting business to Lockhart/Gardner, but Alicia is against the idea.
season 3 -
A new, more confident Alicia takes center stage in defending a Muslim college student accused of assaulting a Jewish student during a campus brawl. At first, the case seems relatively easy – there's no physical evidence linking their client to the crime, and the trumped up hate crime charge they're fighting smacks of Peter trying to make a statement during his first week back in the job. When Kalinda finds a photo that seems to prove their client was elsewhere at the time the crime was committed, it appears that Lockhart/Gardner has secured the win. The trial takes a turn, however, when Cary and the prosecution reveal their plan: this new evidence may have exonerated Alicia's client from the assault, but it makes him the primary suspect in a murder investigation. The author of a book about a Mount Everest expedition is being sued for libel, and Lockhart/Gardner is handling his case. The plaintiff claims that the book makes it look like he let a man die near the top of the mountain in order to get to the peak, and his reputation has suffered ever since. After Will gets the case dismissed in US court, though, the plaintiff decides to re-sue in the British courts. Lockhart/Gardner must defend their case again, this time in an unfamiliar judicial system where the burden of proof lies with the defendant. Meanwhile, Eli and Kalinda work together in order to try and uncover a political scandal before it happens. As part of Peter's duties as the new state's attorney, he must find a law firm to handle the county's civil needs. Diane believe that Lockhart/Gardner has the inside track to win the job, and she's startled when Peter seems to be setting them up by telling her that the firm will need to submit to a voluntary audit if they want to be considered for the contract. For the first time, the partners of Lockhart/Gardner question Alicia's true allegiance. Will and Alicia are stuck together in a hotel for a week of mandatory mediation in Lockhart/Gardner's latest case. Their client is suing her doctor for implanting a surgical device of his own design in her back during a medical procedure. She claims she had no idea she was being subjected to experimental medicine and has been in constant pain ever since. Complicating matters is that opposing counsel is Will's old flame Celeste Serrano. She knows all his tricks, and her strong connection with Will seems to spark a little jealousy in Alicia. Meanwhile, Eli takes charge of a crisis management case when a batch of tainted cheese leads to a listeriosis outbreak in an elementary school. Alicia works a pro bono case, defending a man who stands accused of committing murder during a convenience store robbery gone wrong. Even though her client is innocent, a witness has identified him as the shooter. Matters are complicated further when Diane, trying to keep the firm afloat during hard economic times, tells her to plead it out – she wants all of her attorneys on paid cases only. When Diane discovers that Celeste's old firm has gone under and his former partner is looking for a new place to take her lucrative bankruptcy division, Will attempts to get her on board at Lockhart/Gardner. Celeste, however, has other plans: she wants Will to leave the firm and come work with her. Lockhart/Gardner's case against an aviation company takes a huge hit when their key witness commits suicide and his testimony is ruled inadmissible. The only other person with inside knowledge of the plane's design flaw is Colin Sweeney, a venture capitalist that Alicia defended on a murder charge two years ago who has been in jail ever since. But his testimony comes with a price – his freedom. And Cary won't let him go unless he agrees to wear a wire and get a jailhouse confession from one of the most dangerous killers in the Illinois prison system. At the same time, Eli tries to get Peter the keynote address at the upcoming DNC while Alicia is told that she can take part in the hiring of a new first year associate. Cary clashes with Lockhart/Gardner yet again when two male students are accused of murdering a female classmate on a college booze cruise. Complicating matters is that both of the accused men are sons of foreign dignitaries and appear to be protected from prosecution thanks to diplomatic immunity. While one of the suspects walks, the other must stand trial because his father is from Taiwan – a country not recognized by the US. As Cary attempts to pin the murder on Lockhart/Gardner's suddenly vulnerable client, Alicia and Caitlin look for a way to prove that the other diplomat's son was the one who did the deed. Meanwhile, Eli is approached by his ex-wife in a professional capacity – she wants him to vet her in preparation for a possible state senate run. Lockhart/Gardner takes on the United States Government on behalf of a military contractor who claims that he was imprisoned and tortured by the Army in Afghanistan. While Diane and the team plow through boxes of censored documents looking for evidence, Alicia must meet with a government monitor whose authority overrides attorney/client privilege. When opposing counsel reveals damning new evidence about her client, Alicia is asked by the monitor to reveal information that would lead to his imprisonment...and if she doesn't, she could end up in jail herself. At the State's Attorney's office, Peter decides to follow up on a fifteen-year-old case claiming that Will Gardner stole $45,000 from a client at his old firm in order to fund his gambling addiction. An interview with a gang member on death row leads Cary and the SA's office to two dead bodies that had been buried in a vacant lot. One victim was another gang member, but the second was an innocent young woman who went missing several months ago. Ballistics evidence points to the woman's boyfriend, Lockhart/Gardner's client, as her killer. Will, Diane, and Alicia, however, believe that the murders were related and both victims were probably shot by a third gang member who is still at large. Because the only person who might know the truth is a vicious killer slated to be executed by the state in 36 hours, the Lockhart/Gardner team must find a way to get a stay of execution for a guilty man before time runs out for their client. Campaign manager Mickey Gunn comes to Eli for help. He has a promising young politician with a humorous skeleton in his closet: a drunken Facebook picture showing his client stooping in front of a Santa Claus statue, as if performing fellatio. Eli must figure out a way to spin the story before it sinks Mickey's client's campaign hopes for good. Will and Alicia are back in military court, this time defending a young female remote drone operator accused of murdering twelve civilians in Afghanistan. The prosecution argues that the order to fire the rocket was remanded, but the defendant fired anyway. When their only witness decides to testify for the prosecution, Will and Alicia must find a new way to persuade an all-military jury of their client's innocence. Faced with losing the cheese lobby, one of their biggest clients, Lockhart/Gardner turns to Eli in the hopes that he can convince the FDA to reinstate the food pyramid and promote cheese consumption. But in his counterpart for the fruit lobby, Eli finds an opponent who always seems to be one step ahead of him. The state's investigation into Will Gardner heats up when Peter assigns the case to Wendy Scott-Carr – a woman who will stop at nothing to weed out corruption. Alicia mentors Caitlin through her first arbitration case, defending a college professor who claims she was laid off after refusing her bosses sexual advances. But when Alicia learns that opposing counsel is Martha, the associate that she wanted to hire over Caitlin in Ep. 305, the proceedings swiftly become more antagonistic. When testimony reveals another possible cause for the defendant's job loss – her staunch right-wing beliefs – the case becomes an issue of freedom of expression. This twist removes the damages cap originally imposed by the arbitrator, making it potentially far more lucrative for Lockart/Gardner. With so much more at stake, Martha's boss Louis Canning starts taking a more active role in the case. It's Alicia vs. Louis once more, this time clashing as the puppet masters of their first year associates. While Alicia meets with Louis Canning, she checks her phone and realizes that she has twelve missed calls from her daughter Grace. When all attempts to track down Grace fail, Alicia fears the worst. As the hours pass, Alicia wonders if she's been prioritizing her work and her relationship with Will above her family. When the jury in a murder case comes back with a guilty verdict after the legal teams on both sides assumed there would be an acquittal, Will, Alicia, and Diane work to figure out what went wrong. With Kalinda's help, the firm learns that something made over half the jurors change their mind during deliberations. With time running out before sentencing, it's up to Lockart/Gardner to convince the judge to vacate the ruling. Her romance with Will over, Alicia looks to rekindle old friendships in order to find some companionship. When she learns that Kalinda played a major role in finding Grace, she realizes that a friendship she once thought was dead forever might be worth salvaging. Alicia, Will, Diane, and David Lee are being sued by a couple whose divorce Lockart/Gardner handled during Alicia's first year with the firm. The couple, having now reconciled, claim that the firm deliberately split them up in order to make a commission on the liquidation of the company they started together. Their argument has some merit, too, as David Lee used some less-than-savory methods in order to get full custody of the children for his client. But as the partners squabble over who was really at fault, the onus falls on Alicia, who as a first year associate was assigned to get their client to sign the crucial document that would let Lockhart/Gardner off the hook – a document that is now missing. As Wendy Scott-Carr's investigation of Will heats up, he hires Elsbeth Tasconi to represent him and fight back. Alicia and Lockhart/Gardner face off against the US Treasury Department once again, this time aiding Dylan Stack, a lawyer who represents the creator of Bitcoin – an online currency with mysterious origins. Alicia's client is being pressured to reveal the name of the anonymous Bitcoin creator so that the government can prosecute him for creating what they believe to be a currency in direct competition with the US Dollar. But when the judge rules that attorney/client privilege prevents Stack from having to reveal the name of his client, the Treasury Department changes tactics and decides to prosecute Stack himself as the creator of Bitcoin. Wendy Scott-Carr's investigation into Will continues. When Dana Lodge discovers some damning information that could send Alicia to prison, she approaches Kalinda with an ultimatum: help the SA's office prosecute Will, or they’ll go after Alicia. A grand jury has been empanelled, and it appears to be a foregone conclusion that Will Gardner will be indicted for bribing a judge. As Lockhart/Gardner circles the wagons and prepares for the worst, Alicia is brought into the fold and learns how bad things have gotten for the first time. Will's strategy is to try and tie Peter in as much as possible, hoping that Cary will persuade him to see that he might hurt himself by going after Will, but the SA's office has a secret weapon – inside information provided by Kalinda in exchange for keeping quiet about a document that might send Alicia to jail. With the future of the firm in the balance, Alicia herself is called to the stand and asked, under oath, to answer a tough question that she was not expecting – has she ever had a sexual relationship with Will Gardner? Eli's feud with David Lee continues when he realizes Caitlin's connection to his nemesis and decides to bury her with meaningless clerical work. His feud with rival crisis manager Stacie Hall also takes an interesting twist when she admits to having feelings for him while the two battle over a lucrative account. Lockhart/Gardner represents the families of three Americans who were detained and killed by the Syrian government during the civil war. They claim that the tech company ChumHum knowingly sold infiltration and decryption software to Syria in violation of US law – software that allowed the government to track down and murder its enemies. But if ChumHum knowingly sold their software to Syria, proving it is another matter entirely. And when the defense produces a photograph that shows that one the missing dissidents may still be alive, Will, Diane, and Alicia must decide whether or not it's worth jeopardizing their case for the chance to bring her home. The mood at the firm is exuberant following the grand jury's decision not to indict Will. But as a parting shot, Wendy Scott-Carr tipped the Chicago Bar Association off about Will's indiscretions 15 years ago in Baltimore. And, Will learns, there is no statute of limitations on disbarment. Alicia defends a documentary filmmaker who is accused of being responsible for the suicide of a college girl while making a movie about people who kill themselves. But their path to victory is blocked by old nemesis Nancy Crozier and a judge who seems to buy Nancy's folksy, innocent act at every turn. When the firm again turns to Caitlin in order to try and win over the judge and jury, Alicia begins to wonder if her protégé might be her biggest competition at Lockhart/Gardner. As Will serves out his suspension at home under the watchful eyes of his two nosy and manipulative sisters, the power vacuum at Lockhart/Gardner draws the attention of Eli, Julius, and David Lee, all of whom want their name on the company letterhead. Meanwhile, Peter struggles with his political campaign as he realizes that his decision to hire people based solely on merit has cost him many of his former allies. After being released from prison, Lockhart/Gardner client Colin Sweeney attempts to convince the shareholders of his former company to vote him back in as CEO. At the eleventh hour, however, a former employee publicly accuses Sweeney of sexually harassing her, going as far as to produce a baby who was allegedly fathered by Colin. With time running out, Alicia and the firm have 72 hours to prove the allegations are false before Sweeney is forced out of his company for good – a task made more difficult due to the fact that Sweeney will lie to anyone, including his own lawyers, to get what he wants. After getting engaged, Caitlin decides to leave Lockhart/Gardner and give up her career in order to start a family. At the state's attorney's office, Cary is forced to investigate employee fraternization on Peter's behalf, putting him in an awkward position thanks to his own transgressions with Dana Lodge. When Alicia's apartment building decides to convert to condos, she is faced with the possibility of having to move. Lockhart/Gardner represents a client who suffered severe injuries and lost his wife when a snowmobile malfunctioned and struck a tree. With a sympathetic judge and video evidence, the case seems like a slam dunk. All of that changes, however, when the opposition argues that the client's ability to maneuver the snowmobile was impaired due to injuries sustained during a fight on the ice when he was a professional hockey player. In order to counter, Alicia and her legal team decide to add the hockey league to the lawsuit as well. Unfortunately the league is represented by Lockhart/Gardner nemesis Louis Canning, who never goes down without a good fight. Without enough money to make a down payment on her old house, Alicia begins to take Canning's job offer overtures much more seriously. Things heat up between Diane and process server Jack Copeland. When Will's old girlfriend Tammy comes back to cover the hockey trial, Alicia realizes that she wronged Tammy in the same way that Kalinda wronged her. As Diane scrambles to keep the firm's partners placated while they attempt to fill the power vacuum created by Will's suspension, she delegates one of her responsibilities – a seat on a blue ribbon panel that's investigating alleged police misconduct – to Alicia. The case involves a police officer who shot and killed a man on a subway platform. When Alicia begins to suspect that the other members of the panel are unwilling to get to the bottom of what actually happened, Alicia goes toe-to-toe with some of the most influential judges and politicians in Chicago in order to find the truth. Meanwhile, Kalinda's tax audit takes a turn for the personal as she learns the motivation behind the IRS investigation may be about more than money. When Alicia's offer on her old house is rejected, she re-lives both pleasant and painful memories of her old life with Peter in the process of writing a letter to the seller in the hopes of changing their mind. Alicia and Diane represent one of a trio of girls who was convicted of murder at a summer camp five years ago. Recently, however, it was discovered that the crime lab mishandled the DNA evidence and a judge has overturned their sentence pending a new trial. Not wanting to face a wrongful conviction lawsuit, the state has offered the girls an Alford plea – they can go free, but only if they all sign a statement admitting that they were guilty of committing murder. While the girls weigh their options, Alicia and Kalinda work to try and prove the girls’ innocence before the window to accept the plea runs out. Mike Kresteva kicks off his candidacy for the governorship of Illinois by blatantly lying about an interaction with Alicia that makes Peter look bad. Infuriated, Alicia starts to realize that she really does want Peter to run. Meanwhile, she and Jackie duel over control of their old family house. Alicia and Diane are put in the odd position of representing a judge, the honorable Richard Cuesta, who has been accused of misconduct in a murder trial he handled for the state as a prosecutor twenty years earlier. New DNA evidence has overturned the conviction, and Cuesta faces removal from the bench if he's found guilty. With Cuesta backed against a wall, the Lockhart/Gardner team realizes that they must stretch the truth in order to mount their best defense. With tensions rising, Alicia and Diane realize that Judge Cuesta's adherence to the truth might make him his own worst enemy. When FBI agent Lana Delaney approaches LeMond Bishop, the drug dealer blames Kalinda for the federal attention – an accusation that might have grave consequences. Meanwhile, as new named partner Howard Lyman grows increasingly erratic, Will and Diane discuss hiring a new litigator. After two years, in the state's attorney's office, Cary Agos returns to his old home at Lockhart/Gardner. On the heels of a huge win against Louis Canning and a pharmaceutical company, Will and Diane are sent scrambling when Canning teams up with Patti Nyholm in a suit against the firm for fraud and malicious prosecution. When issues from Will's bribery investigation are raised yet again, it appears as if Lockhart/Gardner's two old nemeses have a new source of outside information – and they're trying to use it to bankrupt the firm. As Peter temporarily moves back into the old house, Alicia begins to wonder what her role in the family is becoming. Meanwhile, her new, open friendship with Kalinda hits a snag when Alicia accidentally unearths a dangerous loose end from Kalinda's past.
season 4 -
Zach gets pulled over by a cop and the campaign is turned fully about family values; Alicia deals with a reporter who inquires about the status of her marriage to Peter. Will's suspension is over, and he returns to the firm. The firm deals with a trustee appointed to watch over them in the wake of their bankruptcy. Kalinda comes face-to-face with her estranged husband. The firm attempts to renegotiate its building lease by sending Alicia to meet with their new landlord, Maddie Hayward, but it fails and it inadvertently ends with her donating to Peter's campaign which displeases Diane. Kalinda gets distracted by the presence of her estranged husband. Meanwhile on Will's first case after his suspension ends, he rejects the first (and a reasonable) settlement offer, which ends up complicating his case as he meets an active jury, which partakes in the cross-examinations. The firm argue against Viola Walsh and her internet billionaire client Neil Gross, representing two startup founders who developed voice recognition software and were negatively affected by tweaked search engine page ranking. Alicia's affair with Will seems to be on the verge of being revealed to the press, but it actually turns into another potential scandal for Peter. The firm's trustee briefly clashes with Diane, and Kalinda's husband, Nick, discovers more about her sexual dalliances. The firm sues a university claiming they were liable for the death of a student who died as a result of an extreme hazing ritual. Meanwhile Peter's mother, Jackie, tries to become more involved in her son's gubernatorial campaign after she recovers from her stroke. Eli and Alicia make one more attempt at staving off the publication of a potentially damaging article implicating Peter in another sexual scandal. The firm is called to Lemond Bishop's aid after his accountant is arrested. Alicia is tasked with hand-holding Bishop's son to prepare and comfort him in case his father is arrested. Eli, having forestalled the publication of a damaging magazine article must now contend with a blog threatening to post a story regarding the article not being published in the first place. Kalinda, through her husband, discovers something about her girlfriend, FBI Agent Delaney. Alicia is asked by military court judge Kuhn to represent a military lawyer as she brings suit against a military contract employee in civil court who attempted to rape her. Peter hires a new caretaker for his aging mother, Jackie, after she fires several others. Maddie Hayward announces she intends to run for governor against Peter. Meanwhile, the firm's Trustee begins adopting Steve Jobs' management style. The firm represents a comedian who exposes her breasts on live television, and is compelled to apologize to FCC commissioners to convince them not to fine the network. Cary, after many years, has a chance meeting with his father, which doesn't end well. Eli tries to deal with a new rumor regarding Peter's 'anatomy' and Peter hires a new assistant state's attorney after Alicia recommends a former military court lawyer, Laura Hellinger. Meanwhile, Lockhart Gardner is almost sold by the firm's trustee, saved only by last minute maneuvering by Diane, Will and David Lee. Will Gardner defends a client who is accused of killing her husband for his fortune, in Laura Hellinger's first case as ASA; the case alone could get the firm out of debt, freeing them of supervision of the trustee. However, when Will encounters the inebriated judge in a bar he (the judge) offers his opinion on not only the case, but on Will as a lawyer, and the firm brings a motion to substitute the judge for bias. A classmate of Grace kills herself after her boyfriend Connor breaks their relationship, and Grace becomes dangerously attracted to Connor. Eli tries to involve Alicia's children more in the campaign, after a tracker videotapes Grace, and Cary draws the suspicious eye of Kalinda's husband, Nick. Alicia and Diane represent the CFO of an online tax return company whose conversations with his husband could implicate him in defrauding the government. A famous lawyer, known for his appearances arguing before the Supreme Court of the United States offers to help the firm with the case, but soon attempts to throw in the towel to lay the groundwork for a Supreme Court appeal challenging the Defense of Marriage Act. Alicia's mother, Veronica, visits and seeks help in overturning a will that cut her out of her late husband's inheritance when his son convinced him Veronica was cheating. Cary approaches Nick the day after he was assaulted. Alicia and Will represent a client who allegedly murdered a woman in Chicago during a music festival, but is not the only one being tried for her murder. Another man is being tried in Minooka on exactly the same charge, and the outcome of that trial could prove their defendant innocent. Alicia is then tasked with assisting the prosecution in Minooka. Eli is approached by a representative of the Department of Justice investigating illegal campaign bribes, ostensibly relating to his ex-wife's campaign for the state senate. Nick is dropped by the firm as a client after it becomes apparent he is using his tow truck company to smuggle drugs. Will & Diane face mediation, requested by the trustee, Clarke Hayden. Displeased by the way they sabotaged his attempts to sell the firm, Clarke requests that Will & Diane be removed from their positions as managing partners. Alicia faces Louis Canning again, struggling to depose an executive in a lawsuit against a bank who foreclosed on houses with stagnant swimming pools, facilitating the spread of disease-bearing mosquitoes. Meanwhile, Eli files a harassment complaint against the Department of Justice, only to discover Wendy Scott-Carr has taken charge of the investigation against him. Cary is placed in a precarious position that could compromise his friendship with Clarke. Alicia, Diane and Will come to the aid of eccentric attorney Elsbeth Tascioni, who is arrested just prior to her hearing before the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport). Alicia struggles to get Elsbeth out on bail, while Diane and Will contend with the three French-speaking CAS judges and the court's reversed burden of proof – they must prove their client innocent of doping. Eli and his new second-in-command, Jordan, clash with each other over a new campaign issue: racial bias. Peter makes a speech at a minority-rights organization during which he is booed. The firm goes to court to fight their new creditor, Louis Canning, for an extension on their bankruptcy plan with Clarke Hayden playing an unexpected part in the eventual outcome. Alicia is offered partnership, which she is initially ecstatic about, but then balks once she realizes she must pay $600,000 as part of her capital contribution. With the firm still in debt $30 million, Alicia realizes the offer may not have been sincere. The fiancee of Neil Gross hires David Lee to negotiate her pre-nup and everyone works to ensure that young love triumphs. On the campaign trail, Alicia is once again at odds with Eli regarding her previous friendship with Maddie Hayward. As the firm finally clears its debt, Alicia, Cary and the other associates that were previously offered partnership are shocked to find that the partners have voted to delay their offers for a year. Tensions are exacerbated when Alicia and Cary are asked to prosecute in a mock trial against Diane and Will – the outcome of which has real consequences for their client, an energy beverage company being sued for the death of a young girl after she consumes one of their products. Elsbeth Tascioni, after being retained by Eli Gold, must now contend with the Department of Justice as Eli tries to secure his position on the campaign from Jordan. Peter prepares to engage Maddie Hayward in their first televised debate, with Diane Lockhart helping him prepare. Meanwhile, the firm attempts to bid for the State Attorney's tender to represent them in civil lawsuits. Eli, no longer on the campaign, fights in federal and state courts to clear his name as Frank Landau, head of the Democratic committee accuses him of buying votes for Peter's campaign. Alicia, after being promoted to partner, must now deal with asserting her new position of authority over her former peers. Lemond Bishop goes to trial, charged with the murder of a confidential informant. While defending him, Alicia goes up against her old law school classmate. In addition, Bishop instructs the firm to work with a peculiar lawyer on his defense. Meanwhile, with the firm now enjoying a surplus of cash, the partners debate on what to do with it, and explore the possibility of re-leasing the two building floors they lost during bankruptcy, and hiring a second investigator. Alicia and Will attend the inquest into the death of an Illinois Supreme Court Judge that died in a car crash; their client being the wife of the deceased who stands to earn millions from a life insurance policy. Cary has another chance encounter with his father, as he brings new business to the firm, which strains their already rocky relationship. Meanwhile, Peter beats Maddie Hayward and wins the Democratic primary. Also, using Alicia's family, Eli schemes against Jordan to get him thrown off the campaign. During the Chicago Shamrock Dinner, one of the firm's clients is murdered. As Alicia represented him, she is asked by the police to aid in their investigation. Unsure of her obligations towards her deceased client, she is pressured into divulging information that could potentially break attorney-client privilege. Diane is approached by Peter to fill the seat of a recently deceased Illinois Supreme Court Judge if he wins the governorship. Also in attendance at the Shamrock dinner is Republican gubernatorial candidate, Mike Kresteva, who ends up in a confrontation with Peter. Alicia represents Colin Sweeney again; this time against an apparently minor charge that could potentially turn into a life sentence for him if a Supreme Court decision is rendered before the firm can resolve the case. With the prosecution stalling, the firm must rush through trial in order to head off a conviction. Diane reconnects with ballistics expert Kurt McVeigh as she asks Kalinda to vet her after Peter offers her a judgeship, which ends up uncovering troubling information about her family's past. Alicia and Will represent a woman who accuses a recently admitted Princeton student of raping her. She sues in civil court as her accused rapist evades jail in a plea bargain. Her case is hurt however when she breaks a gag order and an internet hacker group, Anonymous, decides to get involved in the case. Diane, still being vetted as a potential Supreme Court Judge, has to deal with addressing concerns regarding her personal and business life. Meanwhile, Dylan Stack, one of the three alleged owners of Bitcoin, returns to Chicago to ask Alicia and her firm to help him execute a class action against prosecutorial overcharging. He ascertains that overcharging is what drove internet activist Aaron Swartz to commit suicide. He wants revenge. Cary, after being probed by the new investigator Robyn, is forced to reveal to Alicia he is leaving the firm to form his own and invites her to join him. Alicia is 'volunteered' by her mother Veronica, to render legal assistance to one of Veronica's recently widowed friends; initially expecting to only provide minimal assistance, Alicia enlists Cary's help, as she goes up against Nancy Crozier, and ends up representing more than twenty employees of a software company in their efforts to unionize to prevent their employer from firing them en masse. The case also inspires the firm's own clerical staff to seek better working conditions. Alicia's brother, Owen, has a change of heart regarding Alicia's marriage after Peter attempts to repair their relationship. Veronica, meanwhile, still disapproving of Alicia's continued commitment to Peter, attempts to interfere as Peter asks Alicia to renew their vows in Hawaii. Cary, still set on forming his own firm, tries to sign on Kalinda. On the night of the Illinois gubernatorial election, Zach witnesses what he believes to be vote tampering. Once brought to the attention of an emergency courtroom hearing however, the details turn out to be potentially ruinous for Peter's campaign. Alicia makes a decision regarding joining Cary's new firm as Cary is able to convince the firm's second investigator, Robyn, to join him after Kalinda refuses to take a lower offer.
season 5 -
Setting out to form their own firm, Alicia and Cary finalize their exit from Lockhart & Gardner. Realizing that delaying would allow them to collect a hefty bonus payment, all the fourth-year associates vote to delay leaving by two more weeks. Diane and Will work with Alicia to prove a man innocent after his execution is botched by the State. The firm's partners, led by a very suspicious David Lee, begin to actively investigate the associates by scanning their phone records. Meanwhile, newly elected Governor Peter Florrick makes Eli his new chief of staff. Neil Gross of internet giant Chum Hum, seeks Lockhart & Gardner's help in fighting the NSA regarding its recently leaked PRISM surveillance program. The NSA, while actively eavesdropping on the firm's phone calls, discovers a possible link to terrorism in a former client of theirs. Alicia is visited again by her mother, who offers her help unexpectedly. Diane Lockhart, still being sought by Governor Florrick as his nominee for Supreme Court Justice, is placed in a very difficult position as she is asked to disavow Will Gardner's past actions. Meanwhile, Eli tries to locate a golden gavel belonging to the Governor only to discover an old adversary has taken it. The firm is rocked by an interview Diane gave to a reporter in her efforts to secure the Supreme Court Justice nomination. In the interview Diane reveals, in clear detail, Will's actions leading up to his suspension that occurred the previous year. The partners and Will move against Diane, wanting her to surrender her stake in the firm. Alicia represents a client acting as a surrogate mother whose unborn baby suffers from a rare and severe chromosomal disability. The genetic parents wish to terminate the pregnancy, something the surrogate is refusing to do. Will, still unaware of Alicia's intentions to leave, makes an offer to Alicia to replace Diane as managing partner. As Diane prepares to move out of the firm to assume her judgeship, she also prepares to marry her longtime flame, Kurt McVeigh, which causes friction with Diane's old friends. Meanwhile, the firm is sued by one of their own paralegals for accommodating a hostile work environment, and she accuses many of the firm's lawyers of sexual harassment. The firm hires Elsbeth Tascioni to defend them against the suit. Eli must deal with Jackie as she attempts to take control of Peter's inauguration as Governor. Meanwhile, Diane becomes suspicious of Alicia after she catches her trying to download one of her client's files. Diane uncovers Alicia and Cary's plan to leave and start their own law firm. After revealing it to Will, who takes it very hard, Alicia is fired along with all fourth year associates and a frantic pursuit of clients begins. Lockhart/Gardner imposes a restraining order on the new firm, preventing them from lobbying their biggest client, Chum-Hum. Florrick/Agos responds in kind as the two firms battle each other in and out of court, while relationships crumble. Meanwhile, Peter, after hearing of his wife's firing, helps Alicia secure a client and rescinds Diane's Illinois Supreme Court Justice nomination. The day after Florrick/Agos split from Lockhart/Gardner, Alicia and Cary successfully take over Diane's last case that she was due to litigate before they left, but must contend with Will and Diane's stalling to hand over client files. Will, seething and also energized from yesterday's events, moves to expand the reach of Lockhart/Gardner, and starts with trying to destabilize Florrick/Agos, preventing them from moving into new offices. Meanwhile, the director of the Governor's Ethics Commission, Marilyn Garbanza, seeks to advise Alicia's new firm on ethical guidelines. After losing the Supreme Court Justice nomination, Diane is welcomed back to the firm. Clarke Hayden, the former trustee who managed Lockhart/Gardner during their bankruptcy, returns to provide financial advice to Florrick/Agos as they face financial difficulties. Meanwhile, Florrick/Agos suspects Lockhart/Gardner is spying on them after Alicia's children discover that the cameras on their home computers are being accessed remotely. Will tries to keep a client from leaving the firm for Florrick/Agos, and in doing so has a chance encounter with Alicia's brother Owen, who attempts to provide insight as to why Alicia left the firm with Cary. In addition, Lockhart/Gardner tries to fight off a malpractice lawsuit, regarding an apparent botched adoption that, at the time, Alicia was working on. Will also represents a client, Jeffrey Grant, who is stopped on trumped-up DUI charges and ends up being charged with murder. Lockhart/Gardner, rebranding itself to be known simply as 'LG', plans to open a new branch in New York; and despite the lack of decor, Florrick/Agos finally move into their own offices. Natalie Florres returns to Chicago to ask Alicia's help in defending an undocumented Mexican immigrant who is being threatened with deportation if he does not testify against a dangerous drug cartel lord. Marilyn, who notices Eli's renewed interest in Natalie, fears for the ethical implications of his relationship with her. Robyn, meanwhile, fearing for her own place at Florrick/Agos, seeks Kalinda's advice to become indispensable to the firm. Alicia and Cary represent a university lecturer accused of being a domestic terrorist by overzealous users of a social networking website. LG, being in need of more litigators, try to hire more associates, but Will, disregarding the wishes of the rest of the firm's partners, hires an alleged maverick mob lawyer as a partner, who causes trouble for Florrick/Agos when he steals their office furniture. Will's impulsive decision to hire him arouses the concern of Diane, who instructs Kalinda to investigate him. Jackie, realizing that Peter's new Supreme Court Justice nomination slept with her own husband many years ago, tries to force the nominee to bow out. Alicia, on the verge of finalizing her exit from LG, discovers that she has been bequeathed millions of dollars by an eccentric and now-deceased client. His surviving wife however, contesting the bequest, hires LG to contest the will. Meanwhile Florrick/Agos, having received few RSVPs to their Christmas party, ask Alicia to invite her husband. Eli, who realizes certain undesirable clients might be in attendance, tries to stop Peter from attending. Kalinda, busy investigating LG's newest lawyer, ends up getting arrested. Meanwhile, in the case regarding Alicia's bequest, Clarke Hayden makes his debut at court. The case also dredges up passionate emotions for Will, who now questions how genuine Alicia's affections were for him. Alicia and Cary represent the band who played at their Christmas party in a copyright infringement lawsuit against a TV network regarding the covering of a song by a music show of another cover of a song the band made. Will, after hearing about it, involves himself in the suit, and Alicia and Will both attempt to throw each other off during the case. Diane, concerned about the frantic nature of the firm's recent moves, such as the expansion into New York, and now Los Angeles, calls for a moratorium on soliciting new clients. Eli, after hiring Kalinda to investigate Marilyn regarding the father of her baby, uncovers video evidence of possible voter fraud committed during the Gubernatorial election campaign he led. Alicia, Cary, Diane, and Will are forced to work together to keep a couple out of jail when they're accused of smuggling drugs. Formerly a Lockhart/Gardner case before Alicia and Cary left, Will and Alicia both request the case be severed for the two accused. The presiding judge grants their request for a severance, but only for the jury: which results in a double jury trial. Meanwhile, Eli attempts to shield himself from culpability after the leaking of a video depicting possible voter fraud to the press, while Marilyn begins an investigation, which involves questioning Will. Will, however is unable to cooperate fully due to Peter's refusal to waive attorney-client privilege. Kalinda attempts to reconnect with Cary, but accidentally falls into a trap, which allows Florrick/Agos to poach a client from LG. Florrick/Agos and LG represent Lemond Bishop when he is arrested on a drug-related charge. However, the charge is based on information that could've only been known from within Florrick/Agos and this prompts Cary and Alicia to conduct an investigation, which leads them to conclude their phones are being wiretapped by the DEA. They are in fact being surveilled, but by the NSA who is sharing information to other government departments. Meanwhile, after Marylin submits an inconclusive report on her investigation into possible voter fraud, it escalates as the Department of Justice's Office of Public Integrity begins their own examination of the allegations and the video depicting the alleged crime, approaching Alicia and subpoenaing Will. Alicia, Cary and Clarke are in New York for Alicia's keynote speech at a conference for the American Bar Association. Alicia struggles to compose a suitable speech, so decides to draw upon her past for inspiration. Also in attendance is a prominent New York lawyer, who leaving her own firm, is eagerly sought after by both Florrick/Agos and LG. Will, still being pursued by Nelson Dubeck from the Office of Public Integrity, over possible voter fraud, decides to retain Elsbeth Tascioni to represent him against the investigation and a forthcoming grand jury hearing. Dubeck asks Alicia to submit to a voluntary deposition; Alicia agrees, having Cary act as her attorney. During the deposition, Dubeck claims Will will testify against Peter. Kalinda tells Will that she wants to leave LG, but not to work for Florrick/Agos; Will claims that they go through this routine every few months. Will is defending Jeffrey Grant at trial; Grant is suffering in general lockup, but refuses to accept protective solitary confinement. Kalinda finds evidence suggesting Grant's innocence, but, before she can bring it to court, Will sees more evidence of attacks against Grant, and requests solitary confinement. This apparently causes Grant to snap. Diane is arguing another case at the courthouse when she hears several gunshots. Kalinda, who is also there, enters Will's courtroom, where she finds the prosecutor, Finn, holding Will; both have been shot, and Will is unconscious. Grant is holding the gun, trying to kill himself, but the gun has run out of bullets. Later, at the hospital, Diane and Kalinda find Will's body. The episode ends with Kalinda calling Eli and Alicia, who are at a media event, to inform them of Will's death. In the wake of Will's death, Alicia grieves over him, distancing herself from her husband Peter in the process. She finds a voicemail that Will left her; due to an interruption, though, it said nothing substantial. Trying to determine what Will wanted to say, Alicia interviews the presiding judge who witnessed the shooting, and talks to ASA Finn Polmar, who was also shot, and Polmar's assistant. Ultimately, she arrives at a dead end, and is left to guess. Kalinda tries to understand why Will's client, Jeffrey Grant, went on a shooting spree. Diane breaks the news of Will's death to the partners at her firm, while David Lee tries to keep Will's top clients from leaving. Forced to do a deposition without Alicia, Cary takes out his anger on opposing counsel. After attending Will's funeral, Alicia and Diane establish a newfound rapport while reflecting over Will's life. They even consider merging their firms together, despite currently opposing each other in a divorce suit. Meanwhile alleged mob lawyer, Damien Boyle, overhearing their conversation, informs David Lee of it and both try to remove Diane as managing partner. Kalinda decides to help Diane after learning of their plans. Alicia, fearing that the newly appointed State's Attorney could be searching for a scapegoat over the botched Jeffery Grant prosecution, offers Finn Polmar her advice. And after being visited by Peter, who is concerned with how she is coping with Will's death, Alicia decides to distance herself even more from him. The proposal to merge LG with Florrick/Agos is scuttled as Diane has a change of heart after speaking to Cary about it, who is vexed he wasn't sooner informed by Alicia. LG's partners decide to merge with Louis Canning's firm, forming Lockhart/Gardner & Canning (retaining the late Will Gardner's name). While incredulous to Canning's intentions, Diane eventually agrees to work with him. After being approached by an NSA independent contractor who accidentally removed a USB flash drive with possibly classified documents, Florrick/Agos realize that their firm is being surveilled by the NSA. Alicia informs Eli and Peter, who later uses his connections to halt the surveillance. Cary and Clarke both try to save the job of the NSA contractor after he is subsequently suspended from his role at the NSA. Alicia continues to defend Finn Polmar against the State's Attorney Office, representing him in a disciplinary hearing into his past prosecutions. Alicia inadvertently becomes a witness to a homicide while in Colin Sweeney's house trying to get him to sign important business documents during his engagement party. Sweeney's fiancé, Renata is arrested for the murder. Being a lawyer representing Colin Sweeney she cannot defend Renata so Alicia refers Diane to represent her instead. The State's Attorney becomes personally involved, first appointing Finn Polmar to prosecute at the last minute, only to pull him off soon after. Still trying to assist Finn, Alicia suggests that Finn run for State's Attorney to protect his job, and after she gets Eli to gather the requisite signatures, Peter decides to endorse Finn. Meanwhile, Eli must deal with a picture of Zach holding a bong, and the ensuing controversy when Alicia's brother Owen, decides to offer up his own opinion on drug use. While on jury duty, Alicia has a chance encounter with a fellow juror who later invites her to drinks. During a day off, she decides to meet with her mother, Veronica. Diane defends a client whose son is accused of abetting the sale of drugs online on the anonymous marketplace, Silk Road, after bitcoins are traced to his computer. Kalinda's investigation reveals information that prompts Diane to withdraw from the case. Eli, concerned about Finn's lack of an organized campaign (or even a campaign manager) for the State's Attorney election, decides to arrange a TV interview for him. Meanwhile, with help from Kalinda, Diane realizes that David Lee and Louis Canning (who is now terminally ill) are moving against her. Alicia and Cary represent a billionaire who, in trying to settle a wrongful termination suit, ends up making insensitive comments that scuttle the settlement and jeopardizes their chances of prevailing in voir dire. Eli, still assisting Finn in his campaign, reveals he's been cleared of all wrongdoing in the Jeffrey Grant shooting; the State's Attorney, James Castro, is named as the one responsible. In an attempt to protect his own campaign, Castro presents Peter a photo of Finn exiting Alicia's apartment, insinuating that the two are having sex. Eli learns of the true nature of Alicia's and Peter's marriage after reprimanding a government intern for getting too close to Peter. Diane and Canning are at odds with each other again after they realize a conflict of interest exists between Diane's new co-counsel on a class action lawsuit and Canning's newest client, the defendant in the class action lawsuit. Eli tries to get Finn Polmar to withdraw from the State's Attorney race after he uncovers evidence that he possibly bribed another prosecutor to save his sister from jail. Jackie and Veronica clash as each vies to cook Zach's graduation dinner party; Jackie finally learns the truth of Peter's and Alicia's marriage. After a live-streamed deposition, Lockart/Gardner & Canning leave their conference room camera on, which allows Florrick/Agos an opportunity to eavesdrop. After Finn withdraws, Peter decides to offer Diane the chance to take his place. Alicia and Cary argue heatedly after the proposal to merge with Lockhart/Gardner & Canning resurfaces. Canning, after being thwarted in his attempts to buy Howard Lyman's vote, threatens to dissolve Lockhart/Gardner & Canning if Diane does not give up her managing partnership, which prompts her to try to join Florrick/Agos. Alicia bids her son Zach farewell as he embarks on a summer internship after graduating from high school. Eli, in a last-minute decision, proposes that Alicia run for State's Attorney.
season 6 -
Cary is arrested, charged with helping trafficking $1.3 million worth of heroin. Florrick/Agos struggle to come up with the bail money. Kalinda investigates on her own and re-acquaints herself with an old contact connected with the case. Diane's offer to join Florrick/Agos stands on the condition she gets an equal vote with Alicia and Cary. David Lee and Louis Canning get suspicious of Diane when she declares her intention to retire. Cary is held in jail, with bail set at $1.3 million and Florrick/Agos struggles to come up with the funds, when they are provided by a drug dealer client of Alicia's. Against Alicia's wishes, Eli conducts polling on any potential campaign for the State's Attorney office for Alicia and discovers that Alicia has a very good chance of winning against the incumbent. He schemes to get Peter's approval. Alicia takes over one of Cary's cases, which involves Neil Gross's wife, who having been made General Counsel of Chum Hum becomes concerned over Cary's arrest. Alicia must also find a new source for Cary's bail money, which is withdrawn after she is unable to prevent Bishop getting subpoenaed over Finn's source of funds dispute. Kalinda's investigation into the wire recording that implicates Cary takes a bad turn as one witness is killed by Bishop, who mistook him for the confidential informant. Diane, on the verge of retiring from Lockhart/Gardner & Canning, attempts to get a partner, Dean, to come with her to Florrick/Agos. Eli, meanwhile, now having Peter's approval to pursue Alicia's State's Attorney campaign, again tries to convince Alicia to run. Cary's bail is in jeopardy when the State applies to revoke bail after a key witness, a confidential informant, disappears. A pre-trial service officer must determine whether he continues to remain free. Florrick/Agos handle a case whereby the defendant and the plaintiff, both neighbors, try to resolve a patent infringement case outside traditional court – instead seeking a resolution inside "Christian Arbitration", whereby Biblical teachings are used to guide a conclusion. Alicia, constantly annoyed by people who think she is running for State's Attorney, tries to squelch all the speculation when a chance encounter with Gloria Steinem and veiled threats from the State's Attorney give her pause to reconsider. Eli meets with Alicia to discuss 'oppositional research' that he has conducted and arranges for her to meet her new campaign manager, Jonny Elfman, who advises her to drop Lemond Bishop as a client, which is something he refuses until he discovers from Kalinda that Alicia could be running for State's Attorney. The research uncovers that Neesa, her son Zach's then-girlfriend, had an abortion last year; her brother Owen is sleeping with a married gay porn actor, her mother Veronica spanked another parent's child in a department store and that Castro plans to use a photo of Finn Polmar exiting Alicia's apartment to suggest that they are lovers. Alicia tries to address them before any of these issues can affect her campaign. Eli also finally discovers Peter slept with Kalinda while he was State's Attorney. Alicia is pitted against eccentric lawyer Elsbeth Tascioni who now represents a corporation against its former CEO, who alleges unfair dismissal due to gender discrimination. During the trial, all the files on Florrick/Agos computer systems are maliciously encrypted by ransomware, which demands $50,000 for the decryption key. After making the payment, Diane accidentally provides her old LG e-mail address for the decryption key, which forces her to return to David Lee to ask for it back; while there Diane also discovers that LG's building lease is still signed to her. Kalinda reconnects with FBI Agent Delaney, and they both help defeat the ransomware by tracking down the author. Alicia and Peter clash when Peter insists that Alicia disinvite Finn Polmar from introducing her at her first press conference for her campaign. Alicia is urged by her campaign manager Johnny to conduct an interview with Pastor Jeremiah to try to convince him that she is no longer an atheist or at least, someone who is "struggling". Alicia draws upon her daughter's faith in Christianity for help. Eli's daughter Marissa also becomes Alicia's "body woman" or personal assistant. Diane attempts to evict Lockhart/Gardner & Canning from their existing offices. Alicia and Elsbeth, putting aside their previous lawsuit, band together to fight AUSA Josh Perotti's charge of intellectual property theft against Alicia's client, which evolves into economic espionage. Cary is spot checked by his pre-trial service officer and is re-arrested after he inadvertently leaves the state of Illinois, violating his bail conditions. While preparing for Cary's prosecution, Finn Polmar digs into Cary's history while working at the State's Attorney office under Peter. Finn uncovers while deputy State's Attorney, Cary personally checked-out two kilograms of cocaine, before it went missing. Kalinda urges Cary to subpoena Governor Florrick, as Cary was only acting under his orders when he was State's Attorney. While investigating, Kalinda finds Trey Wagner, the missing witness who was originally to testify against Cary. Finn accuses Castro of only wanting to discredit Alicia Florrick, and resigns as a prosecutor. Peter asks Eli to appoint him a new personal attorney, someone who turns out to be a family friend of the Florricks. Alicia is interviewed by a legal commentator, Frank Prady, who also wants to run for State's Attorney. Alicia's campaign for State's Attorney speeds up after Frank Prady's announcement. Eli and Elfman conduct a political focus group regarding her likeability. Meanwhile, Alicia takes on a rape case of one of Owen's students that moves a university hearing to civil court, where she faces Louis Canning. Through discovery, Cary and Diane finally hear the wiretap audio that implicates him in the drug trafficking charge; Cary and Diane practice cross-examination in an attempt to rebut it. Alicia annoys Eli after she volunteers at a soup kitchen and is photographed awkwardly. Incumbent State's Attorney Castro withdraws from the election and Finn begins his own private practice, leasing office space underneath Florrick/Agos & Lockhart. The State's Attorney race gets negative with Alicia facing a crisis of conscience regarding her campaign media strategy when Frank Prady proposes that neither goes dirty on each other. Frank also provides Alicia with campaign dirt that Castro gathered before leaving the race. Cary is approached by the FBI to collaborate with them in their own separate investigation of Lemond Bishop. Agent Delany presents Cary a wiretap of Bishop apparently discussing Cary's murder. Diane asks Kalinda to investigate to determine its authenticity and hires a bodyguard for Cary, something Bishop notices. Cary attempts to personally convince Bishop that he is no threat. Alicia confronts Peter over his apparent affair with his personal attorney, Ramona. The date has come for Cary's day in court. The prosecution offers him a deal that makes him consider serving jail time. Alicia's campaign runs into trouble after she makes a joke on paper threatening to kill a teacher at her daughter's school. Eli and Johnny scramble to spin it into something positive, but pressure Alicia into offering patronage to subside the potential controversy, something she is unwilling to do. With Finn's help, Kalinda tries to assist Cary, but it ends up backfiring. Preparing for his imminent incarceration after pleading guilty to a lesser conspiracy charge, Cary hires a prison consultant in an attempt to ameliorate the first few weeks of his imprisonment. Trying to assist Cary, Kalinda finds a probable lead which indicates the State's Attorney may have buried exculpatory evidence in an apparent violation of Brady disclosure case law. Alicia prepares for her upcoming debate, and goes against an English University Professor, Finn Polmar and Governor Florrick in mock debate preparations. Alicia's campaign manager Johnny and Eli clash during the mock debate when Peter mock debates Alicia. Alicia takes on Frank Prady in their first televised debate for the State's Attorney race, which gets interrupted by the jury verdict of two police officers charged with unlawfully killing a black man. During the interruption Alicia and Frank hold an impromptu debate. Governor Florrick visits the unfolding protest alongside Pastor Isaiah attempting to forestall any potential violence. Eli tries to distract the press away from a developing scandal regarding Ramona and Peter. Diane and Cary intervene to manage Neil Gross's divorce settlement talks with David Lee, but end up losing. Alicia confronts Diane and Cary after they make a major decision without her. Alicia's firm handles a defamation suit for Colin Sweeney who accuses a TV production company of defaming him with the depiction of a character very much like him murdering his wife. The defence argues it isn't defamation because it is true. Kalinda is asked by Lemond Bishop to pick up his son from school, and Kalinda witnesses first hand how he struggles with single parenthood. Alicia successfully lobbies for the campaign donations of a wealthy but crass and uncouth figure, much to Prady's annoyance and her own regret. Recovering from laryngitis, Alicia tries to prepare herself mentally for an interview with the editorial board of a conservative but Democratic-supporting newspaper in an attempt to gain their endorsement in the State's Attorney campaign. Imagining the different topics and questions that may be broached, Alicia grapples with the knowledge that Lemond Bishop contributed to and set up her PAC, a fact that is potentially ruinous for her campaign. She must also simultaneously help her firm deal with a wrongful eviction lawsuit from Louis Canning's firm, who the day before depositions, is hospitalized. Alicia is advised by her campaign advisers to go negative against Peter during his time as State's Attorney as a way of buffering herself against attacks on him by Prady. Eli finds out and warns Elfman to advise her not to criticise Peter. Finn teams up with Diane to represent a client in a civil suit who was injured by the misfiring of a 3D-printed plastic gun. Diane's husband Kurt McVeigh acts as an expert witness, but finds conflicting motivations with his wife. Louis Canning, who is still hospitalized, grants Alicia power of attorney to liquidate most of his assets and donate the money to the family of a deceased girl who donated her kidney to him. Diane goes on a hunting trip alongside her husband, which provides a unique opportunity for her to solicit a wealthy client. On the election day of the State's Attorney race, Peter evokes Alicia's displeasure after he delivers a speech which negatively affects voter turnout. Kalinda, continuing her role as driver to Lemond's Bishop son, Dylan, discovers she is being investigated by the State's Attorney office. Having won the State's Attorney race, Alicia must negotiate her exit package with her partners. In addition, people who contributed to Alicia's campaign attempt to call-in a favor as a quid pro quo for their campaign contributions. Eli educates Alicia on the proper way to handle them. Lemond Bishop pressures Alicia into quashing an ongoing SA investigation into him. Diane, Cary and Julius litigate a suit against the founder of a website, during which, the firm's emails are hacked, exposing many unseemly private opinions the firm's partners have of their clients and one another. Alicia agrees to engage in a TV interview, when hacked emails revealing Alicia's affair with Will are sent to the press. Eli contrives ways to pre-empt the public fallout, by "pre-spinning" the emails as merely a flirtatious dalliance. Peter also advises Alicia on the potential scandal and gives an interview to assist Alicia. An internal affairs investigation catches onto Kalinda's forgery of metadata that was inadvertently submitted as evidence that prompted Cary's earlier release from jail. Diane engages in a mock trial for a wealthy new conservative client indecisive as to whether he should fund an appeal for a wedding planner who was found guilty of discrimination against a gay couple. Diane is shocked to discover that she submitted falsified evidence in Cary's trial. Along with Kalinda, she immediately admits her mistake to the Police Review Board, but is faced with charges of obstruction of justice if she does not agree to testify against Lemond Bishop. Alicia is shocked to learn that voting machines were implanted with hacking microchips that apparently attempted to divert votes from Frank Prady to Alicia. The Election Review Board is prompted to investigate and she is offered representation from a respected civil rights lawyer by the Democratic Party. After being betrayed by her own lawyer before the Electoral Review Board, Alicia formally withdraws her name from the State's Attorney race and approaches Diane, Cary and David Lee to return as a partner to the firm, which has already been renamed Lockhart, Agos and Lee. Due to a misunderstanding, Alicia ends up believing they are being insincere and follows Peter and Finn's advice to consider starting her own firm. Kalinda attempts to deflect the State's Attorney away from Diane and herself by agreeing to turn over evidence on Bishop. Diane agrees to argue a test case for Reese Dipple against mandatory minimum sentencing. Alicia interviews a ghostwriter to possibly author her memoirs. In addition, Alicia tries coping with being unemployed and ends up inadvertently reconnecting with an old client who is now being charged with murder after Alicia successfully defended him six years ago from an attempted murder charge. Alicia agrees to defend him again, with Cary's and Finn's help. The case itself prompts Alicia to consider starting her own firm again. Peter reveals to Alicia his intent to run for vice president. Peter insists he will not run unless his entire family approves, something Alicia doubts. Alicia receives a voicemail from a client that indicates he was in the midst of being arrested; unable to find an official record of him being booked, she suspects he is being held at an unofficial black site. Alicia and Finn, who agree to be partners, try to get him out by filing a writ of habeas corpus. Charles Lester, Lemond Bishop's personal attorney, starts snooping around trying to find Kalinda after she disappears. Alicia expresses her disapproval to Eli after he tries to direct the depiction of Alicia in her memoirs as being more domesticated, much to her displeasure. Finn tells Alicia that he's reconciling with his estranged wife and then decides that a partnership with her will not work as there is too much sexual tension between them. David Lee discovers Louis Canning's wife, Simone, now works at the firm as a paralegal, and both he and Cary want to fire her, something Diane as senior partner does. This angers Canning, who vows to destroy the firm and in the last scene asks Alicia if she wants a legal partner.
season 7 -
Alicia attempts to revive her law career by working as a bond court attorney, representing indigent defendants and practicing privately. In her first day at bond court, she befriends a fellow attorney, Lucca Quinn, who passes cases off to her as a favor. Meanwhile, Louis Canning tries to attract Alicia to work for him, but she rejects the offer, which makes him set Alicia's next case up against Diane and David Lee, unbeknownst to her. After Alicia agrees to support it, Peter rushes to launch his VP campaign, deciding to fire Eli and hire a national campaign manager, Ruth Eastman. Eli decides to seek revenge against Peter and Ruth by becoming Alicia's campaign manager and revive her image. At Lockhart, Agos & Lee, Cary laments the outmoded work culture and decides to open up to the younger associates. Alicia argues a case regarding the vandalism of a museum photo, which escalates into a potentially lucrative civil dispute between a son and his mother's attempts at exhibiting naked photos. Lucca sits second chair on the case, while Alicia tries out a new investigator, who botches her assignments as the opposition gains valuable information. As Lockhart, Agos & Lee also look for a new investigator to replace Kalinda, Cary attempts to address associate concerns regarding senior partner Howard Lyman, but ends up antagonizing him and causing difficulty within the firm. Alicia finally settles on Jason Crouse as her investigator, who spurns a better offer from Diane to work with Alicia instead. Meanwhile, Eli's appointment as Alicia's chief of staff is initially vetoed by Peter, but he concedes and allows him to work with her, much to Ruth's discontent. In a strategic move, Alicia tries to smooth things over with Democratic Party committee leader Frank Landau, who torpedoed her State's Attorney campaign. Alicia takes on a new case involving a defendant who synthesized a designer drug, an apparent analogue to gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid. The case entangles Alicia in an undercover FBI-led task force operation involving judicial bribery. Howard Lyman, fearing getting pushed out of Lockhart, Agos and Lee, approaches Alicia for legal advice for a possible ageism suit. While at her house, Howard meets Jackie and begins a relationship with her. Diane agrees with the partners to offload excess case work to Alicia in an attempt to prevent Alicia from becoming Canning's pawn. On the VP campaign, Ruth pushes Eli to convince Alicia and her mother, Veronica Loy, to appear on a cooking reality TV show. Not surprisingly, the encounter goes awry, much to Ruth's annoyance. Reese Dipple appoints his general counsel Ethan Carver to liaise with Lockhart, Agos and Lee and compels Diane to take over a case advocating against euthanasia. Ethan suggests to Cary that he speak to Alicia to lobby Peter to veto an imminent physician-assisted suicide bill. Eli happens to overhear the conversation between Alicia and Cary, and schemes behind the Florrick family's back in an attempt to annoy Ruth. Alicia comes across a case where an African-American woman is wrongly accused of stealing from a clothing store. Eli gets desperate witnessing Peter's vice presidential campaign unfold without him at the helm. His daughter, Marissa, wanting him to move on, urges Alicia to fire him. Alicia and Lucca, agreeing to partner, take on the case of a student debtor trying to stave off harassment from a debt collection agency. Realizing the potential for a lucrative contingency fee, they convince their client to instead sue the private college where she incurred the debt, while Jason deals with the agency. Cary and Howard Lyman clash again, to the point Lyman demands a mediation, which Diane agrees to chair to stave off an ageism lawsuit. Alicia and Lucca take on the case of a former company vice president fired for failing a polygraph lie detector test. Concerned about her investigator's previous career as an attorney and subsequent disbarment, Alicia decides to investigate Jason's history. Ruth believes Peter's upward trend in the polls might give him an actual chance to run for President, something which prompts her to reach out to Eli. Diane, Cary, and David decide to hire three new associates, and face a contentious decision when faced with the choice of hiring a young African-American lawyer. Eli, still scheming behind Ruth's back, discovers that Peter played a role in the hacking of election voting machines last year that brought down Alicia's State's Attorney campaign. Louis Canning refers to Alicia the case of a defendant accused of recklessly crashing a self-driving car into another vehicle. Alicia is pitted against both Canning and Diane as well as Cary Agos (from her old firm). Eli, worried about how Peter and Alicia's marriage is perceived to the media, tries to arrange for them to temporarily live together. Alicia makes good on her agreement to vote with Frank Landau after being appointed to the election board. Eli tries to arrange for Peter to meet with a wealthy CEO to donate to Peter's campaign with a fake birthday party for Grace. Meanwhile, Jackie becomes engaged to Howard Lyman, much to Peter's disapproval. Ethan Carver asks Diane to argue a case that she strongly disagrees with politically. Involving pro-life and pro-choice advocates, the case's high profile displeases several clients of Lockhart, Agos and Lee. Alicia and Lucca debate ways to bring more business to their firm, and decide to poach clients from Louis Canning. Grace tries to help out in her own way and is able to land the firm new clients. Eli refers billionaire Courtney Paige to Alicia for legal advice after she decides to set a salary floor of $75,000 per year for all of her employees. Jason, while still investigating for Alicia and Lucca, begins working part-time as an investigator for Lockhart, Agos and Lee. Alicia and Lucca agree to co-counsel alongside Louis Canning defending Chum-hum in a racially motivated tortious interference case against an African-American restaurant owner that went out of business, blaming the racial bias inherent in the Chum-hum's maps application. Both sides trudge through massive quantities of emails, photos and other documents during the discovery process attempting to find a breakthrough. Ruth become suspicious of the nature of Alicia and Jason's relationship, which invokes Eli's concern. Ruth and Eli both discover Jason personally investigated Alicia. Eli convenes a focus group to assess how far Alicia's rehabilitation is going in an attempt to convince her to run for a state senate seat. Lockhart, Agos and Lee are abandoned by their newly hired associates, right in the middle of a highly technical case representing Ethan Carver just before a filing deadline. Diane decides to hire the one associate they didn't the first time while Cary tries to stop the associates from working for Louis Canning. Alicia and Lucca represent a respected surgeon accused of conspiring to kidnap, sedate, and rape the mother of one of his patients. Alicia loses her investigator after Ruth asks Eli's girlfriend, Courtney Paige, to hire him for two months out of town in an attempt to remove him from her life. The jury finds Alicia's client guilty, but the judge vacates the verdict as a matter of law, which Alicia suspects he did because Eli warned him about an impending bribery sting. Stung from breaking up with Courtney Paige, Eli confesses to Alicia that it was he who deleted a voicemail message she received from Will Gardner six years ago. Alicia, Peter and the rest of her family ride through Iowa attempting to visit every single county for the caucus vote. Extremely angered by Eli's confession, Alicia ruminates on the possibilities of what might have been had she chosen to be with Will Gardner instead of Peter; she also ignores Eli and agrees with Ruth to spite him. Lucca represents Jackie Florrick in pre-nuptial negotiations with her fiancé Howard Lyman. Diane and Cary face a state discriminatory hiring investigation. David Lee squirreled away $2.2 million in Howard Lyman's name in an attempt to prevent Alicia from getting a better exit package when she was running for State's Attorney. Alicia's neighbors become annoyed at her running her law firm from her apartment, and attempt to serve her an eviction notice which Grace tries to resolve by herself. With Peter's presidential campaign over, Eli returns to become Peter's Chief of Staff and before leaving, Ruth warns Eli regarding Peter's continuing viability as governor. Alicia and Cary team up to defend an old client against his former record label's assertion regarding ownership of a song he wrote. Cary offers Lucca and Alicia a chance to return to the firm. Marissa, after finding out about Eli's confession, urges Alicia to forgive Eli. Alicia decides to sue a sitting judge after a former bond client of hers reveals he has been in prison for eight months on a minor misdemeanor charge. Alicia and Lucca lose the case only to be subject to a malpractice suit by the same client. Cary Agos agrees to represent her and Lucca. Alicia still aches from the missed voice mail from Will, and tries to elicit more detail from Eli about it before forgiving him entirely. Freelance investigator Jason Crouse returns from California, and takes up work with both Diane and Alicia; helping Diane in arbitration attempting to prevent the defunding of a school newspaper, and in Alicia's malpractice suit. Cary offers Alicia another chance to rejoin Lockhart, Agos & Lee, but only as a junior partner. Alicia returns to work at Lockhart, Agos & Lee, alongside Lucca but finds it difficult to adjust to worklife back at the firm when she and Lucca take on the case of the firm's own IT director who discovers a prototype device and is approached by media outlets to sell it. Eli's daughter, Marissa, is approached by an FBI agent who tries to elicit information about people in Alicia's life, including Ruth, who urges her to leave Peter. Eli deduces the FBI are after Peter. Alicia is appointed to join a panel of lawyers and attorneys for the Pentagon to reach a legal justification for the targeted killing of an American civilian who recruits for ISIS. After definitely gaining confirmation that the FBI is investigating Peter, Eli tries to hire Elsbeth Tascioni, but she recuses herself after realizing she could be conflicted out due to a client she represents. Eli hires Elsbeth's ex-husband, Mike Tascioni, in an attempt to find out who that client might be. Jason Crouse is hired by David and Cary in an attempt to discern if Dianne is trying to turn the firm into a female-only run firm. Alicia and Jason become lovers. Alicia and Jason spend the weekend together, only to be interrupted by her mother and brother. Veronica seeks Alicia's help after she was apparently scammed out of money. A grand jury is empaneled against Peter, headed by AUSA Connor Fox. Eli, with Alicia's help, is able to determine that the premise of the investigation is based on a prosecution Cary was involved with in 2012. David Lee and Cary ask Alicia if Diane has approached her about forming an all-female firm. Soon after, Diane approaches Alicia about pushing Cary out as named partner. Diane and Cary represent a client who is being accused of defamation after paying for a billboard ad that asserts a gun store ultimately is responsible for his daughter's death, due to the former's irresponsible business practices. Alicia is next to be deposed by the grand jury and with Eli's help is able to develop a strategy in an attempt to encourage the doubts of an incredulous grand juror. Alicia's daughter, Grace is accused of plagiarizing her college admissions essay. Alicia witnesses Jason meet and kiss another woman at a bar, and comes to a realization about the nature of their relationship. Alicia and Diane argue a privacy case for billionaire Reese Dipple, representing a therapist who sues a security company over a drone due to concerns about privacy for himself and his patients and he shoots down the drone in the course of the trial. The opposition is represented by former Lockhart/Gardner associate Caitlyn D'Arcy. AUSA Connor Fox attempts to use Marissa to force Eli into testifying against Peter, prompting Eli to hire Diane as his attorney. Peter encounters Jason in Alicia's house for the first time, which prompts Alicia to ask Peter for a divorce. Peter, on the verge of being indicted, asks Alicia to hold off the divorce until after his trial. Against Cary's wishes, Diane and David vote to promote Alicia to the rank of named partner again, prompting Cary to resign and allow Diane to buy him out of the firm. Cary is subpoenaed to testify in Peter's upcoming trial. Jeff Dellinger, a former NSA employee, changes his mind about entering the US from Canada at the last minute at the US preclearance area at the Toronto airport. This starts a tug of war between the US and Canada over jurisdiction with Alicia and Lucca at his side. He eventually seeks asylum, which Canada grants (with suspicious haste) much to the dismay of the US representative at the hearing. Meanwhile AUSA Fox arrests Peter at Alicia's apartment. Peter is offered a plea deal, which he rejects. Kurt wants to sell his business to be closer to Diane and accepts an offer from his former star pupil, Holly Westfall, and asks Diane to check the sale contract. Diane determines that Kurt's firm was undervalued and confronts Holly. Alicia hosts a party for Jackie's and Howard's Ketubah signing. Her brother Owen, her mother Veronica, Zack and Grace, Eli, his daughter Marissa, Peter, Diane and her husband Kurt all attend. Zack arrives with his girlfriend and announces his intent to marry her and move to France, something which both Peter and Alicia disapprove of. Peter loses his trial lawyer, Mike Tascioni, because Mike's dog Tom, an emotional support animal, is sick. Eli hires Jason to find incriminating evidence against Peter. Diane proposes to Alicia she becomes one of two named partners alongside herself, renaming the firm to Lockhart, Florrick & Associates. Cary hires Louis Canning to represent him during Peter's trial. Jackie discovers that Alicia is divorcing Peter. Peter's trial begins with Diane defending him in court. Alicia and Eli try their hardest to keep Peter out of jail. The firm's conference room wall is accidentally destroyed when tradesmen mistake Lockhart, Florrick & Associates for another law firm, which forces the firm to evacuate to a lower floor. Diane tries to lure more female lawyers in an attempt to expand the firm, but faces opposition from David Lee who threatens a sex discrimination suit. Alicia hires Jason to investigate for Peter's trial, which puts him in an awkward position. Jason confides to Lucca his fear that if Peter is convicted, Alicia will not divorce him but will stand by him because it's in her character to be self-sacrificing. Diane asks her husband, Kurt to testify for her in Peter's trial which pits him against one of his own former star pupil, Holly Westfall, who embarrasses him by claiming that Kurt oversells his findings to the benefit of his clients. Alicia, through Louis Canning tries to keep Cary on the same side. Geneva Pine is a surprise witness against Peter. Canning gives Alicia evidence that Pine is lying in revenge for his ending their affair but Peter denies the affair and orders his lawyers not to use Canning's evidence. AUSA Connor Fox offers a plea bargain of two years in jail, which Peter decides to accept however before he can communicate his decision to Fox, Alicia and Peter are notified that the jury has returned from deliberations. The jury rises from deliberations, but not with a verdict: they want to hear the actual audio of a transcript that was provided in Peter's trial. Peter's defense scrambles to find a legal precedent to re-open trial proceedings to allow the jury to hear testimony related to the audio. Alicia, reminiscing on her time with her former lover, Will Gardner, is able to locate one. Cary, who is now a lecturer, is approached by Alicia and Jason to help out with Peter's trial, and is able to find a lead on the missing bullets from the original case Peter oversaw as State's Attorney. However the strategy backfires when ballistics tests reveal the bullets were fired from Locke's gun, suggesting his guilt and helping to prove the prosecution's case. While they are able to prevent the jury from seeing the ballistics tests, Diane and Alicia clash when Kurt McVeigh agrees to testify for the prosecution and they disagree as to whether they should undercut him in cross examination. Lucca cross examines Kurt anyway and imputes he had an affair with Holly Westfall, angering Diane. Eli, realizing the imminent end to Peter's political career, tries to maneuver his political backers into one day supporting Alicia. Aware of his own demise as Governor, and before the jury can return a proper verdict, Peter agrees to a one-year probation plea deal with AUSA Fox. Lucca encourages Alicia to talk to Jason. She finally agrees but Jason is nowhere to be found. She phones Jason to tell him the trial is over and talk to him about their future but gets his voicemail. Alicia agrees to stand by Peter's side as he resigns from office but sees Jason's profile in the wings and leaves Peter to chase after Jason, only to find that it was not him. Diane walks up to Alicia, slaps her, and walks away.
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