Episodes 01

“He Rides Again”

Lawyer Jerry Vincent is shot dead in a parking garage by a man who steals his briefcase. The next day, his acquaintance, Mickey Haller, is given all his cases by Judge Mary Holder, including the case of Trevor Elliot, a video game designer accused of murdering his wife and her lover. Mickey and his ex-wife Lorna Crane, who works as his case manager, arrive at Vincent’s office to find the police searching for evidence, and force them to leave. Mickey visits Trevor and attempts to convince him to hire him as his lawyer, promising that he will be able to go to trial the next week as Trevor wants to. In the meantime, he also takes the case of Izzy Letts, a former drug addict accused of stealing a necklace. As Mickey is a former drug addict himself, he sympathizes and gets the charges dropped, allowing Izzy to work for him as his driver to pay off her legal fees. He also hires Lorna’s boyfriend, Cisco, to work as his investigator for the cases, which Lorna allows, though they are keeping a secret from him. His first ex-wife, Maggie McPherson, is a prosecutor, who is wary of him due to his former drug addiction. While having dinner with his daughter Hayley, Mickey is visited by Raymond Griggs, the detective in charge of Vincent’s murder case, who asks again to look at his clients’ files, though Mickey refuses. While investigating the home in which Trevor’s wife and her lover were killed, Cisco reveals to Mickey that he and Lorna are getting married, which Mickey approves of. When meeting with Trevor again, Trevor tells him that he has to win the case in the court of public opinion as well as legally. When Mickey tells him he cannot do that, Trevor tells him how he met his wife and how much he loved her. Mickey tells him they can win with that next week, and Trevor hires him.

Episodes 02

“The Magic Bullet”

Driving from the meeting with Trevor, Mickey and Izzy are followed by a black SUV, but lose it. At the office, Mickey appears to have no defense for Trevor, causing him to question Vincent. At home, he again sees the black SUV, though it drives away when he approaches. He handles another case, Terrell Coleman, who is also a single father in unfair circumstances. Sympathizing once again he gets Coleman released, bringing Hayley to see him work for the first time and slowly repairing his relationship with Maggie. Cisco investigates Vincent’s investigator, Bruce Carlin, who tells him Vincent took him off Trevor’s case, but was scared, though Cisco doubts this. Mickey convinces Judge Holder to allow him to give the names of clients who threatened Vincent to Griggs, which he does in exchange for Griggs revealing that Vincent frequented a casino. When Lorna tells him about the engagement, he again shows no jealousy, but mentions Cisco was once involved with a biker gang. Lorna speaks to one of Rilz’ coworkers and learns he had affairs with multiple married women. She later discovers that Vincent drafted a motion to ask for a continuance but never filed it, causing Mickey to assume he didn’t have anything. In a conference with the judge, James Stanton, prosecutor Jeff Golantz, and Trevor, Mickey is offered a continuance, but Trevor refuses, and tells Mickey in private that he has a deal to license his technology pending which will end if the trial continues on. Mickey refuses the continuance. When he questions how good a lawyer Vincent was, Lorna calls him after having spoken to Vincent’s receptionist, who he had an affair with. She tells Mickey and Lorna that Vincent told her he had a “magic bullet”, which Mickey identifies as something to blow the state’s case open. As he leaves to find it, his car is revealed to be bugged, as a man in the black SUV listens to him speak to Izzy.

Episodes 03

“Momentum”

During a case, Mickey hears that he is supposed to represent Eli Wyms, who is not among Vincent’s files. Meanwhile, Maggie questions a witness about a businessman named Angelo Soto before a grand jury, assisted by Lee Lankford, a detective Mickey does not trust. Griggs shows Mickey a surveillance photo of a man in the parking garage the night Vincent was killed. At the office, Cisco shows Mickey evidence that Vincent was not gambling at the casino, and that Carlin has gone missing, seemingly afraid of whoever killed Vincent, and gives him a gun to protect himself. At Wyms’ hearing, Mickey finds that Wyms is unresponsive due to being on drugs, learns that Vincent took his case pro bono and has him taken off the drugs to allow him to negotiate a deal. Lorna investigates Carol Dubois, who gave Rilz money, and she reveals another woman who Rilz had an affair with, Neema Shavar. At Vincent’s memorial, Mickey encounters Lankford, who taunts him over Jésus Menendez, a failed case. This pushes Mickey to drink, but he is saved by Izzy. The next day, Mickey has Trevor walk him through finding the bodies, and finds that Trevor knew about the affair, and had affairs of his own, though Trevor still maintains his innocence in the murder. When arresting Soto, Lankford reveals to Maggie that he knows Mickey from supervising the case of Jésus Menendez, a man Mickey represented who supposedly killed several prostitutes. Returning to the office, Mickey is told that Neema Shavar’s ex-husband Anton is the head of a security company that caters to off-book clientele. When he investigates Trevor’s case further, he finds that Wyms was arrested the same day as Trevor, only hours before. Realizing Wyms is the magic bullet, he goes to leave, but encounters the man from the security photo in the parking garage. He is chased back to the office, where he scares him off with Cisco’s gun, before calling Griggs.

Episodes 04

“Chaos Theory”

Griggs arrives and Mickey admits he believes the killer stole Vincent’s defense of Trevor. After this, Mickey realizes that the surveillance photo and the suspect were faked to scare him into talking. He and Griggs come up with a plan to draw out the killer, where Mickey tells the media that all Vincent’s files were backed up to an external hard drive he now has. Despite Maggie’s efforts, Soto makes bail and her witness becomes unwilling to cooperate. Mickey meets Wyms, who refuses to tell his story until Mickey gets him a deal. Bruce Carlin reads the story in the media and calls Mickey. He does not know about Wyms, but agrees to meet that night. Mickey reveals to Izzy that he lost the case of Jésus Menendez after a witness disappeared. When Carlin does not show up for the meeting, he calls Mickey and says he was followed. Mickey and Cisco realize he wasn’t followed, and find the bug in Mickey’s car, which they leave to avoid tipping off whoever is watching them. At Hayley’s soccer game, Mickey negotiates a deal for Wyms, but Wyms does not know anything about Trevor, nor Trevor about him. Meanwhile, Cisco and Lorna discover the fake ID and credit card Carlin is using and track him, but he is pulled over by police, and accidentally struck and killed by a passing car. When Maggie’s witness is murdered, Hayley calls Mickey. He comes over and he and Maggie share an intimate moment, after which he attends an NA meeting with Izzy.

Episodes 05

“Twelve Lemmings in a Box”

Maggie’s superior, Janelle Simmons, who is running for DA against incumbent Robert Cardone, tells her to either prove Soto killed the witness or drop the charges against him. From investigating Anton Shavar, Cisco finds Rilz filed a restraining order against him two months before his death, but didn’t come to the hearing. Despite Lorna telling him her suspicions of Carol Dubois, Cisco approaches Neema and is threatened by Anton, which he records. Mickey questions a prostitute on the whereabouts of Gloria Dayton, the prostitute who disappeared after promising to testify for Jésus Menendez, and finds she is long gone. During voir dire, Trevor demands to be part of the jury selection process, and while Mickey attempts to get the best jury possible, Trevor’s actions force him to cut a juror he wanted. Izzy finds out her ex-girlfriend is using again, upsetting her, as she was the one who got her hooked on drugs. Mickey is accosted by the Road Saints, the motorcycle club Cisco was once part of, who mention Cisco. Lorna encounters a former classmate from law school, which she is revealed to have dropped out of. Maggie and Lankford attempt to use Tanya Cruz, Soto’s pregnant girlfriend, to get to Soto, and Maggie refers her to Mickey if she needs her own defense lawyer. Maggie later tells Mickey she needs a favor, and that their intimate moment was a mistake. At his house, Mickey is approached by Griggs, who tells him Vincent took out a large amount of money on the same day Carlin made a delivery to someone, which may have been a bribe for Trevor’s case.

Episodes 06

“Bent”

After remembering one of his father’s cases, Mickey meets David “Legal” Siegel, a lawyer and friend of his father, who he tells about the bribe. Siegel warns him not to do anything, before he gets a call from Maggie about Hayley skipping school. When he talks to her, she asks him if he has personal boundaries, regardless of the client’s right to a defense. When he asks Maggie about the favor, she asks him to represent Tanya, which he agrees to if Maggie brings Hayley to Trevor’s trial. Going over his defense, he finds Lara was speaking to a friend from a former job, Sonia Patel, and asks Cisco and Lorna to look into Judge Stanton to see if he received the bribe. Despite Cisco becoming concerned that Mickey is representing one of the Road Saints, they investigate, confirming Judge Stanton’s innocence. Meeting Sonia, Mickey learns Lara was a brilliant coder, and their friendship fell out due to Trevor. He also finds that Lara asked Sonia to meet two days before she was killed, but didn’t show up. Afterward, he meets a bitter Jésus Menendez in prison, and begs for a second chance. After admitting to Izzy that his failure to help Menendez caused his addiction, he meets Tanya, and promises to help her. At a fundraiser for Simmons, Mickey gets an audit from the crime lab from another defense lawyer. After refusing a ride home with Mickey, Maggie is approached by Cardone, who tries to persuade her to support him for DA instead. When Maggie is unable to offer the deal Tanya wants, Mickey asks her to pressure Simmons. When he takes Hayley out for breakfast after, teaching her about his principles, he realizes from a comment she makes about delaying a trial that the bribe was to plant a juror, and confronts Trevor while he flies a drone. When Trevor admits Juror Number Seven is a plant, Mickey attempts to withdraw, but Trevor tells him he cannot, as his company was originally funded by Russian mobsters, and that Lara was going to divorce him, which would have taken half the money for the company. Mickey assumes the Russians bugged his car, and Trevor begs him to help him. As Mickey drives away, believing Trevor didn’t kill Lara and Rilz, he remembers his father telling him it’s harder to live with losing a case when you know your client is innocent.

Episodes 07

“Lemming Number Seven”

Mickey asks Cisco to investigate Juror Number Seven and the Russian who Trevor claims loaned him money. At the trial, Lorna notices Carol Dubois siding with the prosecution. After opening statements, Carol confronts Lorna, confirming her belief in Trevor’s guilt, while Maggie shows Mickey that the DA has accepted Tanya’s deal, and later meets Tanya at the ob/gyn, where Tanya reveals that she brings Soto to a specific flower shop right before people, including Maggie’s witness, disappear or are killed. During the trial, Mickey and Golantz both do well questioning witnesses, but Mickey manages to plant the idea of Rilz being the primary target, and Anton Shavar having threatened him, right before the jury leaves for the day, with Cisco following Juror Number Seven. At soccer practice, Lorna breaks up a fight between Hayley and another girl, and finds out that Hayley is bullied by girls at her school who think Mickey is a monster for defending Trevor. When she explains both the bullies’ side and Mickey’s, Hayley asks why she didn’t become a lawyer. She calls Cisco to tell him she wants to go back to law school. Maggie and Lankford investigate the flower shop, realizing it is affiliated with gang activity, and Lankford’s contacts in the police, Kyle Winters and Linda Perez, later identify a potential hitman who works there. Cisco tells Mickey that Juror Number Seven’s real name is Glenn McSweeney, and he has a record, while the Russian mobster Trevor borrowed money from is very dangerous. Mickey asks a favor from the Road Saints. The next day, in court, Stanton shows Mickey and Golantz that he has received an anonymous letter saying Juror Number Seven is not who he claims to be, and did not show up today, apparently warned. He offers to declare a mistrial, but both lawyers refuse. Stanton adjourns court to confirm the other jurors. On the way home, Mickey drives by two Road Saints guarding his house.

Episodes 08

“The Magic Bullet Redux”

Mickey meets his informant, who gives him the name of a client who can get him in touch with Gloria, and has Cisco arrange for her to return to Los Angeles. In court, Golantz calls Sonia, who claims Trevor cut Lara off from everyone and that she was a brilliant coder who Trevor forced to quit the company to help him start his, but Mickey casts doubt on her testimony. A technician then confirms the gunshot residue on Trevor was not a false positive, and his testimony holds up, angering Trevor. On the way out, Izzy reveals she met her ex-girlfriend again. Cisco becomes more concerned about the Road Saints. When Mickey investigates the casino again, he finds it is near the vehicle maintenance facility for the county sheriff’s department, and realizes what the “magic bullet” is. In court the next day, Mickey proves that the gunshot residue found on Trevor came from Eli Wyms, who was transported in the same vehicle Trevor was placed in, and provides Anton Shavar as another possible killer. That night, Trevor thanks Mickey, but tells him he still needs to win in the court of public opinion, and says he wants to testify for himself. As Mickey attempts to stop him, he receives a phone call from Izzy, and with Terrell Coleman’s help, finds her at a club after her ex-girlfriend asked her to get high. Meanwhile, Simmons tells Maggie to prove Soto guilty by the end of the week or drop the case. Using questionable methods, Lankford gets the records of the supposed hitman’s phone, but it does not bring up definite evidence.

Episodes 09

“The Uncanny Valley”

Lankford attempts to intimidate the assumed killer into confessing, but fails. Running out of time, Maggie asks Mickey to get Tanya to wear a wire and have Soto confess. When Cisco expresses concern about the Russians, Mickey reveals he has people watching Maggie and Hayley, revealing further affiliation with the Road Saints. In court, Trevor takes the stand against Mickey’s wishes and is crushed by Golantz, and Mickey suspects him of lying. Despite this, Mickey is able to save the case in his closing argument by discussing how it was impossible for Trevor to change and hide the gun in a few minutes. Cisco looks into Trevor’s story and finds that the whole Russian part is a lie, and they wonder who has bugged Mickey. The jury finds Trevor not guilty, upsetting Carol. Afterward, Mickey calls Maggie to let her know Tanya has agreed, on the condition that she not have to testify against Soto. Though Tanya, Maggie and Lankford successfully get Soto to confess to murder, they arrest him just before he kills Tanya. Mickey meets Wyms, giving him information that would allow him to sue Vincent’s estate for malpractice as soon as he gets out of prison. When watching a press release about Trevor, Wyms makes a comment about Vincent doing the dirty work and Mickey getting the glory, causing Mickey to realize Trevor really did kill Lara and Rilz and that he was able to dispose of the gun and clothes by using his drone. Trevor killed Lara as she was about to leave his company and she was the one writing the code, not him. Mickey confronts Trevor but says he can’t do anything about it. He asks Trevor who is bugging his car and following him, but Trevor claims he doesn’t know. Later that night, after being informed by Cisco that Gloria will return to Los Angeles the next day, Mickey is lured out to Griffith Park Overlook to supposedly meet Izzy but is instead knocked out by Glenn McSweeney, Juror Number Seven, who says “you should’ve just gone along with it, you and Vincent”.

Episodes 10

“The Brass Verdict”

McSweeney tries to throw Mickey off the cliff but Griggs arrives and the killer falls off himself and dies before he can reveal who hired him. Maggie hears about this and she and Mickey kiss and mend fences. Lorna meets Gloria and tries to convince her to help Menendez by revealing she dropped out of law school after her professor tried to hit on her. Lankford tells Maggie the recorded confession is garbled, but agrees to testify that he heard it himself. When Gloria agrees to help, she reveals she left after Lankford’s associate Perez threatened her. Mickey asks Griggs to help him investigate Winters, the detective in Menendez’ case, and afterward, he confronts Trevor, asking if he sent McSweeney. Trevor denies this, and is shortly afterward shot and killed by Carol. Cisco discovers Mickey took a case for the Road Saints pro bono, and confronts them, offering to pay his debt to them himself. Mickey finds that Maggie is now supporting Cardone instead of Simmons. At a hearing for Jésus Menendez, Gloria reveals that she was threatened by Perez, and that the killer had a distinct tattoo. Afterward, he puts Perez on the stand and catches her in a lie. During a recess, he is contacted by Griggs, who tells him something that makes him ask Maggie to consider giving Soto a plea deal, though she refuses. After the recess, he questions Perez again, who reveals Lankford, not Winters, offered her a promotion in exchange for threatening Gloria, destroying Maggie’s case and getting her angry at Mickey. Due to the case’s failure, Cardone reassigns Maggie to Van Nuys, which causes her to call the FBI to have Soto arrested for trafficking. Mickey realizes that Judge Holder had Vincent killed, tried to kill him, and was the one who bugged his car. She had the connections to tamper with the jurors and accept bribes. She denies it, but Mickey has evidence and she is arrested by Griggs, after which he goes to see Menendez released. Maggie leaves her office. Cisco rides off on his motorcycle. Lorna submits an application for law school. Mickey goes for a surf and is watched from a distance by the man with the tattoo.