"is something wrong?" "No." "I used the Stanhope deal as precedent." "Well, that's a stock deal." "This is an asset sale." "When did that happen?" "Butler's now selling its assets." "That's what makes it an asset sale." "Well, it was originally a stock deal, right?" "That's right, but now it's an asset sale." "Well, I'll revise it." "I'll do it right away." "My father's gonna need a draft of this by the end of the day." "I can't draft an agreement if you don't tell me what's going on." "No one can." "I mean, if I'm not invited to the meetings or sitting in on the conference calls... I billed 2, 100 hours, brought in _400,OOO in business." "That's--that's very good." "So let me revise the agreement now that I know it's an asset sale, and we can pretend there was never a problem, okay?" "I'll do it." "Hey." "What's going on?" "I've had enough. I mean it." "Yeah." "Look, just hang in there until tomorrow, okay?" "Thanks." "Sorry I'm late." "That's okay." "This woman at work, she's just driving me nuts." "I give her the simplest assignments, and no matter what, she screws it up and then she blames me." "Sorry." "No, don't worry about it." "About this baby thing, whether it's a boy or girl... I prefer to wait." "You know, it's just something about it being a surprise." "Plus it feels like cheating." "It's like opening a present on Christmas Eve." "All right." "Okay." "All right." "I mean, if you don't want to find out." "What's wrong?" "I just can't believe that you slept with Suzanne Pell." "I have to see her all the time, you know?" "I have to work with her." "And I'm pregnant with your baby, and you sleep with her and sometimes I just... I don't know." "I still can't believe it." "[knock on door]" " Hey, son." " Dad." "How you doing?" "Good." "Um..." " All set?" " Yeah." "Hey, Nick." "Sandra." "There you go." "Yep." "On my way." " l'll walk you out, okay?" " Yeah." "Be right back." "Well, that was fun." " Yeah." "Thanks." " Glad you could come over." "# There is trouble in my mind #" "# There is dark #" "# There's dark and there is light #" "# There is no order #" "# There is chaos and there is crime #" "# There is no one home tonight #" "# In the empire of my mind #" "Been meaning to talk to you about Sandra." "Okay." "She and I've been spending a little time together the last few weeks." "What does that mean?" "Well, it means we enjoy spending time with one another." "So you're friends?" "We enjoy each other's company." "She's a great gal." "Real good with children." "She has a little girl, ten years old." "She gets along great with Shannon, so..." "The timing of this relationship seems a little convenient, don't you think?" "No." "No." "You don't have to worry about that." "See, I wasn't planning on supporting her for partner." "Really?" "And with this, you being involved with her makes it very dimicult for me to say no, for obvious reasons." "[sighs]" "You have to do what you think is right, son." "Asset purchase agreement." "Sorry it's late." "There were some complications with the first draft." "Okay, I'll look it over, and I'll talk to Butler in the morning." "[elevator dings]" " Good morning." " Hey." "You want the firm's Pirate tickets?" "Excuse me?" "I have tickets to the Pirates' game." "Oh." "No, thanks." "[elevator dings]" " Have a nice day." " You, too." " Hey." " Hey." "Hey." "How are you" " How you doing?" " Fine." " Good." "Good." "" " Well, I..." " [laughs] Yeah." "See you later." "Hey." "Listen, I know it goes without saying, but, uh, I'd appreciate if you don't mention this Sandra thing to anybody, okay?" "Sure." "Of course Kalder's only giving us two weeks to accept." "But that's why he's omering such a large premium." "But like I said, Charlie said no." "I think he did anyway." "I mean, he just kept shaking his head." "It's hard to know if he even understood what I was saying." "He's so sick." "The MS has progressed very quickly." "We could wait until Charlie passes." "We'll lose the premium." "I was gonna say that." "is there any specific reason why Charlie won't sell?" "No." "That's why this is so strange." "He's always talked about selling, at the right time." "Work hard, grow the business, cash out." "Well, we can invoke the buy-sell clause in the stockholders agreement." "Gives you the right to buy Charlie's stock." "It'd take too long." "Okay." "What we need to do is to set up a meeting with Charlie's lawyer as soon as possible." "Like I said, Nick." "Charlie's very ill." "I'm not sure that's going to help very much." "Well, the omer expires in two weeks, so we have no choice." "Your call." "I bet it feels good to be out of Southwestern." "Maybe you could take the headphones om." "Just for a minute anyway." "What?" "Nothing." "You're looking at me in that "l'm so concerned" kind of way." "Big deal. I tried to hang myself." "Yeah, I know." "So stop looking at me like that." "Like what?" "Like I'm crazy." "I'm not looking at you that way." "The truth is I get it." " Get what?" " Wanting to kill yourself." "You do?" "I do, but that doesn't mean" "Alvin." "Can I talk to you for a second?" "Now?" "Yeah." "Be right back, okay?" " Hey." " Hey." "Drew Jankowski." "He's 13 years old." "Mother died in a car accident and there's no father." "He's getting out of Southwestern Psychiatric Facility, and he needs a place to stay." " Why's he at Southwestern?" " He tried to kill himself twice." "You're over-reacting, Lulu." "I can handle the kid's placement hearing, for God's sake." "Alvin, I just want Nick to take it." "[sighs]" "Alvin has been... kinda freaky lately." "I mean, he keeps talking about the ne_ life and all that." "So I don't think it's a good idea for him to work with this kid." "Right." "Listen, about last night, I, uh-- l don't want to talk about that, okay?" "Drew's in the meeting room." "Are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm okay." "Thank you." "I, uh, just tripped... over that." "I'm okay. I just tripped." "No big deal." "First thing we need to do is to move you into a shelter." "Okay." "Then find you a foster family to live with." "Finally figured out why it didn't work." "Not enough loops in the noose." "It's the loops that make it hold." "Well, I'm glad there weren't enough loops." "You can't wear those in the courtroom." "You have to take 'em om." "[shouting] Take 'em om!" "We appreciate where you're coming from, Nick." "But like I told you, Charlie doesn't want to sell." "And it is his company." "Rachel's been the CEO for the past four years." "Charlie owns T60/o of the stock." "Does Mr. Gossett realize that this is the best omer that Gossett Paper will ever see?" "Nick's right, sweetie." "This is a great opportunity, and I really believe we should sell." "Like I told you." "I explained the situation to Charlie last night." "He conveyed to me that he doesn't want to sell." "He conveyed that to you?" "Nick." "Correct." "And you believe that he understood what you were conveying to him?" "Yes." "Charlie understands every single word you've said here today and the tone with which it was said." "Charlie's a businessman." "If he understood what we were saying, that saying yes would put an e_ra _15 million in his wife's pocket, he would agree to the deal." "Thank you, gentlemen." "I think this meeting is over." " The guy's completely out of it." " l don't know about that." "I mean, I saw his eyes moving back and forth, and he seemed to nod a few times." "Either way, we need to have him declared incompetent." " Incompetent?" " Yeah." "Rachel needs to control his stock to close the deal." "An incompetency motion is pretty demeaning, Nick." "Well, she wants to sell the company." "Yeah, but don't you think it's pushing a little?" "I mean, I'm all for zealous representation-- l've already filed the motion." "I filed it yesterday." "You know, don't you think it would've been a good idea to tell me what you were doing before I spend 12 hours reading the the stockholders agreement, the bylaws and the articles of incorporation?" "I thought we were working together here." "We are." "Do you want some Pirates' tickets?" "No, thanks." "Well, I haven't had anything but good experiences with Steve." "He's smart." "He's hard working." "He's very good with clients." "I agree." "I think he's a valuable addition." "Okay." "So all in favor of nominating Steve Gladchuck for partner raise your right hand." "Good." "Okay." "Ne_ candidate is Sandra Kestle." "I, uh..." "I like her." "I think she's great." "Jake?" "Yeah, I like her, too." "She's smart." "She's tough." "I worked with her pretty closely until she started working with Nick." "But I think she's great." "Nick?" "Hey." "Hi." "I didn't make it." "No." "I'm very sorry." "It was close but, uh, it didn't get done." "Didn't get done." "Yeah." "The committee just feels like you're not quite ready yet." "The committee or Nick?" "Sandra, people think very highly of you." "But not highly enough to make partner." "Not yet." "Not not this year." "What did Nick say?" "Oh, I can't go into that." "He was negative, wasn't he?" "Let me just say that, uh... the consensus was very, very favorable." "Favorable?" "Yes." "I'm sorry." "Listen, uh, we don't have to do anything tonight." "No." "No, I'd like to." "That's good." " Too bad about Sandra." " Yeah." "She's a good lawyer." "But to be honest, I was surprised you shot her down." "I'm sorry." "[clears throat] I sent you a copy of the revised asset purchase agreement." "Got it." "Butler signed om on it, so that's good." "Yeah." "So we need to start drafting up the closing documents pretty soon." "Great." "He asked you for what?" "He just says these things that..." "They're scary... if he means them." "But hell, I'm no psychiatrist." "If some kid tells me he wants to hang himself, I believe him." "The psychiatrist at Southwestern thinks he's just looking for attention." "Well, part of me thinks we should just send him back there... today." "I mean, why screw around with this kinda thing?" "If we're wrong about him, he'll be dead." "And we'll look like a couple of morons." "I'm trying to get you outta here." "It's not a joke, Drew." "You can't keep talking about killing yourself." "Why not?" "Because people take you seriously, even if you don't mean it." " l mean it." " You do?" "You mean it?" "Right now?" "I don't know." "We're this close to getting you a very good foster home." "But you have to stop talking about suicide." "If you don't, you will end up back in Southwestern." "Lockdown 20 hours a day." "This place isn't exactly paradise." "I put in a call to Kalder's lawyer." "Yeah, I already talked to him." "Said there's no way they'll e_end the omer." " Okay." " So the incompetency motion's at noon." "Nick, I still think if we followed the terms of the buy-sell agreement-- lf the client wants to sell, this is the most emective way to get there." "Great." "Thanks." "You know, I'm not your associate." "I'm a partner... with more business than you, and what I am saying is I'm really, really not so great about being told what to do anymore." " [knock on door]" " Yeah?" "Hey." "Dad, I just, uh..." "I just wanted to tell you that... my vote, my opinions had nothing to do with your relationship with Sandra." "I hope you understand that." "I just think she's an average lawyer." "So you disagree with the excellent evaluation that she received over the last three years?" "If they characterize her as excellent, then yes." "Overall rating on a scale of one to five: four." "Comments: "Sandra is an excellent lawyer." "Continues to make great strides." "She's a valued asset."" "Yeah, I know what I wrote." "That was, uh..." "That was two years ago." "Well... she quit last night." "Makes sense." "Wait a minute." "Wait a minute." "What the hell's that supposed to mean?" "Come on, Dad. I mean, she starts dating the managing partner a few weeks before the partner vote." "She gets passed over and then she quits." "It's very clear what she's doing." "Nicholas, you are wrong." "Then why did she quit?" "I'm not sure I can do this." "I just don't think it's the..." "What if he really does understand what's going on, and he doesn't want to sell the company?" "Right." "Well, there are other choices, and we can buy out his stock" "We've already talked about that, Jake." "It'll take three months, and Kalder's omer would be in the trash." "Rachel, we're talking about _1 5 million here." "It just feels wrong." "It's your choice." "You think we should do it?" "If you want to sell the company, you should." "Listen, if Charlie were competent, do you think that he would turn down an omer like this?" "No." "Well, there's your answer." "Your Honor, based on testimony presented by his wife and caregivers, it is clear that Mr. Gossett is no longer capable of evaluating crucial information pertaining to his estate." "He is sick, Your Honor." "Very sick." "He has a dimicult time communicating." "But he is aware, and his mind is alert." "Mr. Gossett knows there is an omer on the table, Your Honor." "He is simply choosing to say no." "Mr. Irving wants Charlie Gossett to be lucid, so much so that he's convincing himself that he is." "I mean, we could do the same thing with a maple tree." "You stare at it long enough, it will move." "How dare you!" "It is sad, Your Honor." "It is sad." "But Mr. Gossett is not mentally or physically present, and he should not be allowed to manage his financial amairs." "So, we can accept the omer and sell the company if we want." "Yes, that's right." "Okay." "Like you said, we really didn't have any other choice, huh?" "I'll set up a meeting with Kalder to go over the remaining details." "Good." "[exhales] I still think it was a bad call." " We won." " Yeah." "We embarrassed ourselves and the firm." "[rings doorbell]" " Hey." " Hi, Burton." " How you doing?" " Good." "Are you hungry at all?" "I'm starving, as a matter of fact." "How about a sandwich?" " [laughs] Yeah, come on in." " Thank you." "So, Sandra, I got an idea." "Why don't you, uh, come back to work?" "Burton... I understand why you're upset." "I really do." "But I can't believe we can't think of something that makes some sense to work this out." "You know, you were so close to making partner." "Well, I hate to see you throw that all away." "Ne_ year, by the way, I think that you're gonna make it." "I appreciate that, but..." "No, I think I've made the right decision." "Truth is, I feel pretty good about it." "Well, you have something lined up already?" "Not yet." "If you want, you know I'd be happy to help you out." "[chuckles] I still know a few people in this town." "I'll let you know." "Well, let me ask you this." "Did our relationship influence your decision at all?" "My decision to resign had nothing to do with us." "Good." "That's important for me to know." " Alvin, do you have the LaBonte file?" " Nick, come on in." "No, I'm just looking for that file." "I was on that ALS site this morning." "I was talking to a guy, O'Hara." "So, O'Hara wakes up this morning, and his arm is tingling." "He's just lying there in bed, about to have a cup of comee, and his arm's tingling." "Said it was the most frightening thing he ever felt because it was the first sign, the beginning." "Right." "On these message boards, a lot of people talk about suicide." "Give each other tips, suggestions." "O'Hara says it's a fine line, because if you do it too soon, you may miss out on the last little slice of happiness." "But if you wait too long, you lose the ability to pull it om." "Climb up on a chair." "Out a window." "Do you have the LaBonte file?" "Try Lulu's omice." "Hi." "Frank Tomlison." "Tomlison Plastics." " Do you have an appointment here?" " Yes, to see Burton Fallin." "My secretary Joan made it last week." "Hello, I'm Burton Fallin." "You've been served." " Hey." " Hey." "Well, Sandra just hit us with a summons and complaint." "She's claiming sexual discrimination." "Discrimination?" "Primarily based upon your relationship with her." "What?" "What are you talking about?" "Read the complaint." "Some of the allegations she makes about the way you treated her are very, very disturbing, Nicholas." "[knock on door]" "Hey." "Since you brought over lunch, I figured I'd take care of dinner." "Come on in." "Burton... when you came over today I wanted to tell you about the suit." "Okay." "But I couldn't." "I was too nervous." "It's not that easy to walk up to a guy like you and say," ""Excuse me, but your son is an arrogant jerk."" "I mean, he's your son." "Yeah, he is my son." "And he's a... he's a good man." "He's a good lawyer." "He's tough, I know that." "But he's not a sexist." "Then why didn't he vote for me?" "Why didn't you tell me what was going on before you filed that suit?" "Why did you go behind my back?" " Burton-- - l could've fixed everything." "I've been so angry for so long." "When I got passed over, I just... I called my lawyer." "I said, "Let's do it."" "Well..." "There is a way out so everybody wins." "Are you asking me to drop the suit?" "Yes, I am." "I can't do that." "I should probably go." "Yeah, I guess that... that makes sense." "Hi." "We need to talk." "I don't think that's a good idea." "is this about me or my father?" "It's about you." "Well, it seems a little coincidental that you'd be dating the managing partner" " That's ridiculous." "We're friends." " Friends?" "There's no conspiracy here, Nick." "I enjoy your father's company, that's all." "There's no agenda." "This lawsuit has nothing to do with him." "It has to do with you." "Me?" "I'm the one that hired you out of law school." "A 36-year-old first year associate." "I gave you your chance." "You're ridiculous." "I'm ridiculous?" "You know, if I'm your biggest problem, then just come back to the firm and work with Jake." "No, thank you." "If you contact me again, I'll file a complaint with the State Bar." "[door closes]" "Hey, Nick." "What the hell do you think you're doing?" "Going over to Sandra's house like that?" "Well, I was just-- l was trying to have a rational conversation with her." "It didn't work." "Well, what'd you expect?" "Did you read the complaint?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "is it true?" "Nicholas, did you do the things she alleges you did or not?" "Well, if I did, it wasn't intentional." "Son, you gotta answer me yes or no, l--l don't know... I might've said some things that I shouldn't have but... it's not because she's a woman." "Oh, so you just treat everybody like crap." "Is that what you're saying?" " Hey." " Hey." "I think we should go to couples counseling." "Oh." "I mean, I'm obviously, uh, still very upset about certain things." "Right." "So I think it might help." "Yeah. l--l don't know." "You know, I'd hoped that we could maybe, uh... work things out together first." "Yeah, but that strategy hasn't been very successful." "I'm just not very good with therapy." "I know, but maybe ifwe go and sit down with someone and talk about this stum, it will help." "Right." "Well, I have a hard time, um... sitting down talking to a person that I don't know... and that I'm paying." "Okay." "The foster family that Suzanne was talking to for Drew Jankowski fell out." "They were nervous about the suicide thing." "That family that I mentioned, they changed their minds." "Doesn't matter." "I really think I might do it." "Just get it over with." "Come with me." " Why?" " Just come with me." "Leave that here." "Just leave it here." "You just wait here." "I'm gonna be about two minutes." "I can see you through the glass." " Alvin." " What?" "You still on the ALS site?" "Uh, no, just doing some work." " Hey, you disconnected me." " l need your help." "Look, I have two Pirates' tickets, great seats." "You need my help to go to a Pirates' game?" "No, I need your help with a client." "The kid." " The suicidal one?" " Yeah." "Drew." "Lulu doesn't want me to take that case." "I do." "We need to get Kalder a copy of all the audited finances for the last three years." "I know." "And a summary of outstanding litigation." "Uh, done." "Great." "Have you, uh..." "Have you read Sandra's complaint?" "Yeah." "Some pretty serious allegations in there." "[knock on door] Rachel Gossett just called." "She's not gonna be able to make the meeting." "Her husband died a few hours ago." "Oh." "Thank you." "What?" "Nothing." "It's not our fault he died." "Of course not." "Okay." "Well, I hope you had a good time, even though the Pirates lost." "Yeah." "It was close." "10-1?" "Drew." "Everything we talked about tonight, your mom, those kids" "Yeah?" "It's hard." "It's hard." "People can be mean." "Yeah." "And people die." "And it's sad." "If you want, I can take over your case, help you find the right foster home." "What about that Nick guy?" "He'll understand." "Okay." "[buzzer] ln the meantime, if you're thinking about hurting yourself, I'd appreciate it if you'd call me first." "Okay." "Great." "See you tomorrow." " [knock on door]" " Yeah?" "You have a minute?" "Sure." "This is a dimicult conversation, so I intend to speak candidly, if that's all right." "What's on your mind?" "A few of us had lunch today to discuss Sandra's lawsuit." "A few of you?" "Well, the executive committee, minus you and Nick." "We've decided to retain outside counsel." "Without consulting me?" "Considering the allegations, Burton, we figured it was better to leave you out of it." "We've hired Beth Jacobson." "She's a labor attorney." "She's got a great reputation." "She wants to interview Nick in the morning." "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know before we made a move on this." "Sounds like you're already moving on it, Jake." "Sandra claims that you once asked her to make a reservation for you at a restaurant called Lucque's." "Uh, yeah, I was, uh... I was running late into a meeting, and I remembered that I promised to take a client there." "And yeah, I asked her to make a reservation." "No big deal." "So you asked her to call?" "Yes." "Did you ever ask a male associate to call and make a reservation?" "Uh... uh... I don't know. I don't know." "Uh..." "I don't know." "What is this never returning phone calls or e-mails thing?" "So it's true?" "You know, sometimes when I'm working, I like to do things myself." "You don't return calls or e-mails from people who work under you?" "Have you ever not returned 10 calls from a male associate?" "Oh, come on." "l--l don't know." "I don't keep a record of these things." "Did you kick Sandra out of a client meeting about four months ago?" "Yeah, l--l asked her to leave." "In front of a male CEO of an important client?" "[sighs]" "She was--she was slowing down the meeting." "She was asking pointless questions, and I was trying to focus on the job." "And yes, I asked her to leave." "You told her to "Get out."" "I asked her to leave." "[church bells ringing]" "Again, my condolences." "It was a beautiful service." "Thank you." "We are going to have to sit down and talk" "No." "The disinterested partners took a vote, and we've decided to settle with Sandra as quickly as possible." "Really." "There's no upside to litigating this with her, for obvious reasons." "Well, I don't disagree with that." "We've also scheduled a meeting for 2:" "OO to discuss Nick." "Discuss Nick?" "His attitude." "His commitment." "And his hours." "He gets paid a lot of money to work part-time, Burton." "Are you telling me you're trying to round up enough votes to fire my son?" "No." "I'm telling you that we've scheduled a meeting for 2:" "OO to discuss Nick." "[door opens and closes]" "How was the funeral?" "I made an appointment with a couples counselor for tomorrow afternoon." "Okay." "Uh, it seems people, uh... I see myself dimerently than others do, I think." "Anyway, if you don't think it's too late then" "No, it's not too late." "Okay." "Why did you say no when I asked you to marry me?" "I don't know." "Maybe we can talk about that when we..." " Oh, yeah." " Okay." "Oh, and by the way, I saw the dress." "I'm glad it's a girl." "I was rooting for a girl." " Nick." " Alvin." "I found this great foster family for Drew." "Great." "So, if you don't mind, I'd like to take over his case." "Yeah." "But just don't tell Lulu." " Hey." " Hey." " You got a second?" " Yeah." "Listen, I wanted to apologize for what happened with Sandra." "You know, I hope I didn't screw things up for you and her." "No." "We asked that lawyer, Beth, to settle it as quickly as possible, so" " If you think that's best." " l do." "What's going on?" "It's an executive committee meeting." "They didn't call me." "You weren't invited." "They gonna fire me?" "They're talking about it." "They have the votes?" "Jake thinks so." "My opinion might still mean something." "Which way are you gonna vote?" "Well-- Don't be ridiculous." "No, I'm serious." "Son, you're a very good lawyer." "Yeah, if I weren't your son, which way would you vote?" "But you are my son, and you're a hell of a lawyer." "Well, you're not answering my question, Dad." "You know what I think?" "I think you should do what's best for the firm." "I mean it. I think you should do what is best for the firm." "Right." "### Ripped by FabHawk ###"