your honor, i submit there were no complaints until counselor began knocking on doors, drumming up business. and the dust, which counselor refers to, has appeared on only three occasions. each time it has been examined and the results.
limestone. messy, but innocuous.
defined by webster's as harmless.
your honor, counselor is attempting to portray my client as a hideous manifestation of evil and corruption. but nothing could be further from the truth. rockwell has generously contributed ten thousand dollars to this neighborhood's schools, clinics and youth centers! granting a restraining order on the construction site will throw hundreds of philadelphians out of work, and will lend validation to this contemptible and groundless nuisance suit, which speaks directly to the kind of greed and treachery that today is threatening the very fabric of our society.
you.
client of yours?
sure.
just the dazzling paralegal i wanted to see.
thanks, kenneth. your exam!
ninety-eight?! ninety-eight!
no. great. thanks, shelby. it's 6:30, go home.
rach.
catch me later, i'll be here. and tell amy, i love her painting, it's on my wall.
present.
hi, mom. it's me.
i'm fine.
hold on, mom. there's no way my client will go along with that.
andrew beckett. hi, karen. i'm sorry i interrupted.
gillman says i'm fine. my blood work is excellent. t-cells are up. just a sec .  yes, i think that would alleviate most of our concerns. my platelets look good too.
ah hah! yes! rentworth v. pennsylvania.  court of appeals affirms jury award of punitive damages for wrongful interference with prospective economic relations.
walter.
in a word, bob.
i was just about to take a break. good evening, charles.
we're gonna miss you around here, bob.
the fate of the participants interests me, yes sir.
it is, and it isn't, charles. macrosystem's new software copies all the best-known elements of kronos' spreadsheet program. if they're allowed to sell it, kronos will get undersold right out of business. for me, the legal principle, involved is copyright infringement.
sorry, charles, but.
i'd like to see kronos win.
because they deserve to, walter.
if macrosystems wins, an energetic, young company will be destroyed, five thousand americans will be out of work. moreover, the laws of copyright and anti-trust were enacted to prevent exactly the kind of bullshit macrosystems is trying to pull.
bailey, brackman.
yes!
thanks, walter.
whacked with a racquetball. i appreciate your faith in my abilities.
thanks, charles.
it's good to be king.
uh huh.
chandra? don't you think this color's a little.  orange for me?
thanks, bruno. i've been out of the office four days. i don't want them to think i've been to the beach. okay. check this out.
hides everything, right? what do you think?
tootsie!
excuse me a sec.
i think i need to go to the hospital.
thanks, you guys.
gillman's out of her office today. i told her to take a day off, and she did, can you believe it? did you get someone to cover your class?
aren't you giving an exam?
i almost didn't make it to the bathroom, miguel. i almost lost control right in front of everybody.
wait, here's my guy.  hey!
about my blood work?
sounds delightful.
this is my partner. we keep records of hospital visits. nothing personal.
a reaction to azt.
he's upset, he's sorry.
he's not sorry, okay, fine. why don't we see what we find out from the blood work? i'll work on getting a specimen, i'm sure hospital food could help in that direction. maybe, by then, we'll hear from my doctor, and we'll go from there. okay? everybody happy?
that's the third time. i better call the office. would you relax, please?
shelby? it's me. jamey's been beeping me, i.  okay, okay, calm down. put jamey on.
slow down, jamey, for christ's sake!
i brought it in last night, around midnight. it's in my computer.
k-r-o-one.
jamey, i don't have to mention, do i, that we're up against a statute of limitations on this complaint which runs out in.  seventy-five minutes.
you go down to word processing and tell those motherfuckers they better come up with that complaint, now! or they are fucking dead! you tell them that comes from me!
every problem has a solution. every problem.  has.  a.  solution.
every problem has a solution.
you're not going to like this. please try to smile.
thanks for leaving school, and coming here, and.  i will be back. an hour, tops.
you're not smiling.
one hour!
i promise!
call the messenger service, have someone standing by.  your phone.
think. you brought the discs in, you transferred.
fucking word processing lost my kronos complaint. which must be filed by fucking five o'clock! if it's late, there's no case.  every problem has a solution.
get down to word processing. help jamey look.
no.
no, goddammit!
bob? something's come up. with kronos. i don't want to upset charles, but.  oh, shit, bob, the complaint's due in forty minutes and i can't find it. no, you don't have to come.  great. fucking great.
i don't know what to do, bob.
bob.
what's wrong with my face? you want to know what's wrong with my face? i've got a skin condition. next question, bob? no more questions? fine. now can you help me find the complaint?
sorry.
k-r-o-one.
you're right, i probably just misfiled.
yeah, walter. yeah. some sort of major problem.
thank you.
i have aids.
it's okay. can i sit down?
new baby?
congratulations.
kids are great.
i was fired by wyant wheeler. i plan to bring a wrongful termination suit against charles wheeler and his partners.
correct. i'm seeking representation.
i misplaced an important complaint. that's their story. want to hear mine?
nine.
i was diagnosed with aids eight months ago. during a bout of pneumonia. i recovered quickly and was back at work in ten days. since i was doing so well on the azt, we decided against telling anyone about it.
my lover and i.
miguel alvarez. we've lived together for nine years.
i dove back into work, everything was fine. until the lesions started.
first on my leg. then my forearm, my back. then.  my face. for a short period, i avoided the office during the day, waiting for the chemo therapy to clear up the lesions.
but i never let anything slide. i made all my calls from home. i worked sixteen hour days on a complaint for a 350 million dollar copyright infringement suit.
but the day the complaint was due, it disappeared. erased from my computer. i thought i was losing it, mentally.
that can happen, it's called aids dementia when it gets into your brain. but miraculously, a copy of the complaint was located at the last minute, and we got it to court on time.
the next morning, i was called to the office for a meeting with the managing partners. walking down that corridor was strange. felt like everyone was staring.
makeup.
the partners were waiting for me in the main conference room.
of course.
i know that, charles.
charles, i must apologize again, for the kronos mishap. it was a scary few minutes around here. wow. but thank god, the complaint was found. and no damage was done.
there won't be a next time, i guarantee it.
perhaps.  you're right. i've certainly been busy. with the kronos complaint, a preliminary injunction hearing and the saunders trial all falling at the same time.
really? who thinks that, sir?
i had no idea there was a concern in that area. hey: i'll get to work on it right away.
honesty is always best.
yes, bob, i do. excuse me? am i being fired?
excuse me, charles. with all due respect.  this is.  preposterous! it doesn't make any sense, it sounds as if we're talking about someone else. pardon the lack of humility, but i've had the distinct impression i was kind of.  one of the rising stars around here. and i feel that wasn't just my imagination. and i also think i deserve to know what's really going on here, charles.
if you'd lost confidence in me, why did you give me the kronos suit?
a carrot?!
as in, the vegetable?
uh huh.  okay.  i see.
who are you?
the law says people with disabilities cannot be terminated, so long as they can perform the duties required by their position.
joe, from the day i arrived to the day they fired me, i performed consistently, thoroughly and with absolute excellence. and if they hadn't fired me, that's what i'd be doing today.
they sabotaged me.
look. i know i have a case. if you don't want to take it for personal reasons.
thanks for your time.
don't send flowers, joe. i'm not dead yet.
thank you.
i'm fine, thanks.
no. but would it make you more comfortable?
fine.
what?
i'm a lawyer. how's your baby?
what's her name?
rayisha. very nice.
one of the partners spotted a lesion on my forehead.
good point.
the partner who spotted the lesion, walter kenton, used to work for benton, myers, in d.c. there's a paralegal there, maria torres. she's had lesions on and off for three years. she says it was common knowledge around the office that her lesions were caused by aids.
no. they didn't fire her.
thank you.
arline decision. supreme court.
"subsequent decisions have held that aids is protected as a handicap under law, not only because of the physical limitations it imposes"
"but because the prejudice surrounding aids exacts a social death which precedes the actual, physical one"
i can heal myself.
i can heal myself.
jerk.  what did you say?
you got that right, mikey.  you still believe that, don't you?
fine, thanks, charles.
i want to go back to work, your honor.
any settlement agreement must include, and this is critical, a letter of exoneration, making clear my termination had nothing to do with the quality of my work.
i was the one who was sabotaged.
you can save it for the jury, charles. i want to hear you say, under oath, in front of a judge and a jury, i'm a bad lawyer. gentlemen. counselor.
i think i catch your subtle drift, walter.
this is the house where i grew up. in downington, pennsylvania. see this.  ?
those are my cute little hand prints. and my brother's and my sister's.
today is my parents' fortieth wedding anniversary.
this is the front door. i caught a finger in this door, once.  this one. broke it. this is the hallway, my mother calls it a foyer.
this is my niece, alexis. say hello, alexis.
you heard it here first, folks. news as it happens.
this is my sister, jill, the most fertile woman on the planet. she's married to reverend jim.
and what will we find in.  da duh da duh da duh.  the kitchen!
hi, mom. how do you feel on your fortieth anniversary?
where's dad?
things might be said, at the trial, that.  are not going to be easy for you to hear. things about me, about my private life. and i want to make sure it's okay with everybody.
what do you think, jill?
mom?
thanks, mom.  dad?
thanks, dad. i love you guys. how about you, randy?
i guess.  i don't have time for that any more.
i'm not political. i just want compensation for being fired.
"i don't see how that's any of your business.  but yes, i am."
very good.
we'll have to flush it again.
i have too much work to do. skip the treatment.
i said, skip it, michael. it's my treatment.
fuck you. this shit's probably not doing me any good anyway.
what's wrong with you?
i'm not going to close the--
allright it's closed! jesus!
you don't think there's much time left, do you?
you're scared. you think we're near the end.
maybe i should start making plans, is that what you think? start planning my memorial service? "begin to prepare for the inevitable."
what's that mean?!
i'm not going to die.
you want me to give up? let this thing turn us into victims?
i'm not ready to die.
i am so scared. i am so fucking, incredibly, fucking scared.
you know, there's only one thing to do. we have to have a party.
parrtyy!
it's me, you dork.
glad to finally meet you. come on in.
i have to introduce you to the can of soup. you can enter the costume contest together as a lunch special.
this is lisa miller. miguel alvarez.
i had a blood transfusion today. i feel great.
not bad.
let's find you a drink.
what do you want?
excuse me, i'm having a goddamn party, is that allright with you?
no, we have to do it. but later, allright?
correct.
thank you.
congratulations, miller.
you survived your first gay party intact.
thank you for sharing that with me, joe.
uh huh.
charles. okay. miller?
do you.  pray?
what have you prayed for?
there's a possibility i won't be around for the end of this trial.
what happens?
i've made provisions in my will for some charities. miguel will need a lawyer. i know it's not your area.
thanks. do you like opera?
want to hear my favorite aria?
andrea chenier, by giordano. this is madeleine. she's telling how, during the french revolution, a mob set fire to her house. her mother died, saving her.
"it was during that sorrow that love came to me!
"i am oblivion! i am glory! i am love, love, love!"
right.
i'll look over the q and a.
wyant wheeler had aggressively recruited me. they were the most prestigious firm in philadelphia, full of opportunity. and i was impressed by the partners.
particularly, charles.
he was.  the kind of person i thought i wanted to be.
possessed of an encyclopedic knowledge of the law. a razor sharp litigator, a genuine leader, gifted at bringing out the very best in others. an awesome ability to illuminate the most complex of legal concepts to colleagues, courtrooms, the person on the street. the kind of person who plays three sets of tennis but doesn't sweat. but underneath the elegant surface, was an adventurous spirit.
it's possible i was infected with the hiv virus at that time, but i wasn't diagnosed until several years later.
no. i was thirty pounds heavier. i was athletic.
i suppose you could say that.
i still am.
no. i didn't.
you don't bring your personal life into a law firm. you're not supposed to have a personal life, really. anyway, i did plan to tell charles, eventually. but then, this thing happened at the tennis club.
i'm seeing him this afternoon.
"somebody started telling jokes."
relieved. that i'd never told him i was gay. very relieved.
i'm an excellent lawyer.
i love the law. i know the law. i excel at practicing it. it's the only thing i've ever wanted to do.
well.  many things. but i think the thing i love the most, is that every once in a while, not that often, but occasionally.  you get to be part of justice being done. it's really quite a thrill when that happens.
something like that.
in my work? yes. calculated risks. you have to.
not unnecessary ones.
a few times.
gay movies.
yes.
yes.
yes.
once.
andrew.
now what do we do?
i guess it was 1984, 85.
it's impossible to know exactly when or how i was infected with hiv.
that happened once. people weren't talking about aids then, the way we are now. or safe sex.
i'd heard of something. the gay plague, gay cancer, but.  we didn't know how you could get it, or that it could kill you.
no.
that is not correct. i never lied about it.
no.
some do. i didn't.
in some situations.
yes.
miguel has not been infected. as i said, we weren't aware of aids, then, or how it is spread.
yes.
that's right.
absolutely.
one. here, in front of my ear.
by the time i was fired, there were four lesions on my face, much bigger.
no. i can't really see it.
yes sir.
yes. on my torso.
allright.
yes.
could you call an ambulance, please?
what do you call a thousand lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean?
a good start.
excellent work, joe. i thank you.
sure thing.
thanks for coming by.
i'm okay, bro. i'll see you tomorrow.
i'm ready.
whatever.