Eugene looks at her, then gets up and walks out.

Cut to the courtroom, where Lindsay is arguing against the directed verdict.

Wieland: Nothing in the broadcast was untrue.

Lindsay: This isn't a libel case. It's fraud. The truth of the broadcast isn't the issue, it's the truth of the promise that got them access to the restaurant.

Wieland: You cannot decide whether that promise was broken without first evaluating the content of the broadcast. This is a complete end around the first amendment.

Lindsay: This has nothing to do with the first amendment.

Wieland: Have you read the Bill of Rights lately?

Lindsay: Yes. And I've also read the Food Line case, and ABC made the same freedom of the press, flag waving defence. It didn't work there, and it's not going to work here because the issue here is fraud. Did the defendant commit fraud against the plaintiff. Did the plaintiff sustain injuries as a result of the fraud. The answer to both questions is yes.

Camp: C'mon, counsel. Whichever way you phrase it, you are suing a news station for the content of a broadcast.

Lindsay: The conduct for the basis of the suit is the misrepresentation...

Camp: Yes, yes, you continue to frame the issue very nicely, but the net result is the same. A news station is being sued for undercover reporting.

Lindsay: They can do undercover work. They just can't commit fraud against someone when they're....

Camp: Suppose they snuck in, uninvited, and filmed the cockroaches. Then you'd sue for trespassing, claim harm from trespass. Nothing to do with the first amendment, right?

Lindsay: These are good questions. From an appellant court judge. But you're a trial court judge. The only question you should be asking is have we set forth facts to support our claim? And, under existing law, under Food Line, we have.

Wieland: First of all, this is not Food Line. Here we have an assault on the freedom of the press, not to mention the integrity of journalism.

Lindsay: (sarcastically) Gee, I'd hate to attack the integrity of journalism. (to Wieland) Your client should have saluted those cockroaches out of professional courtesy.

Wieland: (turning to her) Oh, you're very clever.

Camp: All right, all right. Look. I'm not going to pretend I like this case, but for now, I'll let it continue. Let's bring in the jury. Mr Wieland, you may begin your defence.

Lindsay goes to sit down, looking very satisfied. Camera cuts to another courtroom.

Judge B Watson: Ready for trial?

Helen: Yes, Your Honour.

Watson: This is the dead animal case?

Helen: Yes

Watson: I thought there was going to be a plea.

Helen: We couldn't come to an agreement on sentencing, Your Honour.

Billy: She wants time.

Watson: What do you mean, she wants time?

Billy: She wants time.

Judge: Time served?

Helen: Yes, for extreme abuse towards a domestic animal. Yes, Your Honour, I believe time is warranted.

Watson: Serious?

Helen: Serious.

Watson: All right. Let's empanel...

Billy: Your Honour, the defence is still willing to plead guilty, so we can go right to sentencing now.

Watson: Excellent.

Helen: Wait a second. I'd like a trial.

Watson: What?

Helen: I'd like to go forward with a trial.

Watson: Forgive me counsel, I skipped my Genko(?) this morning. I got a defendant wanting to plead guilty and the prosecutor demanding a trial? What the hell is going on?

Helen: He wants to proceed to sentencing because he detects a predisposition on your part not to give time. I sense the same predisposition. I'm confident that after you hear eyewitness testimony of what actually happened, the predisposition will change.

Watson: You want to inflame(?) me?

Helen: I want you to get a true picture.

Watson: I get the picture. The defendant killed a cat. If he's pleading guilty, we're not going through this charade of a trial for a colour commentary. A guilty finding is entered.

Helen: I'd like to be heard on sentencing before you rule, Your Honour.

Watson: One hour. We're back in. (pause as everyone begins to move off) Blast.

Cut back to the other courtroom.

Sawyer: My intent was to do a positive piece. That's not something that I was just saying.

Wieland: But at some point, you obviously changed the focus.

Sawyer: That point came when we discovered how unsanitary the kitchen was. This was a revered North end family restaurant. The chef was practically an icon, and that was the story we wanted to tell, but when I saw how filthy it was back there, it became a bigger story. And a more important one for people to hear, given the health issues.

Wieland: But to be clear, after you were given permission to come in and film, your intent was to do the positive story?

Sawyer: Yes.

Bobby: You never would've lied to get access?

Sawyer: No.

Bobby: When you decided to switch the focus to attack the restaurant on sanitary grounds, did you tell anybody at the restaurant?

Sawyer: No.

Bobby: You just continued to film?

Sawyer: Yes.

Bobby: Were you being honourable when you changed the focus and didn't tell my client you were now out to trash his restaurant?

Sawyer: I'm a news reporter, Mr Donnell.

Bobby: You're a news reporter. Does that mean you were being honourable, or was that the justification for being dishonourable?

Wieland: Objection.

Camp: Overruled.

Bobby: At the time you changed your focus, why didn't you tell my client?

Sawyer: He would've thrown us out.

Bobby: You didn't want him to know the truth?

Sawyer: At that point, no.

Bobby: Do you know whether my client's restaurant received any code violations?

Sawyer: To my knowledge, they did not.

Bobby: Did you mention that in your broadcast?

Sawyer: Just because a restaurant hasn't been sited doesn't...

Bobby: The question before you is did you report in your broadcast that my client's restaurant has never been sited for any sanitary code violations?

Sawyer: We did not report that.

Bobby: Mr Sawyer, what did you think would happen to my client's restaurant after you aired this piece?

Sawyer: I knew it would be detrimental.

Bobby: You knew it would be detrimental? Did you consider that it might destroy his business?

Sawyer: Of course. I had to consider it.

Bobby: So you knew you were being deceptive, and you knew they'd get hurt by relying on your deception. That's pretty much it, right, Mr Sawyer?

Sawyer: Expose reporting is a tough business, Mr Donnell.

Bobby: Yeah. Tougher on some than others, I guess.

Cut to Helen's office.

Helen: Basically, I'll just ask you to talk about the loss you feel. You can do it in a narrative, but I think I can make it more effective with a Q and A.

Ms Tyler: Okay.

Helen: And then with the witness, Mr Patterson, I'll ask him to describe how he saw the cat killed.

Ms Tyler: Okay.

Helen: You might want to leave the room for that part.

Ms Tyler: This judge doesn't seem to care much.

Helen: You have to realise. These judges deal with rapists and murderers on a daily basis.

Ms Tyler: (reminiscing) She was ruining the fabric. All my friends said `get her de-clawed' but I couldn't do that to her. What if she gets chased by a dog and wants to defend herself? But I never thought to protect her from teenagers.

Cut to the Donnell, Young, Dole and Frutt offices. Jimmy is typing at the computer. Ellenor comes over to him.

Ellenor: How you doing, Jimmy?

Jimmy: (looking up) Not bad. (he pauses for a second) How's things with you?

Ellenor: Good.

Jimmy: Good.

Ellenor: (taking a deep breath and leaning forward) Listen. I think the time is right to bring you up for partner. Bobby said wait a year, it's been a year... And with your big win over Tommy Silva, you know, timing's everything, they say. Just wanted you to know, I fully support it.

Jimmy: Thank you, Ellenor.

Ellenor: Sure.

Lindsay and Bobby walk into the office and through to Bobby's office.

Lindsay: I think you did some damage.

Bobby: I hope.

Lindsay: So, I'll close, right?

Bobby: Why?

Lindsay: Because I`ve been preparing it, I though we discussed that.

Bobby: You keep dodging my question. (they reach Bobby's office and he closes the door) Why do you think that you're better at closing than I am?

Lindsay: Can we just skip that...

Bobby: (interrupts her as he takes her elbow and pulls her in front of him so she is leaning against his desk with him leaning in front of her {hard to explain}) No, I'd really.. I'd really like to know.

Lindsay: (slightly surprised by his insistence) Well, okay... Your strength when it comes to closings is... passion, and my strength is more like clinical persuasion.

Bobby: And....

Lindsay: And, standing up and banging the righteous sympathy drum isn't going to sell the jury. I mean, they saw all those bugs...

Bobby: I don't bang the sympathy drum, Lindsay. I mean, that's not my style.

Lindsay: I meant that as a compliment. It's very persuasive

Bobby: That's a compliment? Banging the sympathy drum?

Lindsay: Why are you being so sensitive?

Bobby: (moving away from her so she can finally stand up straight) Well, you're making me sound like Johnny Cochrane or something

Lindsay: Johnny Cochrane's a good lawyer.

Bobby: If you like pulpit-thumping closings and I don't do that.

Lindsay: All I'm saying, or trying to say is neutral legal reasoning works best here.

Bobby: You mean dry?

Lindsay: Excuse me?

Bobby: Nothing.

Lindsay: You think I'm dry?

Bobby: No... no

Lindsay: (defensively) My closings are not dry.

Bobby: Lindsay, you're a great lawyer, but Clarence Darell, you're not.

Lindsay: Oh, and you are?

Bobby: The jury is bored by the time summations roll around if you don't stir things up a little.

Lindsay: Bored? It's a one day trial.

Bobby: I'm talking in general.

Lindsay: I'm talking here. If you go in there and rant out of anger or outrage, we'll lose. A velvet glove is better here dammit and I am not dry!

Bobby: Is this the velvet glove I'm hearing?

Lindsay: Oh, shut up.

Bobby: Fine. You do the closing.

Lindsay: Fine.

She marches to the door and yanks it open. Ellenor is standing there with her hand poised ready to knock.

Lindsay: What are you doing?

Ellenor: (shrugging) Well, I was about to knock. I never know what I'm gonna interrupt.

Bobby: (sighing) What's up, Ellenor?

Ellenor: Uh, some partnership issues. I'd like to talk, maybe after this trial is over, or whenever you come up for air.

Lindsay: What's that supposed to mean?

Ellenor: Nothing.

She walks off. Lindsay slams the office door closed.

Lindsay: I think she needs a long vacation, Bobby. With three votes, we can give her one.

They look at each other. Bobby nods slightly.

-------------------- Commercial --------------------

In a courtroom inside the courthouse.

Watson: This is a sentencing hearing.

Helen: And you can call witnesses at a sentencing hearing.

Billy: This is a cheap stunt to exploit your sympathy, Your Honour.

Helen: I object to the insulting accusation that you would be manipulated by a witness. A judge should get a little more credit than that.

Watson: Thank you for your support, counsel. I'm touched.

Helen: I won't take up much of the court's time.

Watson: I'll hear from one person only. The owner of the pet, or the eyewitness. Your pick.

Helen: If I promise to be brief with both...

Watson: One witness only.

Helen pauses. She turns around and looks at Ms Tyler and the eyewitness, Mr Patterson. She looks back.

Helen: I call Chris Patterson.

Ms Tyler looks at Mr Patterson, shocked. Camera cuts to Mr Patterson in the witness box.

Patterson: I was in the middle lane, I was probably travelling around 60, when this green station wagon passed me.

Helen: Did you see who was inside?

Patterson: Not then, when the car pulled into my lane in front of me, it looked like three kids, high school age, about. I never really saw their faces.

Helen: Could you tell us what happened next?

Patterson: The driver reached out his side of the window, holding something. I thought it was a stuffed animal, it was orange coloured. And then, I saw it's legs moving, and I could tell it was alive. I thought `what's going on'? And then, after five or ten seconds, he let it go. And it hit my windshield and stuck there for a few seconds.

Helen: Could you tell what it was then?

Patterson: Yes. It was a cat.

Helen: What happened then, sir?

Patterson: Well, I swerved, my windshield was broken. I managed to get into the breakdown lane, and stop. I got out of my car, and it was still plastered to my windshield.

Helen: What was?

Patterson: The cat.

Helen: What happened next, sir?

(all through this dialogue the camera constantly cuts back and forth between Patterson, Ms Tyler, Judge Watson and Helen)

Patterson: I called the police, gave them a description of the car, plus the first three numbers of the licence... and then I removed the remains from my car.

Helen nods.

The camera cuts to Donnell, Young, Dole and Frutt. Jimmy is standing at the filing cabinet.

Ellenor: Hey, Jimmy.

Jimmy: Ellenor.

Ellenor: You given any thought to what I said before?

Jimmy: (removing his glasses) Actually, I've done nothing but think about it. Mainly, my thought is: to what do I owe this lightning bolt of good will.

Ellenor: Sorry?

Jimmy: A sixth partner would tip that little power scale, wouldn't it? The Bobby/Lindsay block would no longer control, and you being my champion, I'd have these pulls of loyalties, wouldn't I? (while he is speaking we see Rebecca hovering in the background, watching for a moment before walking away.)

Ellenor: It isn't about that.

Jimmy: Really. Timing really is everything, I guess.

Ellenor: You know what, Jimmy, forget it. And forgive me for looking out for you.

Jimmy: I don't want to be partner here, Ellenor. Too much politics for me. (he walks away)

We see the courtroom in which the jury is hearing the lawyer's closings for the Jacobs' case.

Lindsay: When I got my first apartment, I had cockroaches all over. Gross. (she shudders) Hate cockroaches. Don't we all? I mean, who here would go into a restaurant if they were told the kitchen was infested with those gross bugs? It was a no-brainer. That broadcast would put my clients' restaurant under. They knew it, they aired it anyway. (the defence looks uncomfortable) Freedom of the press. They had a duty, they might argue. Warn the public. But this case is not about free speech, it's about fraud. They made a promise, they breached that promise. As a result of that breach a family business has been destroyed. You want to wrap an American flag around their conduct, stand up and salute the constitution, you can do that, but freedom of speech is never a defence to fraud. Never. And let's ask ourselves that dirty little question we've all secretly been asking. (she walks right up to the jury box) Do we really, really believe they went in there to do a puff piece? We don't have any evidence to the contrary, the truth lies in their minds only, but when you look at the landscape of news today, you see a lot of fluff features on restaurants? Today it's about scandals, hidden cameras and catching people. Every kitchen has bugs. (she paces before the box) It's not a big deal really, but add some good copy, some dramatic reporting, vivid footage, throw in a health scare and tease it during prime time, `could you be eating a cockroach tonight', that's a great hook. (she stops) Easy to manufacture a story like that if you've got the footage and if you don't, well lie to get it. Lie proudly and declare journalistic integrity. Look what's happening today. Forget the tabloids, we have reporters at major newspapers, including the Boston Globe right here, getting caught making up stories. Writing stories about people who don't really exist. Plagiarising. CNN, Time magazine reporting about tail wind and germ warfare, don't let the facts spoil a good story, we can just print the retraction on weekends, or put it in a foot note. Anything to get the story and to get it first. Who cares who gets hurt? (motions to the Jacobs) These people got hurt. They were defrauded. It cost them everything they had worked their whole lives for. (sarcastically) Hail, hail freedom of the press. I think it's time to send a little message to all the cockroaches.

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