Original subtitles

- No, I just thought you and I got off on the wrong foot

the other day, Mr. Shale.

I'd like to see if we can't rectify that.

- OK.

- Your guys made the arrest because it's

their job to make the arrest.

I fully understand that.

- Mm-hmm.

- Barry is a fugitive.

You saw the opportunity to bring him in, you brought him in.

- I'm glad you've come to see it that way.

- What I'd like to address now is, how

can we dispose of this thing?

- How would you suggest we dispose of it?

- I think he should plead guilty to a lesser charge,

and then you and I work out some sort of combination of jail

time and community service.

- Uh-huh.

And I should do this why?

- Well, mainly because I think it's fair.

- You think it's fair?

- Yes, I do.

I also think that since some 25 years have passed,

this is gonna be a pretty hard case to prove.

- OK.

As far as what's fair is concerned,

a correctional officer was killed

as an indirect but proximate result

of your client's actions.

What's fair is that he serve the next 20

years of his life in prison.

Now, as far as this case being hard to prove,

let me worry about that.

- If you don't mind my asking, Mr. Shale, why all the venom?

This is an old case.

- Let me tell you a little bit about myself, Mr. Markowitz.

I got this job through Richard Kleindienst, who I count

as one of my dearest friends.

I served proudly in the justice departments of John

Mitchell and Edwin Meese.

I'm sure that you, like most liberals,

gleefully welcomed the fall from grace of those men.

I take a somewhat different view.

- And what does that have to do with this case?

- It has everything to do with this case.

Your client was devoted to armed insurrection.

He was a willing combatant in an effort

to undermine our way of life.

Now, I view him and his comrades in arms

and the so-called '60s the same way now as I viewed them then.

The only thing that's different is that now I've got him.

- And this is the position of the Justice Department?

Or is this some sort of personal vendetta of yours?

- Until Janet Reno has me removed

from this case, Mr. Markowitz, I am the Justice Department.

[theme music]

- Can someone tell me who Gordon Hyke is

and why we've paid him over $10,000?

- He's a security consultant, Douglas.

- And?

- And he's been hired to evaluate

our situation here and recommend various things

to improve our security.

- What is it you're worried about?

- What is it that I'm worried about?

I'm worried about being killed.

- Driving around in that Bentley wouldn't

have heightened your sense of vulnerability, would it?

- Lawyers get killed, Leland.

They get harassed.

They get ambushed.

They get killed.

You remember what happened up in San Francisco.

It could also happen here.

- So what are you gonna do, live in fear all the time?

- No, what you do is you take precautions.

Arnie is absolutely right.

And it's not just physical violence

you have to worry about.

It's your phones, the mail, the security of your files.

- It also makes sense that if we're

gonna do anything about it, we do it before the renovation

is complete.

- Well, I'm not so sure it makes sense at all.

Before we spend another dime, I want to talk to this gentleman.

Security consultant.

- US Versus Ellison.

- I met with--

- The bail hearing is set for this--

- I'm sorry.

You go ahead.

- Bail hearing is set for this morning.

- Is there a deal to be made here?

- Not unless we get a different prosecutor

assigned to the case.

If it remains John Shale, we're headed for trial.

- Let us know what happens.

Wheaton Versus Value Square.

- Carl Bulllen, the founder and CEO of Value Square, fired

his attorneys on the eve of trial,

and thanks to a formidable bit of rainmaking on the part

of Leland McKenzie, hired us.

The company is being sued by an ex-employee for violation

of privacy and emotional distress

related to their having had her under surveillance.

- Surveillance for what?

- She was having an affair.

- And you're representing the company, Ann?

- We are representing the company, Arnie.

I see it as exercising legitimate

managerial prerogative.

And with 1,200 stores all across the country,

this is a client that could stand to make us

a hell of a lot of money.

Am I right, Leland?

- Right you are.

- Ann Kelsey, you're beautiful when you're mercenary.

- Hear, hear.

- I'm gonna need some help on this one.

- How about Jane?

- OK.

- United States of America Versus Jay Ellison.

- Mr. Rollins, I trust that you and Mr. Markowitz

have decided who's handling this case.

- We have, Your Honor.

- Good, proceed.

- We ask that bail be set for Jay Ellison at $100,000.

- The United States strenuously objects to that, Your Honor.

- Jay Ellison has been a stable member of the same community

for more than 15 years, Your Honor.

He's a successful garment manufacturer,

and he's got two young children.

And he was preparing to turn himself in.

- That's what he says now.

The truth is he had 25 years to turn himself in.

- We know he was about to turn himself

in because discussions had already been initiated

by my colleague, Mr. Markowitz.

You ordered that Mr. Markowitz be followed for the purpose

of making an arrest.

- You think he's a flight risk, is that right, Mr. Shale?

- Yes, I do.

If he's convicted of these charges,

he stands to lose his family, his business,

and go to prison for 20 years.

That, I believe, represents a sufficient motivation for him

to run.

- I could be wrong about this, but I have to believe that Mr.

Ellison is tired of running.

Bail is set at $1 million.

- Thank you, Your Honor.

- Put the house up.

We'll have you out of here in an hour.

- Good.

- Versus Herschel Adams.

- The whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

- I do.

- Mrs. Wheaton, what was your position on February 12, 1993,

the day you resigned your job?

- I manage the Value Square department store in Valencia.

- Prior to your resignation, had the company

given you any indication that they were

dissatisfied with your work?

- No, I had received good to excellent

job evaluations throughout my 15-year

tenure with Value Square.

- Mrs. Wheaton, would you please describe the events

that led to your resignation?

- The district supervisor asked to meet

with me and my assistant manager, Donald Farris.

During that meeting, he confronted us

with a 200-page report compiled by company security.

- And what was contained in this report?

- Transcripts of personal conversations Mr. Farris

and I conducted on our office telephones,

a very personal email letter I had written,

and a surveillance record of our movements

during the previous six months.

There were photographs as well.

- And what was the import of these transcripts, surveillance

reports, and photographs?

- They documented a romantic relationship involving

Mr. Farris and myself.

- Mrs. Wheaton, were you married to another man

during your relationship with Mr. Farris?

- Yes.

I'm now in the process of getting a divorce.

- What, if anything, were you told during this meeting?

- We were told that Value Square prohibited

relationships between employees and urged to end the affair.

- And how did you respond?

- I resigned.

- Why?

- I felt as though I had been violated.

- I have nothing further.

- Mrs. Wheaton, at the time that you and Mr. Farris

were having your affair, you knew

that company policy forbade such relationships, did you not?

- Yes.

And because of that, Mr. Farris and I

took great care to maintain a strict business

relationship while on the job.

- So you concealed the nature of your relationship?

- Scrupulously.

It never disrupted our job performances,

and I am certain Mr. Bullen never

would have known about it had he not

been tapping our office phones.

- You were also aware, were you not,

that the company had a stated policy of monitoring

all business communications?

- These were not business communications.

These were private and personal.

- Except that they were conducted

on the telephone and computer in your office, weren't they?

- Yes.

- And you were on actual notice that they weren't private.

They told you you might be listened to.

- I wasn't told that men with cameras

would be following me to restaurants and hotels.

- Isn't it a fact that the places

where you were followed and photographed

were all public places?

- My life is not public.

What I do on my own time is my own business.

- Except for the fact that what you were doing on your own time

was violative of an express company policy, wasn't it?

- I gave him eight and a half hours a day, six days a week.

I did not give him the right to spy on me.

- I have nothing further.

- Or persecute me or judge me.

- Thank you, Mrs. Wheaton.

You may step down.

- I'm confused, Ms. Kelsey.

- What about?

- I am very much aware that we have

some damaging personal information on Mrs. Wheaton.

You neglected to use it.

Why?

- The strength of our case lies in defending

your legitimate business interests,

not in tearing down the plaintiff.

- This woman is attacking the way I do business.

I mean, I think we should fight back as vigorously as we can.

- If it doesn't pertain to her employment, it's inadmissible.

- Unless we argue that Ms. Wheaton's personal conduct

is inconsistent with Value Square's image.

- Hell, that's what we should be arguing.

Look, I promoted my stores as places

where traditional American values are respected.

Value Square, square values.

Values, values, values.

I built a business on values, and I want that out there.

And that, my dear ladies, is why I'm sitting in the

courtroom personally.

- Mr. Bullen, I've got 15 years litigation experience,

and I'm telling you that if I go in there

and start braying about values, we will lose.

I think as long as you are sitting in the courtroom,

you'd rather that we won.

- Now, in response to your inquiry,

Mr. Brackman, what I did was as follows.

I conducted background checks on all of your employees.

Then I begun a process of screening all of the building's

maintenance and janitorial staff which

have access to these offices.

- You screened the cleaning people?

- I screen everyone who comes through that door.

- I love this.

- I've designed a record retention and refuse

disposal system, which I believe is appropriate for the firm.

Color coding indicates trash which

is particularly sensitive.

This is shredded and disposed of at alternate sites.

I've swept the office and phone system

for any listening devices.

I've removed any list of home phone numbers and addresses

from non-secure office files.

In addition, I've begun installation of a safe room.

- What is a safe room?

- Very simply put, it is a room.

It could be a bathroom.

It could be a closet.

It could be an office.

This is the room your employees go

to when they are under attack.

- Attack?

What kind of attack?

- Well, it could be from a variety of sources.

It could be a disgruntled ex-employee.

It could be an individual who is aggrieved about a legal matter

you're involved with.

- An embittered spouse, a psychotic

adversary, an obsessed admirer.

Not to mention the usual random acts of violence devoid

of motive.

- What makes this room safe in the event of such an attack?

- Primarily the door.

We use an oversized steel pocket door.

This is held closed by an electromagnet, which

is designed to resist any level of force

which may be applied against it, including explosives.

- My god.

You think those sorts of precautions are necessary?

This is a law firm, not the Pentagon.

- Hey, Leland.

My philosophy on the issue of security,

let's err on the side of caution.

Let's be too safe.

I'd sure as hell rather that than in the interests of not

seeming foolish or fearful finding

out that we're not safe enough.

- You were right, Leland.

It was the Bentley.

- Tell them about the Bentley.

- Arnold spoke to me about feeling that this was

a more overt and extreme expression of affluence

than his Porsche had been.

He's fearful of becoming a target

for any predatory individual who may seek to rob or kidnap him.

He enjoys owning the vehicle and does not desire to drive

anything less conspicuous.

So I advised him that for a fairly reasonable

amount of money, we could equip it with bulletproof glass

and doors.

- Did you do that?

- It's secured at NATO level 3.

- You've gone mad, Arnold.

- Gordon doesn't think so.

- Gentlemen, I don't know about you,

but the way I look at the world, the state of readiness

is nothing more than a prudent response to circumstances.

- I think you should plead guilty to aiding and abetting

and not guilty to conspiracy.

- Is that possible?

- Sure, it's possible.

- You recognize the error of your ways.

We attribute it to your youth, to the times,

then we line up a whole series of character witnesses

who will harp on the fact that you've been a solid citizen

for over 20 years.

- Faith, what do you think?

- You know what I think.

- Would you like to tell Stuart and Mr. Rollins what you think?

- What I think is that Barry did nothing wrong.

The United States government, and in particular,

the prison authorities, were engaged

in a campaign of systematic extermination

of the Black Panther Party.

He acted to save a man's life.

- OK, can we prove that?

- Well, we can try, Stuart.

And I think that if we harp on that, maybe

there's a chance he'll get off altogether.

- A very little chance.

- And he won't have to apologize for what he did.

- Faith, let's not predicate our entire defense on whether he

has to apologize or not.

- Why not?

- Because we have to do what we have to do.

If apologizing means he's gonna get a more lenient sentence,

we'll apologize.

- Stuart, it's not just an apology.

It's a denial of the legitimacy of everything I believe in.

- Jonathan, would you explain to them the pitfalls of turning

this into a political trial?

- Well, we risk alienating the jury, angering the judge.

And if we lose, we risk a much stiffer sentence.

On the other hand, if we can prove that Horus Washington's

life was in jeopardy because he was a Black Panther,

we can also claim that there was a legal justification

for aiding and abetting his escape attempt.

- Yeah, except we can't prove that his life was in jeopardy.

- How do you know?

- Oh, excuse me, you're right.

I don't know.

But my judgment tells me that it's highly unlikely.

My judgment tells me that this is an extremely stupid risk

to take.

And I am dumbfounded that as an attorney,

you would be willing to even consider it.

- If there is a way that he can walk

out of this free and clear, my inclination is to take it.

- Barry, hear me.

I think this is utterly insane.

The prison guard was killed.

- Mr. Rollins, since, as I understand it,

you'll be the one trying this case,

I would like to know if you are willing to defend

my husband in the manner in which he wants to be defended.

- Well, Stuart's absolutely right that this is a long shot.

As long as you understand that, I'm willing to see

where the evidence leads.

If we can build a credible case that Horus Washington's

life was in danger, then yeah, I'm willing to go

to court with that.

- Mr. Collins, let's redo the office

and telephone system sweeps.

We may want to double glaze these panels.

Let's check the electrical conduit.

- Hey. - New computer.

- Hey, what's going on?

- Mr. McKenzie, I spoke to you yesterday

about the need to scrutinize your janitorial personnel.

This is the reason why.

- What's the reason why?

Who are these people?

- This individual, for the price of a uniform,

gained access to your offices.

He was found in your file room.

And point of fact, he's not a janitor.

He's a private investigator hired by Carl Bullen

to obtain background information on your firm.

- How did you manage to find that out?

- We obtained a list of all janitorial personnel.

When my operative asked him to identify himself,

he provided a name that was not on this list.

Once he did that, we investigated further.

- I don't know about you, Leland,

but I rather like having this gentleman working for us.

- Mr. Bullen, why do you conduct investigations

on your employees?

- Because it makes good business sense.

Since we've been doing it, we've reduced employee theft by 65%.

On-the-job drug and alcohol abuse has been reduced by half.

- Why the policy of prohibiting coworkers from becoming

romantically involved?

- These relationships frequently deteriorate

into quote, unquote, "sexual harassment type situations."

- How did you learn that Mrs. Wheaton was having an affair

with her assistant manager?

- Through routine monitoring of office communications,

both on the phone and on the computer.

A practice, which I may say, we make no secret of.

- Why did you have your investigators

conduct surveillance on Mrs. Wheaton's behavior off the job?

- First of all, the surveillance was conducted

in an entirely legal manner.

The reason we had to do it was that Mrs. Wheaton's

personal behavior suggested that she could pose a serious threat

to the company.

- How so?

- She deceived us, and she deceived her husband.

Now, this indicates to me that Mrs. Wheaton is fundamentally

dishonest, not necessarily the kind of person

you would want overseeing millions of dollars

worth of merchandise.

In addition, every Value Square employee

is expected to reflect company values, traditional family

values, a love of country.

- Thank you, Mr. Bullen.

I have nothing further.

- I'm not through.

- Ms. Kelsey?

- Nothing further.

- Mr. Bullen, do you believe adultery is immoral?

- Objection.

- I'd like to answer that, if I may.

- You may not, sir.

Objection sustained.

- Mr. Bullen, am I correct in understanding that you think

the fact that you gave Mrs. Wheaton a paycheck entitled you

to monitor whom she associated with,

ate with, and slept with on her own time?

- You're the lawyer, sir.

But I think legally I have the right

to monitor employee activities which affect business,

whether those activities are conducted on the job or off.

- Do you have any evidence whatsoever that Mrs. Wheaton's

personal relationship with Mr. Ferris in any way

affected her job performance?

- No, but it could have.

- Mr. Bullen, you mentioned that you believe your employees are

obligated to reflect company values,

traditional family values.

Is that right?

- That's right.

- Do you monitor your employee's behavior as a means

of enforcing your moral vision?

- Objection.

- Overruled.

- I do what I can to maintain the highest

standards of honesty and integrity among my employees.

And I'm not ashamed to say that.

- And that's why you conducted this invasive surveillance

into Mrs. Wheaton's personal life, isn't it?

It was not because you thought she was a threat to business.

It was because you thought she was a loose woman who

needed to be yanked into line.

- It was both.

- Thank you, Mr. Bullen.

I have no further questions.

- Sorry to keep you waiting.

- No problem.

- Barry Glassman, formerly Jay Ellison.

My attorney, Jonathan Rollins.

This is Franklin Hovey.

- Very pleased to meet you.

- I understand you wanted to talk about the old days.

- The old days are upon me.

- So it seems.

- We thought your perspective would be very valuable to us.

- My perspective or my testimony?

- Both.

- You know, I saw you speak at a rally in Oakland once.

You were truly incredible.

- I'm glad you liked it.

- We were also hoping that you could provide us with the names

of other potential witnesses.

- Why did you think to call me? - Why?

- Yeah, why?

You don't know me.

You know some things about me, but we

have no personal knowledge of one another.

Why did you think you could call on me for anything?

- I was involved in the same struggle you were involved in.

And now-- now I need your help.

- We also felt that since we're planning

on making this into a political trial,

you might want to participate.

- I don't.

- Now, see, we'd be putting the policies of the United

States government on trial.

COINTELPRO, the assassinations of Fred Hampton, Mark Clark.

Potentially all of this would be relevant.

- We don't know how much the judge will let in,

but our intention is to mount a defense

based on the lives of Black Panthers being in danger.

- And I wish you the best of luck, but as I said before,

I have no interest in participating.

- If you don't mind me asking, what is

it that you're worried about?

- I'm worried about being identified as a Black Panther.

I'm worried about the effect that it

will have on my employer.

I'm worried about people coming back into my life

who I would rather not come back into my life.

Are you gonna tell me I shouldn't

be worried about those things?

Are you gonna tell me that I owe it to your client

because we were involved in the same struggle?

All right, look, you asked if I was willing to testify.

I said I wasn't.

There really is nothing more to say on that subject.

- Only that if you're not willing to testify voluntarily,

you should expect to be subpoenaed.

- I put in my time, gentlemen.

I served nine and one half years in a federal penitentiary.

Whatever your problem is, it's your problem.

I'm telling you I don't want to be dragged into it.

- I can't help that.

- Get out of my office.

[tense music]

- You want me to sit second chair to Jane Halliday?

- This isn't personal, Ann.

Carl simply feels that Jane has a better grasp of the issues.

- Then Carl is an idiot.

And if you let Jane take over this case,

you're a bigger idiot.

- I know this is difficult for you.

It's only natural that you'd want to protect your turf.

- This isn't about turf, Douglas.

This is about losing the case.

We're not gonna keep this guy as a client if we don't win.

- As managing partner, I have a responsibility

to protect the client's wishes, and the client wants Jane.

- The client wants someone he can control so that he

can use this trial to promote his

Neanderthal social philosophy.

What he needs is someone to protect him from himself.

- Are you sure you're not letting

your personal feelings cloud your professional judgment?

- What does that mean?

- You've had a jaundiced view of Jane from the start.

You wouldn't be suffering from QBS, would you?

- QBS?

- Queen Bee Syndrome.

Hmm?

- Carl.

- Leland.

- Can we expect any more clandestine attempts

to infiltrate our cleaning staff?

- I'll have you know that you guys are

the only ones who have ever intercepted

one of my covert operatives.

I'm very impressed.

- But you haven't answered my question.

- You sound a bit testy for a man

who is defending my right to conduct these investigations.

- How you manage your business is your business.

But when you start snooping around mine,

that's a different story.

And I won't tolerate it.

- I appreciate your candor, Leland.

Now I'll be candid with you.

Based on our background check, we

are very secure in doing business

with McKenzie-Brackman, although some of your colleagues are,

shall we say, a bit too colorful for my taste.

- I take that to mean that you're done.

- You have my word on it.

- Tell us, Ms. Wheaton, during your interview

for store manager, were you told that Value Square had

an interest in maintaining high moral standards

among its executives?

- Yes, I was.

- And when asked about your own moral character,

how did you respond?

- I said I considered myself a moral person.

- Were you having an extramarital affair

at that time?

- Objection.

- Overruled.

Witness may answer.

- No, I was not.

- You did, however, have an affair while you

were working at Value Square?

- Yes.

- At the time that you were conducting the affair,

were you living at home with your husband?

- Yes, we were trying to work things out.

- Tell us, Ms. Wheaton, in December of 1992,

did you go to the Women's Health Clinic

for the purpose of aborting an unwanted pregnancy?

- What? - Objection.

That is totally irrelevant.

- I believe I'm entitled to explore the plaintiff's

character, Your Honor.

- Only insofar as it affects her work, Ms. Halliday.

Objection sustained.

- Did it affect your work to find that you were pregnant,

Ms. Wheaton? - Objection.

- Overruled. - I wasn't pregnant very long.

- Did having an abortion as a means

of getting rid of an inconvenient pregnancy

affect your work?

- Objection.

- Sustained.

- I agonized over that decision.

I was 39 years old.

I desperately wanted to have a baby.

- You stated that you were a moral person.

- Ms. Halliday.

- Adultery, promiscuity, aborting a baby

conceived while sleeping around. - Objection.

- Are these examples of what it means to you to be moral?

- Your Honor.

- Ms. Halliday, one more word, and I'll hold you in contempt.

Ms. Wheaton, you may step down.

I'm instructing the jury to disregard

defense counsel's questions.

They are, in no way, relevant to this case.

I don't know what you're trying to accomplish, Counselor.

But let me tell you, I find your conduct in this courtroom

to be highly unprofessional as well

as personally reprehensible.

If I have to declare a mistrial, believe me,

I will hold you in contempt.

In the interest of trying to avoid that,

I suggest strongly that you change your approach.

- Yes, Your Honor.

- Court's in recess.

[tense music]

- I need for you to do the summation.

- Why?

Were you unhappy with some aspect

of your performance yesterday?

- I think that both the judge and the jury

perceive me in a fairly unsympathetic light.

Consequently, I think I'm probably no longer effective.

- You weren't effective to begin with.

- Maybe not.

- The truth is you don't know enough to know

when you're being effective.

You told a client what he wanted to hear

and then you patted yourself on the back

because he agreed with you.

- Look, I made a mistake.

I was humiliated for it in open court.

I am asking you to try and contain

the damage that's been done.

If you have to take your pound of flesh, go ahead and take it.

- I don't want a pound of flesh, Jane.

I just want to win this case.

Toward that end, you bet your ass I'll do the summation.

- Sliding pocket door, electromagnetic locking system.

Cellular phone, we'll stash in there, and your toilet.

In the event of an attack, you retreat in here, call for help

and wait.

- Is it all right to use the space for other things

when we're not under attack?

- Absolutely.

- Mm-hmm.

- Has the world really changed this much?

- What do you mean?

- I mean we've been in business here for over 40 years.

No one's ever thought of installing a safe room,

or doing background checks on the cleaning people,

or any of this.

Did we need to do it before?

- Probably not.

- So why do we need to do it now?

- Because the world has changed that much,

and our capability of neutralizing those who would

do us harm must change with it.

This door will be fully operational by the end

of business Friday.

I would not advise using it before then.

- Let's just hope we don't find ourselves

under attack before then.

- I assume you're being sardonic.

- Yeah.

- If you're genuinely concerned, there are some alternatives

we can consider.

- That really is not necessary.

- For 15 years, Leslie Wheaton was a conscientious employee

of Value Square Stores.

She was loyal to her employer.

She trusted her employer.

Now, Leslie Wheaton has done absolutely nothing

against the law.

She has never once let her private life

interfere with her professional responsibilities.

Yet her phones were tapped, her email monitored,

a private investigator sent to follow her every move.

And Value Square says that because they

told her this was company policy, that makes it all OK.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, that does not make it all OK.

By their intrusive surveillance techniques,

Value Square has clearly violated Leslie Wheaton's

privacy and in so doing have caused

her enormous emotional distress.

Now most of us, we spend the majority of our time at work,

and our employer is entitled to our full commitment

during work hours.

But they are not entitled to invade

the privacy of the few hours that we have left.

They are not entitled to decide whom we sleep with,

how we spend our free time, and most importantly, how

we choose to live our lives.

- Nobody likes the idea of someone spying on them.

If a stranger listened in on our phone conversations,

we'd be outraged, and rightfully so.

The difference here is that Value Square wasn't a stranger.

Value Square was Leslie Wheaton's employer.

And that makes all the difference in the world.

It is a well-settled point of law

that employers have the right to monitor their employees

at work, whether that means telephone calls,

email, or physical observation.

What Value Square did was legal.

Now, you might well ask, was it necessary?

I'd like you to imagine for a moment

that you are Value Square.

You employ over 20,000 people.

Legally and financially, you are responsible for what

each and every one of them does while he

or she is working for you.

Carl Bullen did what anyone who runs

a company that size has to do.

He set up a code of conduct.

He told his employees what it was.

He told them what he would do to enforce it,

and he told them that he expected

everyone to abide by it.

Now, if Leslie Wheaton found any part of that objectionable,

she had a very simple and a very effective alternative.

She could have worked for someone else.

She chose to work for Carl Bullen.

She is not entitled to be compensated because he

did what he's entitled to do.

- So in the event of an attack, this is where you go.

- What kind of an attack?

- Any kind of an attack.

At the first sign of engagement, you come in here.

You slide the door shut.

Throw the switch, which activates the electromagnet.

We are now secure.

- I thought the first sign of engagement is usually a shot.

- Not necessarily.

From what Gordon says, there are any number of incidents where

somebody shows up and waits quite

a while before turning violent.

- Well, I guess you'll have to have

the receptionist stall them while all the lawyers

tiptoe to hide in here, huh?

- You go ahead and laugh, but the truth

is attorneys are on the front lines of potentially

violent conflicts every day.

Clients hire us to be gunslingers.

Their enemies become our enemies.

- Look, Arnold, you've convinced me, but I got to go home,

so can you open the door?

- I just want to say one more thing.

- What?

- These measures aren't just to protect the attorneys.

They're to protect everyone who works here.

I'm just as concerned for your safety as I am about my own.

- Well, I love you for it.

Now, open the door.

I want to go, OK?

- All right.

- What's wrong?

- The door appears to be stuck.

- What do you mean, it's stuck?

- I can't get it open.

- Maybe somebody can open it from the outside.

- Ah.

Hello?

- Hello?

- Hello? Open the door!

- Hello?

- What about the cleaning people?

- There are no cleaning people.

- What do you mean, there are no cleaning people?

- Gordon didn't want any cleaning

people coming in until he could do background checks on them.

- Oh, well, that's just great.

Is there a phone here?

- That's right.

There's supposed to be a cellular phone somewhere.

Which they apparently have not put in yet!

- Great. So what are you telling me?

We have to stay here till tomorrow morning?

- I guess so.

You'll have to admit that this is an occasion

not without opportunity.

- Mm-hmm, yeah.

[knocking on door]

Let me call you back.

You here with a subpoena?

- No, no, my client doesn't want to serve you with a subpoena.

He wants to respect your wishes.

- And you weren't able to talk him out of that?

- As a matter of fact, I wasn't.

- You're gonna get your name in the papers on this one,

aren't you?

- I might.

- Ain't no might about it.

- Do you think that's important?

- You think it's important.

You know that you've really got yourself a hot case.

The Black Panther Party is about due for a revival now,

don't you think?

It must be the 20th or 25th anniversary of something.

We'll see black leather jackets and berets in the stores.

And you'll be cashing in on all of it.

- You know, Mr. Hovey, I understand your desire

to stay out of this.

What I would ask you to understand

is that I'm representing my client

the same way I'm sure you wanted your lawyer to represent you.

I also think since my name is going to be in the newspapers,

it might as well be there for doing something useful.

- I always get frightened when I'm up at this hour.

- What's there to be frightened of?

We're in a safe room.

- A safe room protects you from other people.

It doesn't protect you from yourself.

- Why don't we just get as comfortable as we possibly can?

You can lie over there, and I'm gonna lie over here.

And maybe we can get some sleep.

And then in the morning, somebody

will come and let us out.

- Denise?

- Hmm?

- Do you mind talking for a while?

Just-- just for a little while.

- Sure.

- It's the only way I have of bridging the abyss,

so to speak.

To swaddle myself in human contact

to stave off the realization of one's own mortality,

one's insignificance, the difficulty

of establishing intimacy, the impossibility

of maintaining it.

Ugh.

- Look, I don't know about mortality and insignificance,

but I thought as far as intimacy was concerned,

you did OK in that department.

- I used to think I did.

I used to validate my very existence by

the endless conquest of women.

Beautiful women, models, Playboy playmates, movie star.

I'm not gonna say who it is, but I once went to bed

with a very famous movie star.

She was nominated for an Academy Award.

- Mm.

- She was on the cover of a different magazine every month.

She was a very, very famous movie star.

- OK, OK, Arnold, I get it.

- The point is it didn't matter.

I'm alone.

And I'm desperately unhappy.

- Are you?

- Yes, I am.

- You are alone, aren't you?

- You were always so shocked to hear me say that.

- You're alone, and you're scared.

And the truth is at 3 o'clock in the morning, all the things

that you own, the clothes, the house, the Bentley,

they don't even matter.

- No, they don't.

- Being a big-shot lawyer, that doesn't matter.

- No.

- And all the women you slept with, they don't

matter, either.

- What does matter?

- What matters is having someone to hold you and talk to you

and lull you back to sleep.

What matters is loving and trusting

a person enough to survive 3 o'clock in the morning.

- You see right through me, don't you?

- Yeah, I do.

- I have to tell you something, Denise.

- What?

- I think you could be that person for me.

You could talk to me and hold me and lull me back to sleep.

I could love and trust you.

- Stand clear.

Clear, clear, clear.

I believe I told you this door was not yet functional.

- Oh, thank god.

- How did you know that we were in here?

- No doubt you're unaware of it, but there's a microphone

and a transmitter in here in the event

that persons inside are incapacitated

or the cellular phone is inoperable.

- Wait, wait, wait.

Wait a second.

You just heard everything that we said in here?

- I myself did not.

The members of my staff who monitor the frequency,

they would have.

If you'll excuse me, I have to get to rearming this door.

- Thank god he showed up, huh?

- Denise?

- What?

- What about what I just said?

- What?

What I said about you being the one.

- Me?

Forget about it.

- Members of the jury, have you reached a verdict?

- We have, Your Honor.

- What say you?

- In the matter of Wheaton Versus Value Square

on the issue of the intentional infliction

of emotional distress, we find for the defendant.

On the issue of invasion of privacy,

we find for the plaintiff and award the sum of $1.

- And my thanks to the jury.

We're adjourned.

- Ms. Kelsey, I want to thank you.

- You're very welcome.

I'm glad it worked out.

- No thanks to me, right?

- Lawyers and clients don't always see eye-to-eye.

- Well, I hope you'll accept my apology and my business.

I'd like to put McKenzie-Brackman

on a permanent retainer.

- Great.

- Ms. Halliday, could I speak to you for a moment?

- I'll see you back at the office.

- I also owe you an apology.

- It's not necessary.

- Well, I believe it is necessary.

My going to Douglas Brackman put you in an awkward position

with your firm.

I wasn't thinking about you.

I should have been thinking about you.

- Thank you for saying that.

- You're an excellent attorney, Ms. Halliday.

I hope it's possible that we can work together again.

- Given that you've retained our firm, I'm sure it is possible.

- I know this is out of the blue,

but I'm doing business in Dallas this weekend

and I was hoping you might accompany me.

- This weekend?

- Yes, we could take the company jet and stay in my condo

at Turtle Creek.

- You know what?

I can't this weekend, but maybe one of our other attorneys

is available.

Let me find out.

- Jane, it's your particular point of view I need.

It's you I want.

- Mr. Bullen, you're a married man, and I am your attorney.

That means taking care of legal matters,

so I'm going to forget that we ever had this conversation.

I sincerely hope that you will do the same.

- I think you misunderstood me.

- I understood you perfectly.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work.

[knocking on door]

- Yeah, come in.

Mr. Hovey.

- Can I talk with you for a minute?

- Sure, sure.

- [sighs] You can't imagine what the world outside looks like

after you've been to prison.

The simplest things-- driving a car, going to the store,

playing with your kid, they're what I used to dream

about when I was in prison.

I'm not very political.

- Pretty human, though.

- How much do you know about Horus Washington?

- Just what I've read.

- He started out being just another hoodlum

and transformed himself into one of the smartest,

bravest men I've ever known.

- Do you believe his life was in danger?

- If you were a member of the Black Panther Party,

your life was in danger.

That's a given.

- Did prison authorities do anything

to make that danger imminent?

Did they threaten him in any way?

- The prison authorities murdered him, OK?

They wiped him out.

However they made it look about him escaping,

whatever they may have said about him carrying a gun,

they murdered him.

- Will you help me prove that?

- You were right about me treating you disrespectfully.

You have a just cause.

As far as I know, you're an honorable man.

If nothing else, you should be treated with respect.

I apologize.

- Your apology is accepted.

- I've been very careful since I got out of prison.

I go to work in the morning, and I come home at night.

I don't make any noise.

I don't associate with anyone I used to know.

It's like I made this deal in my mind

that as long as I didn't make anyone mad at me,

they'd leave me alone.

I'd be allowed to hold on to whatever it is that I have.

You want me to testify, Mr. Rollins?

- Yes, I do.

- Because no one ever got hurt for standing up

and speaking the truth, right?

You tell me where and when you want me to show up.

I'll be there.

[tense music]

[knocking on door]

- Do you have a minute?

- Come in.

- After you left in the court hallway,

Carl Bullen propositioned me.

- Did he?

- Said he was looking forward to our working together

and asked me to go to Dallas with him for the weekend.

- I guess old Carl is not as much of a believer in family

values as he says he is.

You'll understand if I don't appear to be all that shocked.

- I never saw it coming.

- There's no reason you should have.

- I'm sure I've confirmed your worst suspicions about me

and Christian women in general.

- We've all misjudged people.

I don't want you to think that I don't know what it's like being

a young attorney starting a career, what it's like being

a young woman attorney.

I don't want you to think you're all alone here

because you're not.

- We don't have to be enemies, do we, Ann?

- No, we don't.

- I'm glad.

- You're gifted.

- What do you mean?

- Well, I mean you trifled with me, and you did it brilliantly.

- I don't know what you're referring to.

- You led me on.

You invited me to reveal more and more of myself.

You said all the right things.

And then you crushed me like a bug.

- Gee, I'm so sorry.

- Oh, no, it's quite all right.

You inspired me.

I learned from the experience.

Someday I'm gonna do the same thing to someone else.

- [sighs]

- How are the kids holding up?

- They're OK.

- I think Josh is actually pretty

impressed his old man tried to bust somebody out of jail.

- How long have you known about it?

- I've known a long time.

I'm one of the people he hid out with in Paris.

- How did he come to hide out with you?

- There's an underground.

I was part of it.

People we knew contacted us, told us he would be coming.

Though the first time I saw him, I thought he

was just an American tourist.

- She fell in love the minute she laid eyes on me.

- I don't think so.

- So Frank Hovey is willing to testify, you know?

- Yes, I know.

I think that's great.

- I hope so.

- You sound dubious.

- Well, you know how I feel about it, Faith.

I think it's risky to make this trial be

about the Black Panther Party.

- That's not what we're doing, Stuart.

Hovey was in the same cell block as Horus Washington.

He's in a position to testify that Washington's

life was in danger.

- Yeah, OK.

But if we start getting into a lot of rhetoric,

it's gonna hurt us.

- You know, I got to ask you guys something.

Are you worried that being involved in this case

is going to hurt business?

- What?

- I mean, we've been friends a long time, Ann.

Let's be honest with each other.

- Wait a minute, Faith.

What makes you think that we're concerned about that?

- When I hear that Ann is representing people

like Carl Bullen, it makes me wonder about the politics

of your firm.

- My representation of Carl Bullen

has nothing to do with politics.

- Come on, Ann.

He contributes to every right-wing cause on the map.

- Yeah, but she's not representing him in any

of his right-wing causes.

She's representing him in an employment dispute.

- Stuart, I think it's safe to say

that Carl Bullen wouldn't be crazy about the idea

of you representing me.

- And what if he did?

- What if he did?

I'd tell him what I'll tell you.

It's not your concern.

- You're getting a little defensive, aren't you?

- Am I?

Maybe I don't like having our commitment to you questioned.

Maybe I don't like having to submit

to a political consciousness test because of the clients

I represent.

- Well, forgive me, Ann, but I can't

be all that concerned about your delicate sensibilities.

Your firm is representing my husband.

I have to be concerned about your commitment.

If I were a lawyer, I know what the degree of my commitment

would be.

But then again, if I were a lawyer,

I wouldn't be representing Carl Bullen.

- Well, you're not a lawyer, Faith,

and you weren't asked to represent him.

- I think we should steer clear of politics

as a topic of conversation.

- Yeah, right.

The prosecutor thinks I'm radical.

They don't think that we're radical enough.

Yeah, I think we should definitely

steer clear of politics.

- How is everything?

- Everything's fine.

Thanks.

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