Lisa’s trial followed the path most trials follow.
On The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 Episode 4, Mickey and his team worked hard to fill in some missing information about why Lisa was the prime suspect in the murder and why the DA’s office was prosecuting her instead of someone else.
Andrea and Mickey continued their game of wits, with one person making a bold move and the other making an even bolder one.
While many legal loopholes are annoying and can sometimes be dangerous for both parties, some are quite hilarious.
It is always fun when a lawyer moves to bury their opponent in legal documents during discovery. Seeing boxes upon boxes of mostly useless documents fill up a lawyer’s office, their exasperation, and then the exchange that happens due to frustration is always comical.
Man: Where do you want this?
Mickey: How many more are there?
Man: About 80 total, give or take.
Mickey: Eighty more boxes?
Man: No, sandwiches.
The hope is to overwhelm the other person so they’re too exhausted to put on a spirited fight, or their fighting spirit dies and then agrees to a plea deal.
Mickey and his team took the first step any lawyer takes when they are trying to figure out how to defend their client: attempting to figure out why their client is a suspect in the first place.
In Lisa’s case, figuring out why the prosecution would go hard on her was difficult. She and Bondurant had a history. He had even filed a restraining order against her meaning the judge had found sufficient grounds to allow one.
Finally — this is usually the final nail in the coffin — there was a witness.
Lorna thought ahead and tried to discredit the witness, but the witness disproved Lorna’s eyesight.
Realizing that they won’t succeed in arguing that Lisa was not guilty in the least on The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2, they took the next logical step.
Lorna knew this was not a typical case because of Lisa and Mickey’s former relationship, and she brought that to his attention.
Lorna: I don’t wanna say this out loud, but sometimes the simplest answer is the right one. Maybe Lisa did it.
Mickey: Why wouldn’t you say that out loud?
Lorna: Because you’ve never represented someone you’ve slept with, and we’re all watching what we say around here. because you’re not exactly unbiased.
The next logical step is to look at the victim. What were they involved in? Did they have any criminal history? Who were they involved with? Do their acquittances also have a criminal record?
Working in a law office is as hard a job as any other. To an outsider, it might look like all lawyers do is show up at court to throw out some legal jargon, scream on top of each other, and, whatever the case, make bank.
But behind the scenes, we have sleepless nights searching for the minor details that can make a difference, playing detectives to understand better the circumstances under which the crime occurred, dealing with people who would instead do anything else than give them the time of day.
Then there’s the stress of having someone’s life in your hands and the personal price they have to pay.
Mickey had been all that, but it was not a destination. Being a lawyer is a journey that one makes over and over again. And it had begun with sleepless nights.
In going through the discovery material, Izzy noticed that a hammer had been missing from the toolbox belonging to Lisa, leading to Mickey asking her questions about it.
She sounded pretty sincere in answering his questions, and it didn’t appear like she lied. Except for the fact that it was very convenient that the only person who could corroborate her story and maybe tell where the hammer went was nowhere to be found.
And then she did something that she always did whenever Mickey asked hard questions. She would tell a sob story tuning her emotions just right, and then she would say something light-hearted, and finally, an act of kindness that involved flirting with Mickey too.
Mickey would be left smiling like a proper idiot.
Okay, let’s be clear on something. Lisa is a client. Nothing more, nothing less. Like any client, she deserves our full scrutiny. You think she’s guilty? Go ahead, make your case.
Mickey
It happened on The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 Episode 1 and The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 Episode 2. It was not surprising that Mickey didn’t clock the pattern.
There is a fair chance that this might be all innocent and she’s not guilty of the crime, but we must keep our eyes open because clients lie.
Mickey took on another case about a juvenile offender accused of vandalism. It brought Mickey in front of a judge who they had a history together.
Courtrooms are usually straight to the point, so finding a judge who doesn’t entirely adhere to the set rules of conduct is refreshing.
I bet it is never a dull day for the bailiff or the court recorder in her courtroom.
She was so funny I caught myself laughing out loud whenever she spoke.
Mickey: Judge, um, sidebar? Please?
Judge Sandy: You see the size of this room, Mr. Haller? We can all hear everything. But if you’d like to pretend we’re downtown, you’re welcome to speak in hushed whispers by my chair.
It is not a clear-cut issue regarding artwork being prosecuted as vandalism. Sometimes it can be a witch hunt because the powers that be don’t want a particular message getting out. It makes politicians uncomfortable when a mural criticizing their policies shows up in real-life 4K.
Other times, someone truly morally bankrupt can make inappropriate artwork, which the law should prosecute. The task is figuring out what’s genuinely inappropriate.
If you’ve been following along with our The Lincoln Lawyer episode guide, you know that a black wall was barely anything worth losing a night’s sleep.
But Mickey found a way to get a payday for his client.
Andrea tried to give Mickey an option with a plea deal, but Mickey had worked with enough prosecutors to know they don’t do anything just like that. He knew she was trying to hide something.
The search revealed that there were other people with a motive just as strong as Lisa’s, if not stronger, to kill Bondurant.
Yet a few hours later, Andrea walked back her offer.
It might have been true that Andrea knew the discovery significantly weakened her case, but she then discovered something else even more damning.
The obvious thing would have been the well-kept secret of the former relationship between Mickey and his client. That’s reason enough for a judge to kick him off the case.
Or it might be something else to do with Lisa. She is hiding something, and a keen enough prosecutor would be able to see it.
Elsewhere, Cisco found his friend trying to skip town.
This storyline feels off as it has no bearing on the general story apart from the effect it might have on Cisco and his ability to be an effective investigator, but it also provides plenty for us to capture with our The Lincoln Lawyer quotes.
I hope they are working towards something here; otherwise, I’m afraid we might have another Maggie-like storyline to contend with.
“Discovery” played out like one would expect a trial of this nature, but it was not dull or predictable.
What do you think Andrea has found that gives her so much courage? Hit the comments.
Denis Kimathi is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He has watched more dramas and comedies than he cares to remember. Catch him on social media obsessing over [excellent] past, current, and upcoming shows or going off about the politics of representation on TV. Follow him on Twitter.