Just Cause

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Pilot: Part 1

Alexandra DeMonaco (Elizabeth Lackey) has just been let out of Mendocino Women's Prison for a crime she didn't commit. Her husband, Jason, embezzled $5 million from his company, leaving her holding the bag and escaping with their daughter, Mia. While in prison Alex attained her law degree online, first as an attempt to get back at her husband and then as a passion to "never leave a homegirl hangin' ." In addition to navigating life as an ex-con and staying on the good side of her strict, no-nonsense parole officer, Alex's first priority on the outside is finding her guilty husband, she is also trying to get a pardon from the governor so she can practice law. For this, she enlists the help of Hamilton Whitney, a straight-laced, by-the-book attorney who reluctantly agrees to take her on as a paralegal in exchange for his services. In both Part 1 and 2 of the pilot, Alex stumbles upon an inconsistency in a case involving a large corporation called Coltar. The company Mr. Whitney represents did the accounting for Coltar and were fired supposedly for overly conservative accounting practices, however Alex believes there may be illegal activity going on, and her findings lead to something even Mr. Whitney didn't expect.

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Pilot: Part 2

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Human Trials

Uri's mother believes in democracy and equality, not like in her native country of Russia. So when her healthy 12 year old falls into a coma for inexplicable reasons, she demands to know why. Having cleaned the home of one of Whitney's former clients, she decides to appeal to his team to help her find out why her son is sick. It turns out Uri was a patient at Hope Clinic, a flourishing non-profit clinic founded by an idealistic, free-spirited Dr. Tolkien fresh out of medical school. Dr. Tolkien put Uri on an experimental asthma treatment medicine, Clorvax, which was nearly identical to his more expensive name brand asthma medicine, but something went horribly wrong. Alex and Whitney are determined to find out what, and are making good headway when a conflict-of-interest suit (which may not be so coincidental) threatens to jeopardize not only their case, but Alex's new life as well.

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Above the Law

Alex knows life on the outside can be a lot to handle. That's why she's more than willing to help her friend Gloria, another recent parolee from Mendocino Women's Prison, adjust to her new life and leave her old one behind. Only Gloria's old life finds a way of catching up with her when Brad Ryan, her old boyfriend, supplier, and dirty cop comes calling. At first he tries to seduce her back into her old ways, and when she still resists he pushes her off a roof. Although the police findings are inconclusive, Alex is unconvinced that Gloria's tragic death was an accident. She urges Whitney, Heller, and Peggy to dig deeper into Gloria's past, and eventually the California law enforcement system. Although Brad Ryan has friends in all the right places, and is skilled at evading all allegations and charges, he gets more than he bargained for with Alex DeMonaco leading the charge.

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Lama Hunt

Chen Sutherland is a normal Californian nine-year-old boy. He likes to skateboard and play video games, and hang out with his friends. He may also be the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Alex DeMonaca and Mr. Whitney get involved in a custody battle when the Sutherlands, Chen's adoptive parents must fight to prove they have a right to be Chen's guardians. Six year prior, they adopted Chen from a Chinese orphanage, feeling incredibly lucky to have found a boy, a rarity in patriarchal China. The Hongs, a couple claiming to be Chen's biological parents, allege that their son was stolen from them and that the Sutherlands' adoption was illegal. Alex soon discovers that the Hongs are represented by the Chinese government who had a political stake in reclaiming custody of Chen, and that Chen is not Chinese at all but Tibetan. Unbeknownst to his parents, he is visited by Tibetan Buddhist monks who believe Chen may be the "Penchan Lama," second in command to the Dalai Lama himself. Alex and Whitney must fight to keep Chen out of the grips of the Chinese government and to prove that he is not Chinese at all.

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Tonia with an O

Tonia, with an "O", is a worker at Speedway Burger who knows how to take care of herself, and wants to take care of everyone else. After she is fired for trying to start up a union among the other workers and giving away leftover burgers to a homeless man named Murphy who lives in the alley behind the restaurant, she decides to hire a legitimate lawyer to represent her. Alex, Whitney, and Heller advise her of her rights and convince the manager of the Speedway to hire her back. During clean up one night, after giving Murphy a few extra burgers, Tonia observes her manager entering the meatpacking freezer and marking certain boxes with black X's. She questions him about it and he brushes her off. The next day, on her way into work Tonia learns that Murphy has died. Similarly, Alex spends most of the morning in the bathroom with what Leon suspects may be Ecoli poisoning. Whitney's team decides to investigate the matter with Tonia's help, and the help of her ex Dwayne who may know more than he is willing to tell.

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Code of Silence

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Bet Your Life

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Making News

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The Last to Know

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Fading Star

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The Wives of Christmas Past

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Death's Details

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Dream House

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Buried Past

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Dying to Be Thin

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Lies, Speculation & Deception

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Hide and Seek

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Reasonable Doubts

Leon gets a chance to retry the case that made him give up practicing law. It seems like he learns that there may have been misconduct by the prosecution and Kaplan was the prosecutor. Alex helps him. She finds some witnesses who say that Kaplan ignored and buried some evidence. Kaplan denies doing that. Alex does some more digging and learns that the witnesses may not be reliable.

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Blackboard Jungle

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Trial by Memory

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The Closing

Whit tries to help the man who helped him get started in private practice, whose son was a friend of his. It seems his business is in trouble and they're trying to iron out a buy out. But Alex senses something wrong and tries to find out. In the meantime, the man is having problems with his grandson that stem from his son's death which was under suspicious circumstances.