- Harvey finally gets his chance to take on Elliott Stemple, a man who beat Harvey three times in moot court and has avoided him since. Meanwhile, Dana Scott picks a fight with Louis.
- As a profound thank you gift to Harvey (the man who has everything), Mike sets him up with a simple court case against an old Harvard nemesis who beat him three times in moot court and has avoided him ever since. The guy proves to be a deft manipulator, but he's never had to deal with Harvey with Mike at his side. Scottie, in order to build a reputation for herself, fights Louis for control of his case, but it's a fight Louis can't afford to lose.—statmanjeff
- In their apartment, Mike gets Rachel a nice present and he wants to do the same for Harvey. She suggests he get Harvey "something money can't buy."
Mike tells Donna he needs to get Harvey something to let him know what he means to him. After telling him it's impossible, she comes up with an idea.
Board meeting. Jessica introduces Scottie as the newest partner. She requests taking lead on an acquisition by a company called Franklin Courier. The company is Louis' client and he (running ten minutes late) is furious when Scottie uses a technically in the bylaws (that he himself wrote) to take the transaction away from him.
Mike drops a folder on Harvey's desk. His present is a trial against A. Elliott Stemple, an attorney for a Fortune 500 company who beat Harvey three times in law school moot court but has been ducking Harvey ever since.
Louis asks Jessica where he falls in the pecking order in relation to Scottie. He thinks he's being screwed over because she's sleeping with Harvey. She thinks he's wasting an opportunity to try and bond with a new partner and change the way he's viewed at the firm.
Louis waits for Scottie in her office with a gift, saying he wants to be friends, but immediately after giving her the gift he asks for the case back. She says no and he declares war, instituting a clause that says all new lawyers must have the attorney of record present during client meetings.
Stemple and Harvey cross paths in the hallway of the court building and exchange malicious banter.
Within court, Harvey surprises Stemple by joining Mike at the table. Stemple immediately tries to remove himself but Mike and Harvey are prepared for every one of his ploys.
Stemple pays Mike a visit at the firm. He gives him a sob story and asks for Mike to let him out of the trial. Mike declines, pointing out that his excuses (no family, no children, mediocre career) are a complete fabrication.
Scottie tells Harvey she intentionally picked a fight with Louis. Her goal is to gain a reputation outside of being Harvey's girlfriend. He's worried because Louis just did Harvey a huge favor. She admits to having also done something sneaky (under Harvey's name).
Louis waits for Harvey, telling him he was up all night working on the favor he asked. Louis realizes that Harvey has no idea what he's talking about, leaving Harvey to admit Scottie sent the request using his computer (a trick to keep him awake).
When Louis returns to his office, he finds that Scottie has sabotaged him again by tricking Katrina into not writing a needed proposal for Louis. Scottie drops by to drop off the proposal SHE wrote. Louis decides to sabotage Scottie's proposal
At the deposition, Harvey's client says his microchip is equal to that of Stemple's client, but clients are bullied into not doing business with them. Stemple presents "independent analysis" and offers a somewhat fair settlement, which Mike and Harvey realize is a frequently used tactic of Stemple's so that he can use it against them in court. Stemple then begins to tell Harvey's client about some of Harvey's past cases to try and make him look bad (as a lawyer who attacks other lawyers at a cost to his own clients). On his way out of the room, Stemple whispers to Harvey that his independent analyst will say whatever he wants him to.
Stemple's admission, unfortunately, isn't picked up by the recorder, so Mike and Harvey decide to bluff with the judge by saying they have Stemple admitting wrong-doing on camera. It works and the judge forces Stemple to give Harvey access to the raw data from his independent analyst.
For the meeting with the client, Louis sabotages Scottie. He figures out the contractor she would offer and creates the presence of malfeasance. The hope is that this will erode the client's trust in Scottie.
Stemple brings Harvey the data and asks him to settle. Harvey says no. The two of them rehash their battles from law school. Stemple states he had to cheat to beat Harvey at Harvard.
Donna suggests that Louis make amends with Scottie. She thinks Scottie has enough baggage being with Harvey.
During the next trial session, Stemple's analyst says the performance of the chips is identical, then agrees that it's possible Harvey's client stole the technology from Stemple's client. It's bogus, but the perception coming from a witness that Harvey called was what Stemple was looking for the entire time.
Scottie shows Louis she has cause to remove him from the bylaw committee if he doesn't leave her alone with the case. They fight.
After court, Stemple admits to Harvey and Mike that he set them up. He intentionally made the claim after the deposition. He's been playing Harvey the entire time, even by claiming to have bribed the jury in moot court.
Harvey goes to Jessica and tells her he's not sure what to do next with Stemple. She tells him that he should do the opposite of what Stemple wants, which is to settle. Mike comes in and says that, while Jessica's reasoning is correct, her conclusion is wrong. What Stemple wants is a fight, but it had nothing to do with Harvey.
Prior to the next court session, Harvey and Mike tell Stemple they are onto him. Stemple hopes they would fight so that, during discovery, he could get his hands on a special kind of glue that Harvey's client uses. This is corporate espionage, so they counter that Stemple drop the suit, admit to wrongdoing, and pay them a large settlement. Stemple has no choice but to accept.
Mike and Harvey return to the firm from a celebration dinner, Harvey's treat. Donna tells Mike that Jessica wants to see him.
Jessica calls Mike to her office. She's gotten a call from the New York Lawyer wanting to talk about their case, but she wants to take Mike off the case entirely so that he doesn't get near the spotlight and have it become an interrogation. Mike understands the need for this and agrees.
Louis tells Harvey he figured out that Scottie intentionally went after him. Harvey tells him her reasoning, but Louis thinks he can't lose this fight without losing his reputation as the toughest guy in the firm. He wants Harvey to use his power to give him the case over Scottie. Harvey asks if he's asking as a friend or calling in a favor. Louis says it's a favor. Harvey says he's disappointed and that Louis can't have it both ways.
Mike gets home to find that Rachel has already laid out the furnishings very attractively. Mike shares that Harvey took him out to dinner. Rachel suggests the next reward would be a promotion. Mike, on the surface, agrees, but she can't see his glum face to see that a promotion can never happen (due in his circumstance as a fraud).
Harvey asks Scottie to give Louis the transaction. She asks for a reason, but Harvey won't tell her the nature of the favor Louis did for him. She asks if she's talking to her boyfriend or a name partner, adding that he can't have it both ways (unknowingly echoing what Harvey himself just said to Louis). After a pause, he says she's talking to a name partner.
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