Legal English with Harvey and Mike from Suits: Pilot
(Season 1 Episode 1)
a PARALEGAL – asystent prawny (a person trained to undertake legal work but not qualified as a professional solicitor or barrister)
HARVEY: Well, first of all, Gerald, if you
think anyone's gonna touch this deal after your bad faith, you're mistaken. Second, the way our agreement works is
the minute Cooper signed the deal which gave you everything you wanted,
our fee was due and payable,
which is why at 7:30 I received confirmation
of a wire transfer from Escrow indicating payment in full.
BAD FAITH – zła wiara (dishonesty or fraud in a
transaction, an intent to deceive or mislead another in order to gain some
advantage)a FEE – wynagrodzenie (money paid for work carried out by a
professional person, such as a lawyer or an accountant
DUE AND PAYABLE – należne i płatne/ wymagalne (a
specified amount of money is due and the time has arrived where payment is
required)
DUE – należne (when a debt
accrues (accumulates))
PAYABLE – płatne (when the
obligation to pay it arises)
a CONFIRMATION OF A WIRE
TRANSFER – potwierdzenie przelewu bankowego (information that money has been
moved from one bank account to another)
ESCROW – rachunek Escrow (an account, typically at a bank, in which funds are held in trust for
future distribution, the distribution may take place when a given obligation is
performed)
PAYMENT IN FULL – płatność w
całości (the giving of all funds due to another)
HARVEY: Can we please skip the recruiting? I
work better alone anyway.
JESSICA: Well, I would, Harvey, except
all senior partners get an
associate. It's just a rule.
LOUIS: I'm sorry, what? Jessica, I deserve
that promotion. My billables destroy
his. And I'm here night and day doing whatever's needed instead of swanning in
and out of here whenever I please.
HARVEY: I must admit, he does make me sound
very swan-like.
JESSICA: Harvey, shut up. Louis, this is how
it is. Alright? Now, you two make nice.
a SENIOR PARTNER – starszy
partner, wspólnik kancelarii (a partner in a law firm whose level of
involvement and responsibility (risks and rewards) is greater than that of the
junior partners)
an ASSOCIATE pracownik
kancelarii, młodszy prawnik (a lower-level lawyer working for a law firm)
BILLABLES (rozliczane/
fakturowane) godziny pracy (a number of hours worked by an attorney that a
client is charged for= has to pay for)
DONNA: Rick Sorkin? Excuse me, Mr. Sorkin,
you are 5 minutes late, is there a reason why I should let you in?
MIKE: Look, look, I'm just trying to ditch
the cops, okay? I don't-, I don't really care if you let me in or not.
DONNA: Mr. Specter will be right with you.
MIKE: What?
DONNA: Can I get you anything? A coffee? A
bottle of water?
…
MIKE: Hi, Rick Sorkin.
HARVEY: Harvey Specter, nice to meet you.
Why don't you have a seat here?
[Mike's briefcase opens, the bags of weed
pour out onto the floor.]
HARVEY: Woah. What's this?
…
HARVEY: How the hell did you know they were
the police?
MIKE: I read this novel in elementary school
and it was exactly the same thing.
HARVEY: You read a novel... in elementary
school?
MIKE: What? I like to read.
HARVEY: Then why'd you ask them what time it
was?
MIKE: Throw 'em off. What kind of drug
dealer asks a cop what time it is when he's got a briefcase full of pot, right?
HARVEY: We should hire you. Jesus, I'd give
you the 25 grand as a signing bonus.
MIKE: I'll take it.
HARVEY:
Unfortunately, we only hire from Harvard. And you, not only did not go to
Harvard Law School, you haven’t even gone to any law school.
MIKE: What if I
told you I consume knowledge like no one you’ve ever met and I’ve actually
passed the bar?
HARVEY: I’d say
you’re full of crap.
MIKE: That's a BarBri Legal Handbook right there, right? Open it up. Read me
something. Anything.
HARVEY: Civil liability associated
with agency is based on
several factors, including-
MIKE: Including the deviation of the agent from his
path, the reasonable inference of
agency on behalf of the
plaintiff, and the nature of the damages themselves.
HARVEY: How did you know that?
MIKE: I learned it. When I studied. For the
bar.
HARVEY: Okay, hotshot. Fire up this laptop.
I'm gonna show you what a Harvard attorney can do. Pick a topic.
MIKE: Stock option backdating.
HARVEY: Although backdating options is
legal, violations arose related
to disclosures under IRC section
409A.
MIKE: You forgot about Sarbanes-Oxley.
HARVEY: The statute of limitations render Sarbanes-Oxley moot post-2007.
MIKE: Well, not if you can find actions to
cover up the violation as established in the Sixth Circuit May 2008.
HARVEY: That's impressive, but you're
sitting at a computer.
MIKE: Sorry, if you want to beat me, you're
gonna have to do it at something else. HARVEY: How can you know all that?
MIKE: I told you. I like to read. And once I
read something, I understand it, and once I understand it, I never forget it.
HARVEY: Why take the bar?
MIKE: This dickhead bet me I couldn't pass
it without going to law school.
HARVEY: Okay, look, this is all pretty
fascinating stuff but I'm afraid I gotta get back to work. I'll make sure Serpico isn't around, waiting for
you.
HARVEY: If you want this job so much, why
didn't you just go to law school?
MIKE: When I was in college, it was my dream
to be a lawyer. I needed some money and Trevor convinced me to memorise this
math test and sell it. Turns out we sold it to the dean's daughter. I lost my
scholarship, I got kicked out of school, I got knocked into a different life.
And I have been wishing for a way back ever since.
HARVEY: Let me tell you something. This
isn't elementary school, this is hard work. Long hours. High pressure. I need a
grown God damn man.
MIKE: You give me this and I will work as
hard as it takes to school those Harvard douches and become the best lawyer you
have ever seen.
HARVEY: I'm inclined to give you a shot but
what if I decide to go another way?
MIKE: I'd say that's fair. Sometimes I like
to hang out with people who aren't that bright. You know, just to see how the
other half lives.
HARVEY: Move over. I'm emailing the firm I
just found our next associate.
HARVEY: Alright. You're gonna start a week
from Monday, here's what you're gonna do. First, no more pot, we drug test.
Stop smoking now, you'll be fine, I assume that's all the drugs you do.
MIKE: How do you know that?
HARVEY: You read books, I read people.
Potheads smoke pot, that's what they do.
MIKE: That's not all I do. I have interests
HARVEY: You're Alber friggin' Einstein and
you couldn't manage to get into law school, you think that's not from smoking
weed?
MIKE: Trevor got-
HARVEY: That's another thing, you're never
gonna talk to Trevor again. You're gonna ditch that briefcase and you're gonna
get on a plane to Harvard and you're gonna learn everything there is about
going to law school there. Did you buy that suit?
MIKE: Yeah.
HARVEY: Let's buy some new ones.
CIVIL LIABILITY –
odpowiedzialność cywilna
THE BAR (EXAMINATION) –
egzamin uprawniający do wykonywania zawodu adwokata (an exam that licenses law
school graduates to practice law)
LIABILITY – odpowiedzialność prawna (a duty of care (a
responsibility) of the defendant towards the plaintiff or the deceased person)
AGENCY – pełnomocnictwo (the
legal relationship between two parties by which one party, the agent, is
authorised to perform certain acts on behalf of the other party, the principal)
DEVIATION – przekroczenie
umocowania przez pełnomocnika (an agent's activity that varies from the scope
of the principal's permission)
INFERENCE – domniemanie
(making a conclusion, a conclusion or opinion that is made based on the
information that one has)
ON BEHALF OF THE PLAINTIFF –
tu: przez pozwanego (here: by the person taken to court, by the agent)
STOCK OPTION – opcja giełdowa
(the right to buy shares in the future at the price set at the time the option
is granted)
OPTION BACKDATING –
antydatowanie opcji (the practice of altering the date a stock option was
granted, to a usually earlier date at which the stock price was lower)
VIOLATION – naruszenie
przepisów (breaking the rules, an action against the law)
a DISCLOSURE – ujawnienie
informacji (revealing/sharing information)
UNDER – zgodnie z (according
to)
IRC – kodeks podatkowy
(INTERNAL REVENUE CODE – federal statutory tax law in the
United States)
SARBANES-OXLEY – ustawa Sarbanesa-Oxleya (Sarbanes–Oxley
Act, the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act)
THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
– termin przedawnienia (a law that sets the maximum period of
time within which a legal action may be brought)
MOOT – dyskusyjny/ nie mający
zastosowania (unclear =discussed or argued about with no clear answer/not
applicable=cannot be used)
FRANK SERPICO – amerykański
policjant, który w latach sześćdziesiątych i siedemdziesiątych doprowadził do
wszczęcia śledztwa w sprawie korupcji w New York City Police Department (NYPD)
(a retired American New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer known for
whistleblowing (exposing) on police corruption in the late 1960s and early
1970s)
an ASSOCIATE – pracownik
kancelarii, młodszy prawnik (a lower-level lawyer working for a law firm)
RACHEL: Mike Ross? Hi, I’m Rachel Zane. I’ll
be giving you your orientation.
MIKE: Wow, you’re pretty.
RACHEL: Good. You’ve hit on me. We can get
it out of the way that I am not interested.
MIKE: No, I’m sorry. I wasn’t hitting on
you.
RACHEL: Trust me. I’ve given dozens of these
and without fail, whatever new hotshot it is, [he] thinks that because I’m
just a paralegal, that I will
somehow be blown away by his dazzling degree. Let me assure you, I won’t.
MIKE: I was. I was hitting on you.
RACHEL: You were. Take notes, I’m not gonna repeat myself.
MIKE: (whispers so she can’t hear) I love you.
a PARALEGAL – asystent prawny (a person trained to undertake legal work but not qualified as a professional solicitor or barrister)
JESSICA: I’ll, um, I’ll give you your
promotion. But you have to do something for me.
HARVEY: Anything.
JESSICA: Pro bono.
HARVEY: Anything but that.
JESSICA: Harvey, pro bono cases are how we, as a firm, show that we care about more
than just ourselves.
HARVEY: I’m not saying we shouldn’t do them.
I’m saying I shouldn’t do them.
JESSICA: And it’s how you can show me that
you care about more than just yourself. You’ll handle this yourself, you will
not pass it off.
HARVEY: Absolutely.
PRO BONO – bez honorarium
(free legal work done by an attorney for indigent (poor) clients and religious,
charitable, and other nonprofit organisations)
to PASS SOMETHING OFF TO
SOMEONE ELSE – przekazywać komuś innemu (to delegate work)
Harvey and Mike discussing a sexual harassment case
HARVEY: Think. If this guy’s done this once…
MIKE: He’s done it before.
HARVEY: And if the people who work for him
now won’t testify against
him…
MIKE: Someone who used to work for him
might.
HARVEY: You know what? I would subpoena personnel records of
every woman who’s left the firm during this guy’s tenure.
MIKE: That’s funny, that’s exactly what I
thought.
HARVEY: Then what do you need my help for?
MIKE: I don’t know how to fill out a subpoena.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT –
molestowanie seksualne (the making of unwanted and offensive sexual advances or
of sexually offensive remarks or acts)
to TESTIFY – zeznawać (to
state under oath (pod przysięgą)
a SUBPOENA – wezwanie do sądu
lub do okazania dokumentów pod groźbą kary (a document that orders a person or
an organization to testify / bring physical evidence before the ordering
authority)
to SUBPOENA – wzywać do sądu
lub do okazania/ przedstawienia dokumentów (to serve with a subpoena/to deliver
subpoena to someone)
a TENURE – okres piastowania
urzędu (a period during which someone’s position at work is held)
HARVEY: Where you been?
MIKE: Hi. Um… getting drug tested
actually.
HARVEY: The deposition’s this afternoon. Before they get here, I want you to
grill this woman about her background for anything they might use against her.
You got it?
MIKE: Got it.
HARVEY: Make her tell you everything.
MIKE: Everything.
HARVEY: Everything.
MIKE: Everything.
HARVEY: Okay.
MIKE: Okay.
a DEPOSITION – ustne zeznanie
pod przysięgą nagrywane lub spisywanie przez protokolanta sądowego, w którym
strona postępowania lub świadek odpowiada na pytania adwokata jednej ze stron,
poza salą sądową (the testimony of a party or witness in a civil or criminal
proceeding taken before trial, usually in an attorney’s office, taken orally,
with an attorney asking questions and the deponent (the individual being
questioned) answering while a court reporter or tape recorder (or sometimes
both) records the testimony
JESSICA: Gerald Tate fired the firm.
HARVEY: So you're taking my promotion away.
JESSICA: You know, most firms would put you in front of the bar and have your licence stripped. You lied to a client and he figured it out.
HARVEY: I lied to him to get him to do the
right thing and honour his goddamn
contract, and you didn't seem to mind so much when you thought I got away
with it.
JESSICA: But you didn't get away with it.
And I can't justify handing you a promotion on the same day that you lose a
huge a client.
TO PUT SOMEBODY IN FRONT OF
THE BAR – zgłosić nadużycia w pracy adwokata (to report a lawyer to a
disciplinary board for his or her misconduct)
TO HAVE SOMEONE’S LICENCE
(LICENSE – US) STRIPPED – doprowadzić do pozbawienia prawa wykonywania zawodu
(to make an attorney lose their right to work as a lawyer, to DISBAR – to take
away the right of a lawyer to continue to practise law, usually because they
have done something illegal or against the rules of the professional body that
regulates the profession of lawyers)
TO HONOUR (HONOR – US) A
CONTRACT – wywiązać się z postanowień umownych (to perform the obligations you
agreed to in a contract)
HARVEY: Your wife owns 10% of the
company's voting shares. You've
been seeing this woman and several others for quite some time, how do you think
your wife's gonna vote after she finds out?
MR. DOCKERY: Who said she has to find out?
HARVEY: My investigator got these within a
week. What do you think a motivated
competitor's gonna dig up in a year?
HARVEY: I have a solution. Trade her
your preferred shares, which
have no voting rights, for her common
shares, which do.
MR. DOCKERY: The preferred shares are
worth $2,000,000 more.
HARVEY: A fraction of what you'll lose if
you get voted out of your company. John, I don't care if you sleep with every
woman in the Hamptons, just give her the preferred shares.
VOTING SHARES – akcje/ udziały
z prawem głosu (voting shares give the shareholders the right to vote at annual
or extraordinary general meetings)
PREFERRED SHARES –
akcje/udziały uprzywilejowane (preferred stocks pay an agreed-upon dividend at
regular intervals; they do not confer any voting rights; preferred stockholders
must be paid before common stockholders)
COMMON SHARES – akcje/udziały
zwykłe (they pay dividends depending on how profitable the company is; common
stock shareholders can generally vote)
MR. HUNT'S LAWYER: Ms. Webster, would you
say that you're a truthful person?
JOANNA: Yes.
MR. HUNT'S LAWYER: So when you said earlier
that you had never been arrested for a crime, you were, er, you were speaking
the truth?
JOANNA: Yes.
MR. HUNT'S LAWYER: Yes. So, in 1993 then,
you were not arrested for stealing $1,000 worth of jewellery from the Willow
Grove Mall in Pennsylvania?
JOANNA: [Shocked] I was 17. That-, that was
one mistake, those records were
supposed to be sealed.
MR. HUNT'S LAWYER: Oh, so when you say
those records were sealed, what you mean to say is you thought you
could get away with a lie.
JOANNA: [Getting aggrivated] No, that's not
it, you're making it seem different than it is.
MR. HUNT'S LAWYER: I'm sorry, you were
arrested in your past and you lied about it here under oath, is that making it seem different than what it is?
SEALED RECORDS – utajnone akta
sprawy (records that need a court order to be seen or records that have been
destroyed)
to GET AWAY WITH – uniknąć
konsekwencji/ kary (to avoid negative consequences of an illegal or morally
wrong action)
UNDER OATH – pod przysięgą
(after formally promising to tell the truth)
MIKE: Wire transfer from your account to
Joanna Webster’s, phone records with Joanna Webster prior to her testimony, and
an affidavit stating you
paid Ms. Webster to falsely testify.
Mr. Hunt, harassment is a
civil violation. The penalty is
money. But witness
tampering, that’s a crime, and you will go to prison, where I guarantee
you’ll learn more about unwanted sexual advances than you can possibly imagine.
an AFFIDAVIT – pisemne
oświadcznie pod przysięgą złożone dobrowolnie (a written statement of facts
voluntarily made by an affiant under an oath)
FALSELY TESTIFY – zeznawać
niezgodnie z prawdą, poświadczać nieprawdę (willfully makes a false statement
during a judicial proceeding, after he or she has taken an oath to speak the
truth)
HARASSMENT – molestowanie,
napastowanie, nękanie (words, actions or behaviour (especially repeated or
persistent) directed at a particular person that annoys or upsets that person)
a CIVIL VIOLATION – naruszenie
przepisów prawa cywilnego (breaking civil law and not criminal law)
a PENALTY – kara (punishment
for doing something against the law)
WITNESS TAMPERING –
manipulowanie świadkiem (harming or otherwise threatening a witness, hoping to
influence his or her testimony)
