Legal English with Harvey and Mike from Suits: Pilot (Season 1 Episode 1)

Legal English with Harvey and Mike from Suits: Pilot (Season 1 Episode 1)

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)