"The study of law is something new and unfamiliar to most of you, unlike any other schooling you have ever known before. You teach yourselves the law, but I train your minds. You come in here with a skull full of mush and, if you survive, you leave thinking like a lawyer".In this series based on the movie of the same name, law students deal with the ethical issues of the law while dealing with their personal lives.
James Hart (James Stephens), a farmboy from Minnesota, starts his first year of law school. Being unprepared for his first day of ""Contracts"" he is 'shrouded' by Professor Charles W. Kingsfield, Jr. (John Houseman), pronouncing the hapless Hart as ""dead"" in his class. This means that he will never call on Hart and his part of the class's ""Socratic dialogue will be at an end. Hart finds out that Kingsfield shrouds one student each year and that student remains deceased all year long. Kingsfield is the reason Hart has chosen to come to this school; we are shown a couple of his nightmares now that he is the ""former Mr. Hart"". Another student, Franklin Ford III (Tom FitzSimmons), is organizing a study group and invites Hart to join. The members of the study group decide to have each member do an outline of one of the classes that they can then copy for each member of the group. Hart wants to do the Contracts outline but the others worry that Hart cannot be effective if he is shrouded. In
The second year begins with Hart and Ford moving to an off-campus apartment, while Bell is still at the dorm as the advisor for the 1-L students. Some of the 1-L students hound Hart for his Contracts outline, until Ford and Bell auction it off (against Hart's wishes). Meanwhile, 1-L Connie Lehman shows a personal interest in Hart ... or is it only his outline?
Kingsfield's friend and former student, now the Attorney General of the United States, asks him if he would accept a nomination to the Supreme Court. Hart decides to celebrate Kingsfield's eightieth birthday, even though it is known that the professor disapproves of such festivities.
Hart has a feeling that a popular law professor has plagiarized an article for Law Review, and tries to prove it, to the detriment of his schoolwork. Lehman suspects he is just jealous because she greatly admires the professor.
Connie attempts to help a returning student, now a single mother with no child care, and recruits Hart and Bell for assistance. Ford is assigned to an older woman's case against a slumlord.
When Hart's girlfriend Conny Lehman devotes all her time to an extra assignment from Kingsfield, the relationship is strained enough that Hart cheats on her and sleeps with a singer he met at the tavern. Dorm-Adviser Bell ignores the pleas for help from a first year student.
Recruiters descend on the campus, much to Kingsfield's irritation, offering summer employment to promising students. Hart, at the top of his class, is inundated with offers, particularly from two very different law firms. Bell despairs of landing a job because all his interviews go badly. Ford considers turning his father in for violating the school's recruiting rules using illegally obtained grade information when selecting interns.
As usual, the Law Review is behind schedule, but this time Golden is sidelined with pneumonia. Second-in-command Shaw seizes the opportunity for a power play, but it predictably backfires. Law Review activities are further complicated when, while their new computer is being installed and tested, a power failure threatens their precious deadline - until they enlist the help of the 'Wonks'.
Hart's girlfriend receives a scholarship offer in England. Hart tries to presuade her to stay with him, she suggests he come to England, which he refuses. Awaiting her decision on whether to accept the scholarship or stay there with Hart, she asks him to go with her to Kingsfield's empty classroom which she describes as a ""temple of reason"" (you knew then which she had chosen). Hart leaves angrily, but Golden talks him into seeing her before she leaves. As she leaves, Bell is there to comfort his friend Hart. True to form, Hart announces that he needs to check on what assignments Golden has for him and then he will study for Kingsfield's seminar.
Bell sues the city for damages and lost wages when he rides over a pothole and breaks his arm. Kingsfield has difficulty coping when Nottingham, his secretary, transfers to another office.
Love is in the air. Hart drags Golden out of the Law Review for a drink in Tavern where they meet two ladies (who are from another school and are on 'the hunt' for rich-lawyer husbands). Hart likes one, but is so busy that Ford steps in and dates her too. The other finds an actual attraction to Golden hindered by his focus on the Review.
Working in the public defender's office, Hart has to defend the perpetrator who assaulted and robbed Kingsfield. The violence on campus puts student on edge.
A minor incident between Golden and an engineering student about a parking space causes hostilities between the law students and the engineering students (or ""Wonks"" as they are called on campus). Golden has the Wonk's car impounded and the Wonks retaliate by moving Golden's car into the Law Review office (which is in a basement...). A romance between a law student and a Wonk is strained by the conflict. The matter is settled by a contest of legal knowledge between Kingsfield and a computer.
Ford's classmates want to petition for the replacement of a longtime professor they suspect of becoming senile. He strongly resists due to painful memories of his own aging grandfather being dropped from the family law firm by his father. Hart tries to develop a better relationship with his ultra-competitive (and beautiful) Law Review rival, Harriman.
Hart, returning home for his sister's wedding, ends up having to ignore family and boyhood friends because he has to spend every minute on the phone editing last-minute changes to his amicus brief notes he did for Kingsfield to give to the US Supreme Court. He recognises for the first time how much he's changed due to law school. Returning to his apartment, he tells Ford "for the first time, I feel like I belong here".
The students fear they will lose a popular professor when he becomes eligible for tenure but lacks significant publication credits.
A snowstorm stands Kingsfield, forcing him to spend the evening with Hart while Ford and Bell get to know Nottingham in a local bar.
Hart and Harriman compete to represent the school in the national moot court competition. First-year student Vivian struggles with speaking up in class.
A grieving father struggles to understand why his son committed suicide.
Stressed-out first-year students prepare for Kingsfield's final. When the final exam is stolen, Bell is charged with finding the students responsible.
To cope with the increasing pressure of Law School, Laura develops a growing dependency on drugs. Bell notices that Laura s dependency is being bolstered by an additional workload, but his attempts to intervene are pushed aside by Laura.
When Professor Kingsfield uncharacteristically fails to appear to teach his contracts class, he leaves his students to prepare for the upcoming examination without the benefit of a review. Meanwhile, Mrs. Whitney, a potential benefactress to the Law School, pays an unexpected visit to the campus, and is surprised to learn of Kingsfield's absence. She finds two students in a heated argument and voices her complaints to the Dean. Meanwhile, Kingsfield is relaxing in a park.
Bell is appointed director of the Law School "follies," the annual variety show. Even though he is highly talented as a showman, his harsh criticisms, brought on by his own insecurity, causes tension on the set. Meanwhile, Professor Kings field travels to Los Angeles for a Bar Association meeting and during a break, he mistakenly walks onto a television set filming a legal drama.
Rose Samuels is devastated when her estranged husband seeks a divorce so he can remarry, especially when she still has hopes for a reconciliation. When she cannot find adequate legal representation, Laura and Tom offer their help and suggest that she be her own lawyer. Before long, everybody becomes involved.
Complete episode guide for The Paper Chase with detailed information about every season and episode including air dates, summaries, ratings, and streaming availability in United States.
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