The Lincoln Lawyer S01E01 — He Rides Again

Defense attorney Mickey Haller returns to practice after 18 months of addiction recovery when his colleague Jerry Vincent is murdered and Mickey inherits his entire practice. The centerpiece is Trevor Elliott's murder trial—a video game designer accused of killing his wife and her lover—which must go to trial in one week. Despite overwhelming evidence and warnings from Detective Griggs that Jerry's professional assassination means Mickey could be next, he takes the case after Trevor's emotional testimony that he loved his wife too much to harm her.This premiere establishes the show's central tension between Mickey's professional comeback and personal survival. The compressed timeline forces immediate action while Jerry's murder introduces the season's conspiracy thread—someone professional enough to execute a lawyer and steal specific files is now watching Mickey. The episode demonstrates how Mickey's addiction recovery, custody negotiations with prosecutor ex-wife Maggie, and working relationship with paralegal ex-wife Lorna will intersect with increasingly dangerous legal work, setting up both the weekly case structure and the overarching threat that connects them.