Michael Clayton

Karen Crowder: Who's this guy they're sending here? Clayton? I never heard of him. Maude: Michael Raymond Clayton. Born September 9, 1959, St. Joseph's Hospital, Bronx, New York. Father is NYPD patrolman Raymond Xavier Clayton. Mother, Alice Mary Clayton. Graduates Washingtonville Central High School, Orange County, New York in 1977. Graduates St. Johns University 1980. Fordham Law, '82. Eighty-two through Eighty-six, he's ADA with the Queens District Attorney's office. And 1986, he's with the Joint Manhattan Queens Organized Crime Task Force. And then, in 1990, he starts with Kenner Boch and Ledeen. Karen Crowder: So he's a partner? Maude: No. He's listed as "special counsel". Says he specializes in wills and trusts. Karen Crowder: He goes from criminal prosecution to wills and trusts? He's been there seventeen years, and he's not a partner? This is the guy they send? Who is this guy?

Michael Clayton (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Michael Clayton: Mr. Greer, you left the scene of an accident on a slow week night, six miles from a state police barracks. Believe me, if there's a line, you're right up front. Mr. Greer: I can get a lawyer any time I want. I don't need you for that. We're not sitting here for forty five minutes for a god damned referral. Michael Clayton: I don't know what Walter promised you, but… Mr. Greer: A miracle worker. That's Walter on the phone twenty minutes ago. Direct quote, okay: "Hang tight, I'm sending you a miracle worker." Michael Clayton: Well, he misspoke. Mr. Greer: About what? That you're the firm's fixer? Or that you're any good at it? [explodes in anger] The guy was running. In the street! You take that, you add the fog, you add the light, you add the… the angle. What the fuck is he doing, running in the middle of the street at midnight? You answer me that, huh? Mr. Greer: What if someone had stolen the car? Huh? Happens all the time. Michael Clayton: Cops like hit-and-runs. The

Michael Clayton (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Marty Bach: Marty Bach, how can I help you? Bridget Klein: Marty, hi. It's Bridget Klein. Look, we're going with a story tomorrow about a settlement in the U-North defoliant case. You wanna comment? Marty Bach: Case you're referring to is now, as it has been for the past six years, pending and unresolved. Till such time as our client has their day in court or the plaintiffs come to their senses and drop the suit, I'll have nothing of value to tell you. Bridget Klein: Come on, Marty, you're closing the U-North case. You're settling. I know that, okay? I know you're up there with, like, 600 people jamming this thing through. Marty Bach: Yeah, here's what I know: your deadline was twenty minutes ago, so you're either fishing for a story, or trying to get out of writing a retraction. In either case, I wish you the best of luck.

Michael Clayton (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Arthur Edens: I look up, and Marty's standing in my office with a bottle of champagne. He tells me we just hit thirty thousand billable hours on U-North, and he wants to celebrate. An hour later, I'm in a whorehouse in Chelsea, and two Lithuanian redheads are taking turns sucking on my cock. I'm laying there, I'm trying not to come, I'm trying to make it last, right? So I start doing the math—thirty thousand hours, what is that? Twenty-four times thirty—seven hundred twenty hours in a month, eight thousand seven hundred and sixty hours per year… Michael Clayton: Arthur… Arthur Edens: Wait! Because it's years! It's lives! And the numbers are making me dizzy, and now I'm not just trying not to come, I'm trying not to think! But I can't stop. Is that me? Am I just some freak organism that's been put here to eat and sleep and spend my days defending this one horrific chain of carcinogenic molecules? Is this my place? Michael Clayton: You promised me, Arthur. Arthur Edens: Is that it, Micha

Michael Clayton (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Michael Clayton: You are the senior litigating partner of one of the largest, most respected law firms in the world. You are a legend. Arthur Edens: I'm an accomplice! Michael Clayton: You're a manic-depressive! Arthur Edens: I am Shiva, the god of death.

Michael Clayton (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Marty Bach: Oh, for chrissake. Don Jeffries signed this? That's really his signature? Karen Crowder: M-hm. Marty Bach: Where's the original? Karen Crowder: We had a warehouse fire five years ago. We lost a number of documents.

Michael Clayton (film), CC BY-SA 4.0