Plot: Roman J. Israel is a lawyer working for $500 a week at a small law firm in Los Angeles. In his two-partner office, Israel is responsible for preparing briefs, often focusing on the civil rights of their defendants, while William Jackson, the firm's owner and a well-respected professor, focuses on the courtroom appearances that Israel struggles with. Israel has spent years developing a brief that he believes will bring social reform to the unfair use of plea-bargaining to induce guilty pleas in the justice system. Though short on interpersonal skills, Israel is gifted with a phenomenal memory as well as strong personal convictions on the meaning of justice, which he has pursued at the expense of family..
Alternative Plot: Roman J. Israel is an idealistic defense attorney whose life gets upended when his boss and mentor -- the legendary civil rights icon William Henry Jackson -- dies unexpectedly. He's then recruited to join a law firm led by George Pierce, an ambitious lawyer who was one of Jackson's former students. Israel's legacy of activism soon gets put to the test when he takes on the case of Langston Bailey, a young man accused of murdering a convenience store clerk.
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