Kate Bennett walked into her first class of the afternoon. She went down the stairs to the seating chart and found where she was. She sat down and was soon joined by a boy beside her as the door downstairs opened.

The Professor entered the classroom. "Good morning. I don't know what terrible things you've done in your life up to this point, but clearly your karma's out of balance to get assigned to my class. I'm Professor Annalise Keating, and this is criminal law 100. Or, as I prefer to call it..." She took a piece of chalk and started to write on the board. "How to get away with murder. Unlike many of my colleagues, I will not be teaching you how to study the law or theorize about it, but rather how to practice it... In a courtroom, like a real lawyer. Now to our first case study, the aspirin assassin." She took a remote, pointed at the screen behind her, and clicked, channging the slide. "Tell us the facts... Connor Walsh."

Connor stood. "The Commonwealth v. Gina Sadowski was a case of attempted murder. The defendant, Ms. Sadowski, worked as the second assistant to the victim, Arthur Kaufman, the CEO of an advertising agency. Ms. Sadowski was not only his assistant, though. She was also his mistress."

Professor Keating kept going without correcting him so he must've been right. "What happened after Mr. Kaufman's wife of 27 years, Agnes, found out about the affair?" She looked around, pointing to someone. "You."

A boy stood. "He ended the relationship and transferred her to the accounting department. That's when she allegedly switched one of his blood-pressure pills for an aspirin, which she knew he was allergic to."

"What occurred when Mr. Kaufman ingested the aspirin? Anyone?" Everyone raised their hands, except the boy beside Kate. Professor Keating didn't call on anyone.

A girl in the front stood, reporting, "Mr. Kaufman went into anaphylactic shock. His throat swelled and his brain was deprived of oxygen for 7 minutes before his first assistant was able to resuscitate him. Michaela Pratt," she introduced herself.

"So, we've established the actus reus. What was the mens rea?" Professor Keating checked her seating chart, looking for a random name. "Wesley Gibbins?"

Wesley stood up. "The... mens rea? Right." He flipped through his book for the definition.

"Day 1 and you're unprepared?" Keating asked.

"No. Well, um, yes, but I didn't know there was anything to prepare," Wesley stuttered.

"I e-mailed the assignment to the entire class two days ago," Keating stated.

"Oh. I... didn't get that," he said.

Keating started up the stairs and to the boy. "Mr. Gibbins, as a defense attorney, I spend most of my time around professional liars, so you have to work really hard to fool me."

Wesley sighed. "I only got accepted here two days ago... From the wait list," He ignored the laughter from around the room, "so that's probably why you didn't get my e-mail address."

"Let me help you out. "Actus reus" means "guilty act"... The poisoning of Mr. Kaufman with an aspirin... Whereas "mens rea" means "guilty mind." So what was Ms. Sadowski's mens rea?" When he was still clueless, she added, "Think, Mr. Gibbins. It's nothing more than common sense."

When he floundered, Kate pulled on his sleeve. He looked at her and she supplied, "Guilty mind also means intent. Whoever gave him that pill, what did they intend to do?" she explained softly.

"Oh!" Wes said as he realized. He was about to answer when someone else did.

"To kill," came from across the room.

"Will the individual who just spoke please stand and repeat the answer?" Keating asked, not moving.

A pretty brunette stood and elaborated, "The mens rea, also referred to as "intent," was to kill Mr. Kaufman."

Keating turned around. "That's right. Your name?"

"Laurel Castillo," the girl answered.

"Never take a learning opportunity away from another student," Keating scolded, "no matter how smart you need everyone to think you are. You." She looked at Kate, checking her chart. "Katherine Bennett?" she asked.

"Kate, please," Kate corrected.

"All right." She walked down the stairs, continuing, "Before we move on, are there any other questions?"

She got to the bottom of the stairs.

One boy raised his hand.

"Mr. Walsh," she called on him.

"I noticed that the verdict wasn't listed here. So I guess my question is, did she do it?" he asked.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" She clicked the button again. "I lied. This isn't a past case but one I took last week after Gina fired her previous lawyer."

They were invited to her house, given the address, and class was dismissed.

As Kate stood, she placed her notebook into her shoulder bag. "Wesley," the British girl asked.

"Uh, just Wes," the boy corrected.

"Apologies. Just Wes, then, do you know where this home is? I'm new to town, you see," Kate elaborated.

"Oh, yeah. Just go down Main street and turn onto Bringham. The third stop sign on the left is Whitley," he explained.

"Thanks," she bade.

Ms. Sadoski was telling her story. "This one day, I walked into his office when I just screamed, real loud, 'cause Arthur was standing there behind the door." She laughed a little. "I thought he was gonna be pissed at me, yell, but instead he just started laughin'. So then I started laughin' and, well, um, that's when he kissed me for the first time and... Yeah, I became that girl. It was on my last day workin' for him when I came back from lunch and saw the paramedics. When I heard that Arthur was hurt... I loved him. I know that's hard to believe, but I loved him." Her voice cracked as she asked, "Why in the hell would I want to hurt him?"

Once she had left, Annalise told everyone. "The trial begins in two days, so tomorrow, each of you have one minute to present the best defense for this case. See if you can beat my current plan. Mr. Gibbins?"

"Yes?

You'll go last, an unenviable position seeing that no two students will be allowed to present the same idea. Use the resources in this office... Gina's discovery file-" she obviously liked to gesticulate a lot- "my library, the people who know me even better than myself... My associates."

A man broke through the crowd. "Name's Frank, and unlike every teacher you've had, I do believe there are stupid questions. So if you got 'em, please see my lovely colleague Bonnie."

The blonde woman, Bonnie, stood from the couch and walked over to Frank. "Or, better, you could come to us with answers. We'll like you much better that way."

"And one more thing. Every year I choose five students to come work for me. This assignment is used to help me decide who that is. The top student gets this." She walked over, grabbed, and lifted a statue of a woman holding a scale. "Consider this your immunity idol. The winner can turn this in at any point to get out of an exam. Now go. Find a defense that will free our client."

"We should offer the jury another suspect altogether... Mr. Kaufman's wife, Agnes. She was angry about the affair, had access to his office, and knew what aspirin looked like his blood-pressure pill. So what better way to get revenge than to kill your cheating husband and pin it on his mistress?" Michaela asked rhetorically.

The timer went off. "Thank you. Take a seat, Ms. Pratt. You've moved on to the next round. Who's next?" Keating asked.

Everyone raised their hands. Kate stood. The British girl just started talking, not waiting for someone else to be called on. "Make the witness stutter. Overwhelm them with questions until they don't know anymore. Discredit and offer someone better. Janitor who Mr. Kaufman was rude to; they're always so testy," she joked and was met with light laughter. "An assistant who is overdue for a promotion," she offered. "Or just an enemy. Everyone has them," she stated seriously. The timer buzzed.

"Take your seat," Professor Keating said with a small smirk. "You've moved on to the next round as well, next?" she asked.

Asher stood. "It all comes down to a simple piece of evidence... That the doctor "claims" he ran Mr. Kaufman's blood work too late to find any aspirin in his blood."

They went through almost all of the students before coming to the most pitiable student.

"Mr. Gibbins?" Annalise called.

The deer in the headlights stood and starting blow shit out his ass. "Right. So, the way I see it is... We say it was self-defense." Everyone laughed but he pushed through. "And we do that because, well, Gina was suffering from Stockholm syndrome, which is actually quite common in assistants with demanding bosses. The affair was just one example of how far Mr. Kaufman's brainwashing of Gina went. He made her fall in love with him. So in this way, her poisoning him was an act of self-defense." Students murmured amongst themselves. Kate smirked at him. When he realized his theory was stupid, he said slowly, "And I'll just go stand over there." He went to walk off to the side.

Kate put her feet up to block his exit.

"No," Keating protested, "Sit. Congratulations to those who managed to keep your seat. That said, none of you beat my approach - though someone did come close - which goes as follows. Step 1... discredit the witnesses. Step 2, introduce a new suspect. That person is Mr. Kaufman's jealous business partner, Lionel Bryant. Step 3, we bury the evidence. We throw so much information at the jury that they walk into the deliberation room with one overwhelming feeling... doubt. That's how you get away with murder. See you in the courthouse at 9:00." She started packing her briefcase to leave.

"Oh, um, Professor Keating! We have torts at 9:00 tomorrow, then property at 11:00, so I'm not sure-"

"The way you're whining right now makes me believe you think I'm your mother, Ms. Pratt," Keating responded, turning to face Michaela to scold her. "Show up tomorrow or drop out of the competition. It's that simple."

"I was his first assistant for 21 years, so to see him on his office floor like that, it was so awful. He wasn't breathing. And his skin kept getting more and more blue," Tanner explained. She turned to the wife. "I'm sorry, Agnes. I tried everything."

"You did everything you could, Ms. Tanner," the D.A. stated sympathetically.

"We just got screwed. Not in a good way," Asher whispered.

"You don't like Gina, do you? You would yell at her, calling her..." She took a sheet of paper from Bonnie ""Incompetent," "stupid," "podunk trailer trash"?" Keating asked once it was her turn.

"No. That's a..." She stopped as the door opened.

Michaela ran in and up to Professor Keating.

"Can I have a moment, Your Honor?" Professor Keating requested.

"Well, now we know who's the first to flame out," Connor whispered.

"Hurry it along, Ms. Keating," the Judge rushed.

Michaela gave something to Keating.

"What was that? Something they taught you in torts?" Asher asked.

"You should really pay attention. You might learn something," Michaela gloated.

Kate quirked an eyebrow, shifting which leg was crossed.

"Ms. Tanner, you testified that you saw a pill on my client's desk on the day of the accident, correct?" Keating asked, approaching the witness.

"Yes," Ms. Tanner replied.

"And you said it was a yellow pill, similar to prosecutor Williams' shirt?" Keating gave as an example.

Kate frowned. His shirt was blue...

"Yes."

The courtroom erupted in whispers.

"Prosecutor Williams' shirt is blue, Ms. Tanner. Are you color-blind?" Keating asked.

"Yes. But I know what I saw that morning."

"I see. So whether the pill that you saw on my client's desk was blue, like her anxiety medication she used to endure working under you, or yellow, like the aspirin used to poison Mr. Kaufman, is not something you can tell us?" Keating demanded.

"I told you... Gina was acting nervous, like..."

"It's a simple question. Is it possible that the pill that you saw on Gina's desk was her anxiety medication?" Keating cut her off.

"I guess so," Tanner consented.

Thank you for your candor.

On the way down the stairs, "I saw she was wearing glasses in one of her Facebook photos, which got me wondering about her eyesight, so I called every optometrist covered under her insurance, found hers, then pretended to be a claims provider to get the receptionist to admit she has a condition called achromatopsia. It causes color blindness. Step 1... discredit the witness.

I might as well hand you the trophy right now, Ms. Pratt. But I won't. Not until I see how the rest of you step up your game.

An e-mail was given to Annalise.

"It wasn't exactly legal, is the point," Connor was explaining why Annalise didn't need to know how he got the email.

Annalise smirked at him. "Then we just have to get creative. Bonnie!" She walked over to her blonde secretary.

With a new witness on the stand, Annalise interrogated, "Mr. Bryant, you and your business partner, Mr. Kaufman, had a meeting in his office on the morning of the accident, correct?"

"Yes," the man answered. "To discuss moving Gina to accounting."

"So to avoid any possible sexual-harassment lawsuit?" she asked for elaboration.

"That's correct."

Annalise retrieved the email. "Will you please read this e-mail that you wrote to Mr. Kaufman?"

"Dear Arthur, consider this my official request that you step down as CEO. I've warned you about having sexual relations with employees of this company..."

The Prosecutor stood, cutting the man off. Your honor, this e-mail was not part of the discovery file!" he exclaimed.

"Is this true?" the judge asked.

Annalise was a damn good liar as she stated, "I thought it was. Although my associate is more familiar with the paperwork on this case. Bonnie?"

"I found the e-mail in the files given to us by our client's previous attorney, Your Honor. I just assumed it was part of the discovery file," Bonnie declared, standing.

The Prosecutor had a stick up his ass and responded, "It wasn't, which means it was obviously obtained illegally."

The judge put the two cats in their corners. "Enough. Did you write this e-mail, Mr. Bryant?" she asked the witness.

"Yes," he answered honestly.

"Then I have to side with the defense here. The e-mail's admissible," the judge declared.

"Your Honor!" the D.A. tried to object.

"I've made my decision, Mr. Williams," the judge put her foot down.

"Mr. Bryant, as stated in the e-mail, you were angry at Mr. Kaufman for taking part in a sexual relationship with an employee," Annalise resumed her cross.

"I was frustrated, yes-" he tried to explain.

"So frustrated that perhaps you swapped his blood-pressure pill for an aspirin in order to gain sole ownership of the company?" she led.

"Objection!" the D.A. called.

"Withdrawn. No further questions." She walked back to her table.

Outside the courtroom, Annalise walked down the hall, handing Bonnie her bag. "We did well today, no doubt due to Mr. Walsh's hard work last night. I'll be at the Dean's cocktail party if you find anything before tomorrow."

"How'd you get that e-mail?" Michaela asked.

"Yeah, bro, for reals," Asher added.

"I don't kiss and tell," Connor stated sophisticatedly, following in Annalise's direction.

"What the hell does that mean?" Michaela demanded.

Wes smiled at Kate and Kate gave a light laugh.

At the party, they gathered around a Mr. Professor Keating. "First year is the worst, no doubt. Just put your head down, do the work, and try not to take it so seriously," Mr. Keating stated.

"Okay, no offense, man, but, obviously, you never went to law school. This place is a dogfight 24/7. And only the big dog get the bone," Asher joked. He changed his voice a lot.

"Fine. You're on to me. I'm a psychology Professor. But before you lose all respect for me, you should know that I work with the firm sometimes," Mr. Keating caved.

"And you? You are?" he asked about Wes who just joined the group.

"Wes. He's in your wife's class, too," Connor said.

"Ah. Sam." He shook Wes' hand. "How's it going so far? Has she gone full terrorist on you yet or no?" he asked.

They all laughed.

"I'm sorry. Who's your wife?" Wes asked.

"Professor Keating," Kate explained.

"There she is." Mrs. Keating walked over to them and shared a kiss with her husband. "Let me guess... your ears were burning?"

"Should they be?" Ms. Keating asked.

"Don't worry. I didn't spill any secrets. Well, not yet, at least." They all laughed.

"We're rushing him through his champagne," the British student joked. The other students laughed at her joke.

"Well, you haven't had any," Ms. Keating stated. "Let's get the ball rolling," she joked right back.

"That's quite alright. I don't drink."

"Ah, I have a student who likes to stay in control. Good on you. My class'll test it though," she warned.

Kate gave a cocky smirk to her, quirking an eyebrow.

"To first year," Sam toasted.

Wes excused himself to the restroom and Keating did too as well. Kate did soon as well. She stood outside the door. After a while, Wes left. Less than a minute later, Keating left the room. "Professor," Kate called softly.

Annalise turned to her. "What-" She pointed toward the restroom.

"If you sleep with a student, I don't care. It's not my business." She pulled her phone from from her clutch. The young Brit starting typing on it. "Ms. Sadowski bought asprin and it got caught on tape." She stepped into Annalise's personal space, showing the video of the video on it. It showed the mistress buying a box with a blurred brand name. Kate paused the video and zoomed in on the box. She used a tool on her phone to blur everything around it, but show the word soloxacore.

Prosecutor Williams asked the detective, "So, you got the footage from the convenience store when, Detective Gill?"

"It was two nights ago. Uh, th-the store owner had seen the defendant's picture on the news, so he went through his old surveillance tapes and just found this footage. Footage that I will now play for everyone." He hit play and it showed Ms. Sadowski buying a box of - get this - soloxacore. "There. The night before the murder attempt, Ms. Sadowski bought... What does it say on that label, Detective Gill?"

"Uh, uh, soloxacore. It's a brand of aspirin," the Detective explained.

Now that they'd gone through the Prosecution's witness list, "I'd like to call our first witness to the stand. Detective Nate Lahey."

"Who's that?" Laurel asked.

"No idea," Michaela responded.

The tall black man walked through the doors and went straight to the stand. Apparently, Kate's heads-up had given Annalise a chance to give the detective a heads-up.

"Where were you two nights ago, Detective?" Annalise asked.

"What?" Nate asked, obviously confused.

"Two nights ago, when Detective Gill acquired the video that supposedly incriminates my client... Weren't you supposed to be working at the precinct as his direct supervisor?"

"I was."

"And were you there? … Please answer the question, detective."

"No. I was not."

"Where were you, then? Home, perhaps?" She was leading, but no one knew where she was going so there was no objection. "Taking care of your wife? I hear she's recently been diagnosed with cancer."

"I was at a friend's," he said, like a tooth being pulled from his jaw.

Annalise held up her hands in mock surrender. "Okay. I only ask because there's something I find strange about the chain of custody on this video." She waved her arms around as she approached the witness box. At last minute, she changed direction, talking to the jury. "Detective Gill testified that he received the video from the store owner at 8:00 P.M." She turned and started walking back up the jury box. "But the logs say he didn't log it into custody until 2:09 A.M." She used the railing of the jury box to rest her arms. She faced the detective. "Don't you find that time gap odd?"

"Sometimes it takes us a while to log evidence into the computer."

Annalise rested her arms on the witness box, rubbing her arms along it. "Because you're all so busy? Visiting friends and such?" Annalise walked backwards. "Detective, in your 12 years working for the City of Philadelphia," she walked to the end of the jury box, "have you ever known them to alter video footage to help the prosecution get a conviction?"

Williams sat forward. "Objection!"

"Digitally altering aspirin labels, for example?" Annalise asked.

"Your honor!" Williams yelled.

"I'm simply asking Detective Lahey about his personal experience within his department," Keating explained to the judge.

"This is the last question I'll allow," the judge stated.

"Are you personally aware of any instances of doctored surveillance footage within your department?" Annalise reiterated.

"Yes."

The court erupted in whispers once more.

"I am."

Kate could just imagine the smile on Sadowski's face.

"The good people of Philadelphia saw justice prevail today. Ms. Sadowski was a victim here, scapegoated by a desperate, overworked DA's office. And as much as we hope the police find the real perpetrator of this act against Mr. Kaufman, Ms. Sadowski is and always has been innocent, and I am so happy the jury agreed," Keating said to the press.

"I want to be her," Michaela murmured.

Annalise walked in the front of the classroom. "Now it's time to find out who will be joining us in our firm. First, the standout in the class and the one you should all make it your mission to destroy..." She held up the statue. "Come get your prize, Mr. Walsh. The other ones joining us will be... Asher Millstone."

Asher jumped up and did a little dance. "Yeah! Yes!"

"Michaela Pratt."

Michaela breathed, "Oh, thank God!"

"Kate Bennett!"

The side of Kate's lips quirked. A sinnfully gorgeous smirk now adorned her features.

"Laurel Castillo. And because our workload has grown, I decided to hire one more of you. And that one will be... Wes Gibbins." As the shock settled onto Wes' face, Kate nudged him. She nodded, giving him a smile.