Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Fallacy (2003)

Michael Lerner: Morton Berger

Quotes 

• [Having an argument with the defense attorney] 

  Morty Berger : I told Cheryl about your deal. But she wants to go to trial.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : She does or you do?

  Morty Berger : Do you know why I became a lawyer, Alex?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Uh, to see your face on TV?

• Morty Berger : [to Cabot]  Don't want your 15 minutes of fame, Alex?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : I hear you paid Cheryl's bail. That's a nice touch.

  Morty Berger : Can't take the full credit. That was the generosity of my firm.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Well, Cheryl makes a lovely poster child, so I'm guessing you're doing this pro bono.

  Morty Berger : And you work for a pittance, so we're even.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : You're wasting your time. The judge is never going to suppress Cheryl's confession.

  Morty Berger : Good. I need it to support my argument that she acted in self-defense.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Joe Cappilla was leaving the bathroom. The threat had abated. Her life was no longer in danger.

  Morty Berger : Yeah, until Joe told the waiting lynch mob she was transsexual.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Predictions of violence are notoriously unreliable. Nobody can say what Joe might have done.

  Morty Berger : Come on. We both know what people do when they find out the truth about the transgendered. They kill them.

• Morty Berger : [to Cabot]  You had no right to speak to my client without me. I'm taking this to Judge Larsen and the disciplinary committee.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Go ahead. They'll love the part where you ignored your obligation to bring my deal to your client and then lied to me and told me you had.

  Morty Berger : I've done hundreds of trials and made new case law. I think I know what's best for my client.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Doesn't Cheryl have a right to decide?

  Morty Berger : Fine. Cheryl, I have your best interests at heart. Go ahead, take the deal and you'll go to prison for at least five years.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : And if you don't take the deal and you get convicted, you'll go for a minimum of fifteen-to-life.

  Cheryl Avery : Well, do you think we'll lose?

  Morty Berger : You're not guilty, Cheryl.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Answer her question.

  Morty Berger : Look, she's trying to scare you. Yeah, there's a chance you'll lose, but think of everything you're going to gain.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : He's trying to make you a martyr for the cause.

• Morty Berger : Gender is not always binary. People are afraid of what they don't know. Cheryl's case can change that.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Are you so sure of this that you're willing to serve up your client as the sacrificial lamb? She could spend the rest of her life in prison.

  Morty Berger : Not after this is tried in the court of public opinion. Joe Cappilla sexually assaulted Cheryl Avery and threatened to out her. She fought back to save her life. She's not going to prison.

• Cheryl Avery : [to Olivia]  Look, you have to help me, I cannot stay here.

  Olivia Benson : Cheryl, you pled guilty. You knew that you were going to prison.

  Cheryl Avery : I'm a woman and they put me in a cell with men.

  Olivia Benson : [to Berger]  You didn't tell her?

  Morty Berger : I told her to go to trial.

  Olivia Benson : Bull. You set her up for your own career. What, the murder case wasn't enough for you?

  Morty Berger : The civil rights issue is more pressing.

  Olivia Benson : Oh, and you're going to ride it all the way to the Supreme Court, aren't you?

  Morty Berger : Why not? This could be a precedent-setting case.

  Olivia Benson : Yeah, not to mention a juicy story. A woman in a man's prison? You'll have the media drooling.