Plot
Roman J. Israel is a lawyer earning $500 a week at a small law firm in Los Angeles. In his two-partner office, Roman is responsible for preparing briefs, often focusing on the civil rights of clients, while William Jackson, the firm's founder and a well-respected professor, focuses on the courtroom appearances with which Roman struggles. Roman has spent years developing a brief that he believes will bring reform to the unfair use of plea bargaining to induce guilty pleas in the justice system. Though short on social skills, Roman is gifted with a phenomenal memory, as well as strong personal convictions, which he has pursued at the expense of family.
Jackson suffers a fatal heart attack and the firm, saddled with debt, will close. Jackson's former student, George Pierce, handles the unwinding of the firm, and impressed by Roman's legal mind, offers him a job at Pierce's own large firm. Roman initially rejects this offer, believing that Pierce is simply a greedy lawyer. He meets Maya during a job interview at a local activist network. The interview does not go well, but Maya asks him to speak at an upcoming meeting organizing a protest. Struggling to find a job elsewhere, Roman reluctantly takes up Pierce's job offer.
Roman is a poor fit at his new firm, clashing with senior partner Jesse Salinas over a joke Salinas makes about battered women. After attempting to interest Pierce in his brief, Roman is disappointed to be assigned to handle clients. One such client is Derrell Ellerbee, a young man arrested for murder, who tells Roman that he is willing to divulge the whereabouts of the actual shooter, Carter "CJ" Johnson, and will testify against him. When Roman can't find Pierce, he tries to negotiate a plea deal with the district attorney. The prosecutor rejects his offer, and hangs up on Roman after he insults her unsympathetic counteroffer. As a consequence, Ellerbee is also denied the protective custody he begged for in prison and is murdered as a snitch.
After Roman is berated by Pierce for mishandling Ellerbee's case, he is mugged by a homeless man he attempted to help. This results in Roman becoming downcast and cynical, illegally using the information he received from Ellerbee to anonymously collect the $100,000 reward for Johnson's location. Roman indulges in luxuries he had previously eschewed. Pierce apologizes to Roman for the earlier confrontation and for forcing him out of the shadows, accepting that he thrives working behind the scenes as he did at his old firm. At a firm-wide meeting, Pierce presents plans that raise prices for paying clients and establishes a new pro bono effort headed by Roman.
Maya calls Roman to ask him out on a date, where she shares some of her struggles with idealism and thanks Roman for inspiring her. Pierce invites Roman to a luxury box, where he shares more of big plans for the future of the firm. Later Pierce and Roman go to meet a new client arrested for murder. Before the meeting, Pierce resumes the conversation from the game, saying that Jackson's and Roman's dedication to justice has touched him. Pierce sketches out an approach at the firm to reflect that, and offers to work with Roman on his brief.
Roman, still despondent, is unmoved by these developments. They go in to see the client, who turns out to be Johnson, the shooter in the Ellerbee case. Meeting Roman in jail, Johnson accuses him of divulging privileged communications to collect the reward money and resolves to torment Roman with the threat of jail time or death. Roman approaches a mental breakdown as he comes to recognize his own actions as unlawful. He receives mysterious phone calls and hang-ups at work and considers fleeing town. A colleague at the law firm tells Roman he knows Israel illegally collected the Ellerbee/Johnson reward.
Renouncing his transgressions, and having returned the reward money with a note he'd written, apologizing for taking it in the first place, Roman reconciles with Maya and Pierce, and tries to motivate them to pursue justice. He tells Pierce he's turning himself in to the police for his crime. As Roman starts walking to a nearby police station, he is shot and killed by one of Johnson's henchmen. In the aftermath, Maya is seen to be renewed in her activism, while Pierce files Roman's brief, in both their names, continuing their efforts to reform the justice system.
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