Pilot: James Hart barely makes it to his first class with Professor Kingsfield on time. This does not go unnoticed. Kingsfield asks him the first question and discovers he has not read the assigned material. Kingsfield throws an imaginary funeral shroud over "the late Mr. Hart", meaning he no longer exists as far as the professor is concerned. Hart joins a study group with Franklin Ford III, Willis Bell, Thomas Anderson, and Linda O'Connor, who was replaced without explanation after the first episode by a new character, Elizabeth Logan. Hart comes up with a novel solution to his problem: he enters the classroom shrouded in a bed sheet as a ghost, bothering the professor into calling on him. Hart gives a good answer, earning himself a second chance.

Franklin Ford's father (Don Porter) visits the law school to interview second-year students for summer internships at his high-profile law firm, accompanied by Ford's sixteen-year-old sister. Ford goes to pieces when his father sits in on the class. Under pressure from his father, he runs for the prestigious law school council. He feels betrayed when Hart also runs and the rest of their study group unanimously back Hart. Ford and Hart make up and, by not showing up, enable Anderson to win by default. Ford's sister is attracted to Hart, who politely rejects her. Ford's father pressures the dean and Kingsfield to give preference to his son, but Kingsfield shows the elder Ford his efforts are damaging to his son and their relationship.

When Hart asks Kingsfield a question after class, he is told to find the answer for himself and present a report to Kingsfield the next morning. After Ford steals Bell's study group notes, Bell's outrage gets him and Hart barred from the library. Hart meets a woman who turns out to be the president of Law Review, who commissions a ghostwritten report for him. Hart elects to do the work himself, which is fortunate, as he is ordered by Kingsfield to give his report orally to the entire class. Logan gets arrested for encouraging girls school students to protest, but is released the next morning after Kingsfield speaks privately with the judge. Hart writes his parents a letter, confiding he thinks he is "going to be alright".

The study group plans a weekend getaway picnic to blow off steam, but Professor Kingsfield assigns a lot of work at the last minute, causing the group to drop the getaway and just have an on-campus party. Two drunken students—Sam Pray, a third-year law student, and Fitch, a dental-school student—break into the law school's dispensary during a dorm party. In pursuit of Fitch's affections, Anderson follows and is arrested at the scene. He faces a disciplinary hearing, chaired by Kingsfield, and possible expulsion. Anderson talks Hart into acting as his defense counsel. Fitch confesses, clearing Anderson.

Logan and Hart volunteer to take part in a prison legal assistance program. They soon get more than they expected, from activist/prisoner Eric Ryerson (David Ackroyd).

Hart's girlfriend and fellow law student Nancy Burch has a secret - her father is an attorney who is mixed up with the mob. Events that follow cause her and Hart to be the subject of guilt by association, as they are scrutinized by the police, the media, the university, and other students.

Clayton finds his photographic memory is not enough in Kingsfield's class. The professor humiliates him in front of his fellow students when he is unable to analyze a case he has memorized. The pressure threatens his marriage and causes him to go on a drinking binge. Hart brings Clayton into the empty classroom at night, playing the part of Kingsfield and coaching him. The janitor calls Kingsfield in to see what is going on, but upon observing the proceedings, Kingsfield says, "Oh, they're just stretching." Later, Clayton successfully answers Kingsfield's question in class. Kim Cattrall played Clayton's wife.

Bell believes that his unflattering seating chart picture is the reason that he gets singled out in class and plots to change it secretly, with Hart's reluctant help. They sneak into Kingsfield's office late on a Friday night, but the professor's unexpected appearance results in them hiding and being inadvertently locked in a closet for the entire weekend. They manage to sneak out on Monday morning undetected, but in Bell's haste in substituting a new photo during their escape, he puts it in upside down.

The students are paired off by random draw for moot court, a courtroom-like competition. Hart lucks out, as his partner is close friend and fellow study group member Logan. Bell is teamed with his polar opposite, highly disciplined African-American Raymond Livingston (Glynn Turman). Livingston, fresh off his undergraduate study at West Point, believes in the "strong body, strong mind" approach, so he makes Bell get up at dawn for calisthenics and jogging every day before studying. Meanwhile, all the intense one-on-one studying time with Logan causes Hart to examine his personal feelings for her. In the finals, Hart and Logan face off against Bell and Livingston. Bell is so fed up with being pushed incessantly by Livingston that he resigns from the competition. Livingston persuades him to change his mind.

Hart falls for a young woman who is surprisingly familiar with contract law and hostile to the law students who study it. (This is also a major part of the plot of the original film.)

Supreme Court Justice Reynolds (Alan Napier) pays a visit to campus to commemorate a milestone anniversary of women being admitted to the law school. During a question-and-answer session in Kingsfield's class, Logan confronts the judge as to why he has never hired a female law clerk. Professor Kingsfield attempts to stifle her, yet she persists, but does not get an answer from the judge. News of Logan's audacity quickly spreads across campus and to national women's activist organizations, who send a bunch of demonstrators/hecklers to campus for the judge's celebratory speech. Much to Logan's dismay, the outsiders turn it into an embarrassing circus.

A female friend from Hart's hometown comes to visit Hart while trying to sort out her struggling marriage. As usual, Hart is swamped, so he asks Bell to keep her company for a few days. Love-struck Bell skips classes to be with her, and goes so far as to start looking for apartments where he and she can live together. Her husband shows up to reconcile, but Bell forgets to inform her of that development.

Brooks has fallen behind in his studies and wants to rejoin the study group. Hart is willing, but the others are reluctant, until Brooks produces some study aids from his "tutor" Woodrow Tullis (David Ogden Stiers). The entire study group (even the struggling Brooks) gets an A in Kingsfield's mid-term exam. This raises suspicions among the other students. Hart gets to the bottom of this, and it ends with Brooks' amicable exit interview in Kingsfield's office. (This is the last episode to feature Jonathan Segal.)

Anderson likes his poker and after cleaning out his fellow 1-L players, he pays a visit to a female third-year student whom Logan knows. When she is too busy that evening, Anderson is about to leave her residence when he gets sucked into a poker game with a group of 3-Ls. Anderson racks up a huge $800 debt he cannot repay, until the study group comes to his aid, bankrolled anonymously by Ford.

A disabled transfer student (Leigh McCloskey) is befriended by, and included in, the study group. As time goes on, he takes advantage of the group's kindness. His mother (Jayne Meadows), who, as a family friend of Kingsfield, attempts to gain preferential treatment for her son.

An African-American law student (Denise Nicholas) feels insecure and angry because she was accepted to law school through the Affirmative Action program. This is compounded by the fact that her mother is employed as a maid/waitress at a university tea party honoring the law students, where the student ends up making a scene in front of Kingsfield and the dean. At Kingsfield's request, Hart reluctantly becomes the hostile woman's tutor. An influential white alumnus, his son having been rejected despite having better grades than the woman, does his best to change the government's stance on Affirmative Action.

Kingsfield makes the unprecedented decision to hire an inexperienced first-year student - Hart - to assist him and a third-year student to prepare for a significant case in New York City. The 3-L, nearing graduation and fourth in his class, is busy fielding job opportunities, so he dumps most of his work on Hart. Kingsfield is not fooled and dismisses the 3-L from the case, leaving Hart as his only assistant. Hart accompanies Kingsfield to New York. Hart is distracted by the nightlife and fails to catch a mistake made by the 3-L.

When Logan spurns the improper advances of a respected law professor (Robert Reed), she is surprised to see the result is a low grade on a test. However, Kingsfield, head of the disciplinary committee, dismisses her complaint because she has no proof. Logan's friends seek out other victims to corroborate her claims.

Kingsfield has his students form groups to argue both sides of a case of their choice. When Hart's study group selects a case (completely by accident) that the professor lost early in his career, they start to question his ethics after they learn that he did not file what appears to them to be a routine appeal. Even Hart has his doubts after a now-prominent attorney who assisted Kingsfield on the case refuses to shed light on the matter. The study group wrestles with thoughts of kickbacks and dishonesty.

Kingsfield's character and background are further developed in this episode: his own days as a student at the law school, hanging out at Ernie's in the 1930s, and his friendship, then, with Ernie Sr. However, now Ernie's is threatened with closure. The entire block, owned by the university, is to be razed to make way for a new gym and a parking lot. Ernie cannot afford to hire a lawyer, so Hart takes on the job -- only to learn that his adversary is Kingsfield. Hart appeals to Kingsfield, only to be rebuffed. But Kingsfield's nostalgic memories are sparked by the encounter and he visits Ernie's, there encountering Ernie Sr., who is visiting his son. While they talk, Kingsfield discovers something that might save the bar from being torn down. Later, he drops suggestive hints to Hart. At the last moment, Hart finds proof that the building was built in 1774 and is eligible to be named an historic monument, thus illegal to tear down.

The law school plays host to the Soviet gymnastics team, who are in the USA on a goodwill tour. Hart, Logan and others volunteer to show the Soviet team members around, but are given strict rules against unchaperoned socializing. Of course, this matters little to Hart once he sees the pretty balance-beam girl. Naturally, their exploits are discovered, and (initially) the penalties are severe. When it is discovered that she snuck out to spend time with Hart in his dorm room, he is suspended from classes for a month and she is kicked off the team. A law professor (Pernell Roberts) who is teaching Hart's class in Kingsfield's absence tries to address this sticky situation.

Professor Kingsfield unleashes his annual three-day scavenger hunt on his class. Due to the unusually high quality of this year's students, he does not limit the hunt to the normal "law school materials". There are no rules and answering less than 75 of the 100 questions will result in a grade of F. In their frenzy, the students wreak havoc on all the campus libraries, even hiding books from rival groups. The resultant disruption inflames several professors, particularly Smathers (Biff McGuire), who want the dean to terminate the scavenger hunt and remove Kingsfield from his position as head of the academic curricula committee. Kingsfield invites Smathers and the dean to attend class when the students hand in their work, where they can see the hidden benefit of the scavenger hunt. Meanwhile, Ford is distracted by Bell's visiting sister.

The second year begins with Hart and Ford moving to an off-campus apartment, while Bell is still at the dorm as the advisor for the 1-L students. Some of the 1-L students hound Hart for his Contracts outline, until Ford and Bell auction it off (against Hart's wishes). Meanwhile, 1-L Connie Lehman (Jane Kaczmarek) shows a personal interest in Hart ... or is it only his outline?

Hart and the others want to do something special to mark Professor Kingsfield's 80th birthday, against the advice of Mrs. Nottingham and Kinsgfield himself. Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney General pays a midnight visit to Kingsfield.

Hart has a feeling that a popular law professor has plagiarized an article for the Law Review and tries to prove it, to the detriment of his schoolwork. Lehman suspects he is just jealous because she greatly admires the professor.

A female 1-L student struggles to keep up in class while raising a small child alone. Her attempts to persuade the university to establish a day care center appear fruitless. Meanwhile, Ford is assigned to represent a senior citizen battling an unreasonable landlord.

Hart's relationship with Lehman is strained to the breaking point when she devotes all her time to an extra assignment from Kingsfield. After a few weeks, Hart has a one-night stand with a guitarist/singer, but immediately realizes he has made a big mistake and reconciles with Lehman. Bell, as dorm adviser, ignores pleas for help from a first-year student (David Caruso).

The annual influx of law firm recruiters invades the campus, and Ford's father (Paul Burke) seems to be leading the charge. Ford Sr.'s tactics cause Jr. to re-evaluate his opinion of his father, and whether he wants to work for the firm. At the end, Kingsfield and Nottingham are glad when the "manta rays" depart. Bell despairs of landing a job.

The Law Review is behind schedule, but Golden is sidelined with pneumonia. Second-in-command Shaw seizes the opportunity for a power play, but it backfires. Law Review activities are further complicated when, while their new computer is being installed and tested, a power failure threatens their precious deadline - until they enlist the help of the "Wonks" (computer experts).

Hart and Connie's relationship has progressed to the point where Hart considers marriage. Before Connie can sort this out, she is awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and must choose between going to Europe or staying with Hart. Elsewhere, a new female 1-L moves into the dorm and becomes buddies with Bell, although he would like it to be more than that. (After a six-month hiatus following episode 7, The Paper Chase returned with some major changes. Three new female regular characters were added, and Connie Lehman was written out of the series.)

The hapless Willis Bell takes a spill on his bicycle and breaks an arm. He sues the city, alleging negligence in street maintenance. He reluctantly subpoenas Kingsfield, who saw the accident. All of Bell's dorm mates pull for him - all except Soloway, his personal "doubting Thomas". Meanwhile, Mrs. Nottingham, Kingsfield's secretary, feels unappreciated for her more than 30 years of service and accepts a promotion to the dean's office.

Hart convinced the all-work/no-play Golden to think about something besides the Law Review and join him for a beer at Ernie's. There Golden and Hart meet Kathleen and Iris, and soon Golden and Kathleen hit it off. She is looking for a future husband, but eventually realizes Golden is married to his work.

As an intern for the overworked public defender (Gregory Sierra), Hart is assigned to defend the man who mugged Professor Kingsfield.

The law students and the "wonks" (computer science students) battle over computer time. Someone gets the bright idea to challenge the computer to prepare a case note faster than a law student, with the loser giving up their computer time. The law students lose, and Kingsfield has to come to the rescue and challenge the computer himself.

Ford tries to stop classmates who want to petition for the replacement of a longtime professor (David Opatoshu) they suspect is showing signs of senility. Ford, having witnessed the problem in his own grandfather and enduring his devastation at being removed from the family's firm, has sympathy and wants to find a kinder way to resolve the problem. He goes to Kingsfield for help, who denies it is an issue and chastises him. However, Kingsfield plays chess with Professor Grey and in beating him easily discovers they are right. Eventually he offers him an emeritus position, and Grey resigns from teaching. Hart tries to develop a better relationship with his ultra-competitive (and beautiful) Law Review rival, Harriman.

Hart goes home to Minnesota for his sister Vicky's wedding, even though he has real-life work he is doing for Kingsfield. Since Golden has assigned Harriman to cover for Hart, Hart spends a lot of time on the phone with her and not so much time visiting with his family. Although his parents see this is due to his responsibilities, his younger sister views it as his lack of interest in being with his family.

Four professors are up for two tenured positions, with various faculty members each jockeying for "their man". Professor Peterson (John Rubinstein) is young, hip, and well-liked by the 3-L students (including Golden), but he lacks the necessary publishing credits. Golden offers to help by publishing Peterson's article in the Law Review, but his submission is not up to the usual standards, even after a re-write.

A snowstorm strands Kingsfield on his way to the airport. When he knocks on the nearest door to use the phone, Hart answers. When they learn the airport is closed, Kingsfield stays for dinner and conversation. Across town, Mrs. Nottingham steps into Ernie's Tavern, seeking shelter while waiting for the bus. Ford and Bell invite her to their table, and the three of them spend the evening consuming brandy.

Professors Kingsfield and Reese clash over funding for the latter's unconventional course, which teaches courtroom tactics and presentation using video taping. When Hart and his nemesis Harriman are chosen as two of the finalists to represent their school in a national moot court contest, Kiernan advises him that he is too stiff. Hart enrolls in Reese's class, only to find Harriman there as well. Bell takes bets on the outcome. Reese helps Vivian Conway overcome her trouble expressing herself in Kingsfield's class to demonstrate the utility of his course.

When Marshall Weatherly takes his own life after flunking Kingsfield's test, his grieving lawyer father seeks out Marshall's friends to try to figure out why. He learns that his white son was seriously involved with African-American Conway, but was afraid to tell him. He also speaks with Kiernan, Bell, and Hart, the last people to see his son, trying to decipher Marshall's cryptic suicide message: "Not Prince Hamlet". Finally, Kingsfield recognizes the quotation. Each person the father interviews has a different viewpoint of the same scene, revisited over and over again in flashbacks (a technique notably used in the film Rashomon).

Nervous first-year students prepare for Kingsfield's exam, among them Billy Pierce (Lynn Swann), a struggling, famous ex-football player. A thief makes off with a copy of the test undetected the night before. Bell tutors Kiernan on the wrong subjects, with disastrous results. She gets a D, while others, including Pierce, get suspiciously high marks. When the theft is discovered, Bell investigates, but is unable to solve the mystery, so a disappointed Kingsfield has no choice but to discard the grades, much to Kiernan's relief. (The secondary opening credits are accompanied by highlights of Pittsburgh Steelers games of the 1970s.)

Golden is interviewing for a clerkship at the U.S. Supreme Court but struggles with the task of recommending to Kingsfield his successor as president. Rita Harriman wants the job very badly, but so does Hart. Ford has mixed feelings about whether he wants his "perfect" younger brother to follow him to this school. Kingsfield becomes involved with trying to persuade a former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission to give up her desire to spend more time with her grandchildren and instead join the faculty. Golden has some misgivings about whether clerking at the Supreme Court is really the best direction for his career.

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At the start of the third year, Hart becomes president of Law Review and proposes a controversial approach to the first issue. He also struggles with leadership issues. His problems are compounded by an article request from Kingsfield that does not fit with the theme of the issue. Professor Tyler begins classes, and clashes with Kingsfield over admitting Bell to her class, since Bell has not completed a prerequisite. Bell becomes dorm advisor to the new group of first-year students. Mature new student Rose struggles to adjust to law school after raising a family. Ford's younger brother Tom is a first-year student, and there is friction, as the brothers have always been very competitive. Harriman is chosen by Hart to run the writing competition, whereby students without the best grades have an alternative method to apply for Law Review. Ford enters the competition, but Harriman finds his submission weak.

A guy whom Hart and Ford know shows up looking for them. They're not there but Tom is. He tells Tom that he's having problems with his landlord. Tom suggests that he not pay the rent. Later he shows up claiming that because of Tom he got thrown out. He then lodges a complaint and Tom is facing censure for his actions. While Hart tries to help Tom, Ford is not exactly willing to help.

Laura is having trouble adjusting to the added time commitments of Law Review while keeping up with her regular courses. All her friends are disturbed by the changes in her personality but she denies that anything is wrong except that she's busy. Laura does a poor job in her preparation of a note for the Law Review and Hart convinces other Review members that she should be put on probation instead of kicking her off altogether. Bell tries repeatedly to talk with her and offer help and support, but her protests continue. Hart is forced to redo Laura's work for the Law Review note when she hits bottom. Professor Tyler engages Kingsfield and a visitor from Kingsfield's early days at Oxford in a special seminar which is a debate about whether the American or English view about a certain controversial law is correct.

Hart decides to invite highly distinguished lawyer and legendary Law Review president Jeremy Brooks (John Randolph) to be the keynote speaker at a prestigious banquet. However, Hart discovers that Brooks is retired and uses a wheelchair, due to a stroke, and has been impoverished by medical costs incurred by his late wife. Hart, his pals and Brooks's old friend Kingsfield battle the bureaucracy over Medicare benefits for him. Brooks's pride makes him resent their efforts, but Kingsfield argues that it will benefit many other people in his position, and Brooks becomes actively involved.

Tom casually gives some free legal advice to an auto mechanic (John Goodman), which is illegal for law students. The bad advice gets the mechanic evicted, whereupon he gets an opportunistic district attorney to press charges, which could end Tom's legal career. Hart gets Golden to defend Tom.

Kingsfield stays away from the campus for an entire day without notifying anyone to teach his students about the concept of breach of contract in an unorthodox way. He does not count on a potential major donor to the school showing up a week early to see him, but everything works out in the end.

A former law student, now a law clerk for a liberal state supreme court justice, tells a Law Review staffer that his boss is voting the way the conservative governor wants in close cases in return for his appointment. Kingsfield vetoes publishing Hart's article about it in Law Review because the source insists on remaining anonymous. Then the justice casts the deciding vote on a death penalty case.

Ford's girlfriend discovers she is pregnant. She decides to get an abortion, to avoid missing school and losing her scholarship, but he wants a say in the decision. Some of the law students become uneasy when they are invited to socialize with the faculty at a tea.

Bell takes charge of an annual variety show put on by the law students after one more-qualified person flunks out and another is injured. Laura and Martin Zeiss become romantically involved as they rehearse a comedy skit. Meanwhile, Kingsfield flies to Los Angeles. On the night of the show, Soloway cannot sing the song he wrote, due to over practicing, so Rose takes his place and is a hit. Laura breaks up with Zeiss when he becomes jealous of Rose's success. With a shortage of acts, Bell has to do his impersonation of Kingsfield, unaware until too late that the professor has returned and is in the audience.

Rose is stunned and upset when Arnie, her dermatologist husband (Herb Edelman) of 25 years (and three daughters), files for divorce during their trial separation. The law students band together to assist her in representing herself in the proceedings. They discover that Arnie has severely undervalued his declared assets.

The senior partner of Golden's law firm brings him aboard a major libel suit on behalf of John Cromwell (William Schallert), an antisemitic client, when the partner's associate undergoes surgery. It is an important assignment for someone as junior as Golden, but Cromwell complains that he is too pushy and unlikable for the jury and wants him off the case. A popular janitor (Scatman Crothers) is eager to enjoy his retirement, but he finds himself missing the students and faculty of the university. Laura and Ford realize his pride will not let him ask for his job back ... without some maneuvering on their part.

Harriman suffers two blows to her psyche. First, her long-distance boyfriend shows up unexpectedly and tells her he is marrying someone else. Then Kingsfield agrees with Hart that her note for Law Review is inadequate. Vulnerable, she has a one-night stand with Hart. He is bothered when he discovers that the encounter means more to him than it does to her. Meanwhile, Soloway has insomnia, so he tries therapy. Under hypnosis, he believes he is the reincarnation of St. Thomas More, but he had merely seen the movie A Man for All Seasons recently.

Ford becomes the victim of identify theft and is arrested by police and jailed. Although friends Hart, Golden, and even Kingsfield rescue him, his brush with reality leaves his presumption of the rectitude of the legal system badly shaken.

Zeiss is upset about not graduating with honors. He finds out that there is a second grading system he was unaware of; in addition to letter grades, there are also numerical ones. Based on the latter, he missed out by the narrowest of margins. After being rejected by a law firm he really wants to work for, he files a lawsuit against the law school over its grading procedures. He loses, but Kingsfield contacts the recruiter, a former student of his, and Zeiss is offered a job. Mrs. Nottingham gets sued. Everyone learns to settle, some with Kingsfield's nudging.

Tensions mount as finals approach. The law students decide to have a "suppressed desire" party, where everyone dresses up in a costume depicting what they wanted to be in life, just to relieve the pressure. Laura is having second thoughts about becoming a lawyer. A chance encounter with an art professor (Theodore Bikel) and an open art contest (in which she takes third place) reawakens her interest in that area.

The soon-to-be graduates ponder their futures after law school. Hart is weighing working for a private firm or accepting a federal court clerkship when Professor Tyler approaches him with a third option: applying for a faculty opening. Kingsfield opposes his nomination because he feels Hart lacks the experience necessary, and ultimately prevails. Bell, after numerous rejections, finally gets a job offer, only to have the firm break up. Later, however, one of the former partners hires him. Laura tells Hart that she will not return for her third year; she is going to be an artist. Tom and Rose's study group breaks up due to the cutthroat nature of another member. Hart gives the commencement speech.