(post shortened)
There are two others who witnessed Jimmy’s illegal actions. Of course, this is television. Chuck’s inability/refusal to testify might weaken the state’s case against Jimmy, but it wouldn’t necessarily end it.
Chuck’s deal included a provision that Jimmy’s self-admitted felony(s?) be imediately sent to the state’s review board. Under normal circumstances, the paperwork would eventually make it to the review board anyway, but this is slippin Jimmy we’re talking about. Stuff happens. 
Jimmy would have to admit that he deliberately, and with malice aforethought, altered court documents. Robbing a bank would be one thing, but screwing with legal court documents? That’s a big no no.
Can you tell me what issue I was not clear on? Because I told you how what you were trying to say was not clear to me, and I now that I think I finally understand you, you tell me I’m not clear about something. You do realize that you hadn’t made any of the above clear until my questioning, right?
Ok, now we’re getting somewhere. I don’t think Chuck ever wanted Jimmy to have any criminal conviction. All he wanted was his ability to practice law to be taken away. He purposefully planned the whole thing and played Saul like a fiddle while thinking ten steps ahead. Now, we know that Jimmy ends up under a different name in the same area and still practicing law, so we know that Chuck does not exactly accomplish his mission, but finding out how it all went down is the interesting bit.
I think this has pushed Jimmy over the edge into destroying Chuck, and he’s going to make the trial about how crazy Chuck is instead of about Jimmy being unethical. I think the tape is really Chuck’s Achilles heel; Chuck thinks it shows Jimmy admitting to fraud, but I think Jimmy is going to turn it around as part of showing that his crazy brother has a vendetta against him. I also think the witnesses and PIs are going to work against Chuck, they make it look like an elaborate plot to catch Jimmy instead of a more normal dispute. Like I pointed out in the old threads, there’s no evidence for the Mesa Verde switch but the tape, so Jimmy can claim he was making up the confession to sooth his brother, and then it’s his word against the guy who has to wear a tinfoil suit to court and who almost got committed to a mental hospital last season.
Exactly what he does I’ll wait to see, but I predict that the end result of the trial is that Jimmy ends up acquitted or gets a late plea bargain to a misdemeanor, while Chuck is wholly discredited and appears to be a crazy, plotting man who betrayed his own brother and engineered the whole situation. This means his former cronies on the bar won’t want to disbar Jimmy, and Howard likely decides to be done with him too - and he might even end up committed after another health issue. The nastiness of the case might lead to Jimmy abandoning the McGill name for his practice too. If he does lie about the tape, it could very well push Kim away from him and be the catalyst for them parting ways.
Liked Mike’s technique for taking out the ice cream truck, he could have shot the drivers but that would mean the Cartel would be out for revenge and would guard the next shipments more carefully. If the border guards happen to catch the truck, though, then it’s just a normal risk of doing business and they don’t think to look for anyone else, or maybe suspect an internal leak. Gus clearly respects Mike and thinks he’ll be a useful ally or henchman, he could easily have had his guys ambush and kill Mike, or could have dealt with Mike without showing who he is in person.
No, I’m confident that in the deal Jimmy would have to admit to felony breaking and entering, not to the altered court documents. We haven’t seen Chuck discuss the altered documents with anyone else, I think he’s keeping that part hidden for now. A violent felony is enough for disbarment, and it wouldn’t make sense for confessing to a crime he’s not even charged with to be a condition of a diversion deal for crimes he is charged with. Also he only mentioned B&E when he was talking to Kim about going to the Bar.
Pantastic, good analysis!
Jimmy admitted on the tape that he had altered court documents. That was Chuck’s plan. Chuck then played a portion of the recording for Ernesto so he would get word to Jimmy that a recording existed. He played the entire recording for Hamlin in order to arrange for a 24/7 bodyguard, who would also be a witness to the expected break-in and theft.
Jimmy would have to admit the B&E, and attempted theft, but the review board would/should want to know why this tape was so important to Jimmy. If he was only trying to recover a Best of the Bee Gees cassette from his brother, the review board might think this was simply a minor family issue, and allow Jimmy to continue to practice law. IMHO, of course. The writers have their own ideas. 
Yes, sexy stuff … he pulls a cigarette from her lips as they discuss the Kettlemans …
I just watched a second-rate thriller called, “Come And Find Me”, which starred Aaron Paul (Jesse from BB). He was great, but the plot was not.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that there is an Easter Egg. Mr. Paul is looking over a large board of people who are “Missing”. One of the photos is of Vince Gilligan (of BB & BCS fame).
Best thing about the film!!!
For the record, being debarred means you cannot practice law anymore. Period. No matter what the name you use. The order will not be “James McGill can no longer practice law as James McGill” it will be “He cannot practice law period, whether he be called James McGill, Saul Goodman or Lucifer Morningstar”.
Hell, change of names is a regular occurrence for married women. Mary Smith cannot escape sanction by claiming her license is under the name of Mary Jones.
Lucifer Morningstar. Good Tex-Mex country band name.
Yes, I wish people would stop speculating that “Saul Goodman” was/will be done to get around criminal charges or the bar, it just doesn’t work like that, and I don’t think the show runners will get that piece of the law wrong. The way Saul talks about his name in Breaking Bad really points to it being a ‘branding’ decision, though I suspect what we’ll see is not as straightforward as what he said there. Like I said before, my prediction is that the family conflict between Chuck and Jimmy is going to turn much nastier and will leave the name “McGill” tainted by the end.
Tainted in the eyes of law-abiding citizens like Jimmy’s elder law clients, but possibly looking quite good to the less-innocent class of clientele.
A guy who was clearly guilty, but managed to get acquitted at trial, even though virtually everybody on the other side of the case either is a lawyer, or works for lawyers, and those lawyers are some of the most respected in the city, clearly knows what he’s doing. The notoriety from this case just might be what gives him his in as the go-to guy for the local crime community.
I agree, I am predicting a courtroom scene where Jimmy questions Chuck on the stand and pulls a Caine Mutiny, making Chuck implode like Queeg.
Hmm, I have a hard time believing getting yourself off a trespassing charge brought by your brother would become the stuff of legend amongst the criminal community.
More likely this could be the impetus to get him to change his name so he isn’t connected with that bullshit if someone did a cursory search. I suspect that the trial will be a major shit show and as it nears the end it looks like both sides will come out of it as major losers. In the end they agree that Jimmy will change his name so the McGill brand is no longer tarnished.
I think this will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and HHM will that Chuck resign as senior partner. Hamlin will realize that Chuck is not quite all there, and not just due to electromagnetic radiation.
But he is an equity partner, as they made clear in Season 1, so it’s not quite that simple. Hamlin would have to buy Chuck out.
There is likely a contingency of some kind for incapacity which they haven’t felt the need to use yet. Chuck would still have ownership but no say in things. If Jimmy still has medical Power of Attorney, he could play that card.
Surely Chuck would have remembered to revoke Jimmy’s medical PoA during the period in which he changed the locks.