In May 2002, James Morgan "Jimmy" McGill is a struggling public defender in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After representing three teenagers who broke into a morgue and had sex with a severed head, Jimmy is paid $700 for the defense, which he complains to be too little. Later, he gets a call from a prospective client, to whom he pretends to be his own mild-mannered British secretary.
SAUL (speaking as a woman): Law offices of James McGill, how may I direct your call?...Yes, Mrs. Kettleman, so good of you to return!...Actually I don't have Mr. McGill at the moment, but I know he...Oh, splendid. Unfortunately our office is being painted, and the fumes are quite horrid, could he meet you and your husband at, say, Loyola's café at Central?...4 o'clock it shall be, cheers!
Saul checks his watch, gets into the car, then starts his car and sputters away. On his way out of the parking lot, Jimmy is stopped by Mike Ehrmantraut, the parking lot attendant, who refuses to let him exit without either a payment or a court-supplied parking sticker.
MIKE: Three dollars.
SAUL: Uh, I'm validated, see the stickers.
MIKE: Well, I see five stickers, you're one shy. Three dollars.
SAUL: They gave me, look, I'm validated for the entire day, ok? Five stickers, six stickers, I don't know stickers because I was in that court back there, saving people's lives, so…
MIKE: Well, gee, that's swell. And thank you for restoring my faith in the judicial system. Now you either pay the three dollars, or you go back inside and get an additional sticker.
Mike hands the ticket back.
SAUL: Son of a bitch… Fine! You win! Hooray for you! (to car behind him) Backing up, I'm backing up, I need more stickers! I don't have enough stickers! Thank you, thank you, very nice! Employee of the month over here! (claps) Hooray, give him a medal! (to cops) don't do anything guys, just relax.
Later that day, Jimmy meets at a diner with the prospective clients, county treasurer Craig Kettleman and his wife, Betsy, who are being investigated for the disappearance of county funds.
BETSY KETTLEMAN: Well, I'm just fuzzy as to why you think he needs a lawyer. I mean, Craig, the way you run your office is beyond reproach.
CRAIG KETTLEMAN: Beyond reproach. I'm a stickler.
BETSY: Yes, he's a stickler with the money, he's definitely a stickler. I mean he's certainly not guilty of some…
SAUL: Certainly not. He's innocent of any wrongdoing. It's abundantly clear to me, and frankly, I don't go looking for guilty people to represent. I mean, who needs that aggravation, right?
Mr. and Mrs. Kettleman chuckle.
SAUL: Look, all I know is what I read in the paper. Typically, when money goes missing from accounting treasury, and the number is, uh, $1.6 million…
BETSY: Well that's an accounting...discrepancy.
SAUL: Discrepancy, absolutely. But typically, when that happens, the police look at the treasurer. And since that person is, uh (gestures at Craig). I just think a little proactivity may be in order here.
CRAIG: I just think I'd look guilty if I hired a lawyer.
SAUL: Actually, it's getting arrested that makes people look guilty, even the innocent ones. And innocent people get arrested everyday. And they find themselves in a little room with a detective who acts like he's their best friend. "Talk to me" he says. "Help me clear this up". "You don't need a lawyer, only guilty people need lawyers", and BOOM! That's when it all goes south. That's when you want someone in your corner, someone who will fight tooth and nail. Lawyers. We're like health insurance. You hope you never need it, but man, oh, man, not having it? No!
CRAIG: How would we proceed if we decided to um…
SAUL: Well this is a letter of engagement. It's very simple. Straightforward. Please read it closely, but, uh, if you sign it I can get started on that defense strategy of ours this very afternoon.
BETSY: Craig, I think maybe we should sleep on it.
CRAIG: Uh, sure. Don't you think, Mr. McGill?
SAUL: Oh please, call me Jimmy. Absolutely, I mean there's no rush.
CRAIG: Oh, and you know, Craig, we gotta pick up the kids.
BETSY: At the…
CRAIG: Oh...right. Well we will be in touch. Thank you for the coffee and for the advice.
They shake hands.
SAUL: You're very welcome. Here, take this, it's got my phone number on it.
Saul hands Craig a personalized matchbook.
BETSY: Ok.
They are hesitant to hire Jimmy, and when later trying to order them flowers while driving, Jimmy hits a man on a skateboard. The skateboarder's twin brother records the incident on a video camera and threatens to call the police unless Jimmy pays them hush money.Recognizing their ruse, Jimmy refuses to pay and leaves. Afterward, he returns to his "office" – the boiler room of a Vietnamese beauty salon, where he finds a check for $26,000 from Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill (HHM), his brother Chuck's law firm. Jimmy proceeds to tear the check into several pieces and later confronts the partners, accusing them of trying to cheat Chuck out of his rightful share of the partnership. On his way out of the HHM office, he sees the Kettlemans going in, which causes him to become agitated over losing a potentially lucrative client.
Jimmy visits Chuck, who has had a mental breakdown and believes he has electromagnetic hypersensitivity. He requires visitors to leave their remote car door-opening keys and cellular phones in his mailbox and ground themselves before entering his house. He has no working lights or refrigerator and works from home by lantern on a manual typewriter. Chuck refuses a buyout and also suggests that Jimmy stop using the name "McGill" for his personal firm to avoid public confusion with HHM.
Jimmy tracks down the two skateboarders, Cal and Lars Lindholm, and suggests a partnership, telling them how he got the nickname "Slippin' Jimmy" as a young man by faking "slip and falls" to get easy money. He arranges for one of them to be hit by a car driven by Betsy Kettleman, which will enable him to make another pitch to defend the Kettlemans on the embezzlement charge. Instead of stopping to check Cal's status after hitting him, the motorist just drives off. Cal and Lars give chase, but when the car stops, an elderly Hispanic woman exits. They try to get her to pay and follow her into her house. Jimmy arrives moments later to try and save them, trying to get in by referring to himself accurately but misleadingly as an "officer of the court", but is pulled into the house at gunpoint by Tuco Salamanca.