Newton's Law

Episode 1

External Forces

60 mins

After more than a decade of battling to help the less fortunate, Josephine Newton's (Claudia Karvan) suburban solicitor's practice is burnt down by a disgruntled client. Her old Uni friend and admirer Lewis Hughes (Toby Schmitz) persuades her to leave her lame ducks behind and resume her briefly glorious career at the Bar. Josephine's husband, Callum (Brett Tucker), has failed to deliver on his promise to stop disappearing to far-flung corners of the Earth in pursuit of his various causes so she can have her turn at a career, and they're in the throes of separation. Her daughter, Lydia (Ella Newton), is fifteen years old and blames her mother for everything. Josephine can't see how her domestic life can get much worse - so what does she have to lose by going back to the Bar? Unfortunately, Josephine finds it's not so easy to leave her entourage behind. Her clutch of ex-clients turned employees are reliant on her. When she discovers a former car wash in the basement is up for lease, the serendipity seems too perfect to ignore and Newton's Legal is reincarnated as Chatterjee and Chatterjee Solicitors. Josephine's former paralegal, Helena (Georgina Naidu), is reluctantly elevated to Solicitor in Charge and she is free to pursue her new life upstairs - with her old life only a lift-ride away.