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Nathan Krueger is a lawyer and the head of the Eastside Legal Clinic in Queens, New York.
History[]
Working with Claire[]
After having been expelled from college before his graduation, Mike Ross works as a bike messenger in New York. While making deliveries at a legal clinic, he flirts with intern Claire Bowden, a law student at New York University and employee at Eastside Legal Clinic.
Claire, who is attracted to him, asks him what else he does other than delivering packages, stating that she would want the man in her life to be much more. Mike lies to her, pretending to be a law student at Columbia University, and helps her during her immigration case. Nathan who runs the clinic and is Claire's employer discovers that Mike is lying and refuses to use his casework to help their client. He informs Claire about Mike's lies, prompting Claire to cut ties with him.[citation needed]
Hiring Mike[]
In "The Painting", Nathan visits Mike at his apartment, remembering him from many years ago. He explains that after reading about Mike in the newspaper, was here to offer him a job at the clinic which he's still been running. Upon Mike's arrival at the firm, Nathan reveals he is giving Mike the position of a legal consultant/supervisor, a role he's been trying to fill at the clinic for roughly a decade.
Whilst helping another law student, Marissa on a housing case, Mike approaches Nathan and suggests having her petition the case in court instead of another employee at the clinic, Oliver Grady who Mike witnessed in court whilst not being able to help. Nathan refuses the idea stating that Marissa is a third year law student whilst Oliver is a fully fledged attorney.
The dispute ends with Oliver going to court and losing the case, which persuades Mike to work with Harvey Specter on suing Velocity Data at the behest of Craig Seidel, which would not only get Rachel Zane into the Bar but Mike as well, a condition made by Harvey.
Harvey tells Mike to run the case through the clinic, to make things seem legitimate. Nathan discovers what Mike and Oliver are working on and says that Mike cannot sign a case of this magnitude, a class-action due to the clinic not having the resources. However Nathan becomes less happy later on after discovering that Mike made an agreement to co-counsel with Pearson Specter Litt behind his back. Mike explains that he didn't have enough time to inform Nathan due to the CEO of Velocity Data, James Palmer putting the screws to him. Nathan asks if there's something shady going on with this case which Mike denies, not wanting to inform Nathan of his deal with Harvey just yet.
After consistent persistence from Oliver, Mike eventually reveals the deal he made to Nathan in "Character and Fitness" and in response, Mike is fired though Oliver later stands up for him. Mike then gets into the Bar and agrees to come back to the firm but on the condition that Mike's Salary is doubled so that the clinic can be funded for 2 years in his words.
Working with Pearson Specter Litt[]
In "Skin in the Game" Mike hands Nathan a check for $500,000 and resigns from the clinic, promising that he wasn't going to leave the clinic high and dry though tells Nathan he would like the idea of partnering with the clinic on a case every now and then, but also thanks him for giving him the chance to be a lawyer when nobody else would.
Nathan makes minor appearances from here but fully returns in "Tiny Violin" to ask for Mike's help on a case, revealing that after it started getting to him, the next thing he knew it became a class action, which Mike recalls the clinic does not have the resources for. Nathan asks Mike to convince the firm, now named "Specter Litt" to make an investment in the clinic which Mike knows that Harvey would never go for. However Mike instead convinces Donna to allow him to help the clinic on his own which she signs off on.
Mike heads to the clinic to tell Nathan he's here to help for as long as the case goes on for which Nathan and Oliver are both very grateful for, eventually Discharge Power, the company being sued in the class acton files a motion to dismiss due to insufficient class certification, which occured due to a miscommunication between Nathan and Oliver. After trying to explain the situation in court, Mike saves the day with a speech about Nathan's motivations, which allows a deadline to be extended. Mike refuses a $100,000 per plaintiff offer, which puts him at odds with Nathan, who wished to accept. Shortly after, the clinic loses all three of its investors, necessitating the clinic to soon be shut down. Mike initially suspects this to be the doing of Andy Forsyth, who offered Mike a job in Seattle to run a firm of his own. Mike convinces Nathan that the clinic should drop its non-profit status, which prevents them from earning more than $50,000 per case, therefore allowing them to earn much more on cases which would not only keep the clinic running for years but would also prevent Nathan from being unable to handle future class actions due to financial difficulties. Louis Litt donates $500,000 from his personal account to prevent the clinic from shutting down.
Clinic Growth[]
In Season 8 when Harvey clashes with David Fox, the landlord of their building he heads to the clinic to see if either Nathan or Oliver could help. Though upon his arrival, he is informed by one of the employees that Nathan is currently in Philadelphia working on a case whilst Oliver was working with a client at the time.
Later on, Donna gives David a class action lawsuit that's been filed against him by the clinic, with Donna stating no matter what he does to the firm the lawsuit isn't going away.[citation needed]