A minor incident between Golden and an engineering student about a parking space causes hostilities between the law students and the engineering students (or ""Wonks"" as they are called on campus). Golden has the Wonk's car impounded and the Wonks retaliate by moving Golden's car into the Law Review office (which is in a basement...). A romance between a law student and a Wonk is strained by the conflict. The matter is settled by a contest of legal knowledge between Kingsfield and a computer.

Hart, returning home for his sister's wedding, ends up having to ignore family and boyhood friends because he has to spend every minute on the phone editing last-minute changes to his amicus brief notes he did for Kingsfield to give to the US Supreme Court. He recognises for the first time how much he's changed due to law school. Returning to his apartment, he tells Ford "for the first time, I feel like I belong here".