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Alicia Florrick (née Cavanaugh) is the main character of the TV series The Good Wife. The wife of Peter Florrick, a disgraced state's attorney, she returns to work as a junior litigator at the law firm Stern, Lockhart & Gardner. In Season 4, Alicia gets and takes a promotion as an equity partner of the firm and starts a new firm with Cary. After Will dies in Season 5, Alicia goes into a period of mourning, and separates from Peter, maintaining their marriage for the sake of their careers. In Season 6, Alicia, Diane, Cary, Kalinda and others return to Lockhart & Gardner, now called Florrick, Agos & Lockhart. In Season 6. Alicia also starts running for State's Attorney and develops a friendship with prosecutor Finn Polmar. She is successfully elected but has to step down due to false accusations and in season 7 restarts her law career in bond court. At the end of the series, Alicia and Peter agree to divorce. Alicia has often been known as a complicated person. She is portrayed by actress Julianna Margulies.

Known biography

Early Life

Alicia Cavanaugh was born to Veronica and an unknown man before her younger brother Owen. Sometime in her life, Alicia's parents got divorced.

Law School

Alicia Cavanaugh graduated from law school at the top of her class at Georgetown University around 1994. While in law school, she was also good friends with Will Gardner, who helped her out a lot of the time in law school.

After Law School

After graduation, she went to work as a junior associate at the firm Crozier, Abrams & Abbott, where she had the highest number of billable hours for any associate. Sometime during her job, she met and eventually married Peter Florrick (played by Chris Noth), who was at the time the Cook County State's Attorney. They met primarily because they were both attorneys, but Alicia did not seem to have Peter's political ambitions. After her two children, Zach and Grace, were born, she left work to be a stay-at-home mother and a good political wife.

The Series

Season 1

At the beginning of the show, Alicia had been married for fifteen years to Cook County State's Attorney Peter Florrick. Peter had been disgraced after a sex tape including him was leaked to the press, and allegations followed concerning the misuse of his office. Needing to support her family financially after the scandal, Alicia got in touch with old law school friend Will Gardner and went back to work as a first-year associate at the firm Stern, Lockhart & Gardner. With only one associate position open, she competes for the role with another junior associate, Cary Agos.

In Ep. 1, Alicia is given the case of a woman accused of murdering her husband and faking a car-jacking to cover it up. It is during this trial she first met Matan, a man hired by her husband during his time as State’s Attorney, currently working under Glenn Childs - the attorney whose leak of the sex tape landed her husband in jail. Their relationship is cold as Matan has lost respect for her husband Peter, and believed her to be receiving his help throughout her time on the case. However, Alicia successfully proved the guild of another suspect, forcing Matan to drop the charges against her client. She ended up sleeping with gus hansen. 

In Ep. 2, Alicia was sent the rape case of a stripper by her husband Peter’s lawyer. While Alicia initially suspected that the woman is one of the prostitutes Peter slept with, both he and the woman denied it. During the trial, Childs revealed he had much more to release about Peter from his investigation, but released only the sex tape to save Alicia and her children undue stress. At the end of the episode, Alicia finally listens to the full sex tape Childs leaked, after being sent a link to it by Cary.

Episode 3 reveals that when her husband was sent to prison, she was forced to move away from her old home in Highland Park, and subsequently cut out of her old friendship group. Her third client, Kenny Chatham, was the son of one of her former friends from her old neighborhood, accused of felony murder. Alicia saved him from receiving a murder conviction, but his mom continued to resent Alicia. 

In Ep. 4, Peter's legal team began to gather new evidence to hopefully win Peter a new trial. Alicia revealed in an interview with his lawyer, Daniel Golden, that she initially found out about the affair when the story broke on CNBC. Sensing wavering loyalty to her husband, Golden started bribing Alicia and her children with generous gifts. Despite Alicia’s insistence that Golden shouldn't attempt to bribe her or her children, she provides him with videotape evidence that Peter was home on a day that he was accused of receiving bribes. Alicia also attempts to verify that a gift Peter gave her was indeed purchased by him, but when attempting to access the receipt, finds that the gift wasn’t purchased under his name. Despite these attempts, Peter’s legal team decide they need Alicia to testify at the appeal. 

In Episode 5, tensions ride between Alicia and Peter’s mother, Jackie Florrick, about the children and when they would visit their father. Jackie insists that the children should visit their father on his birthday, a week before their scheduled visit, and eventually takes them despite Alicia’s wishes. This causes an argument wherein Alicia tells Jackie that she is trying her best, but needs to be the one to decide what's best for her children.

In Ep. 6, Alicia visits Peter in prison for a conjugal visit upon the insistence of Kalinda, as this is the only way she can get information on the death row case she's working on. Alicia and Peter then sleep separately. 

In Episode 7, Alicia fights with her son as he attempts to hide that he has been searching for the prostitute in the image of Peter smoking crack. Zach instead pretends he phoned the sex line out of curiosity, and Alicia remains unaware of the photos. In an effort to win the firm's third partner, Jonas Stern, to her side, Alicia represented his daughter Anna Loeb after she was accused of not preventing an otherwise preventable accident due to her religion. Alicia soon became attracted to her co-counsel on Loeb's case, Ryan Alprin. However, all these feelings quickly died out when Kalinda informed her that Ryan had never passed the bar exam.

In Episode 8, Alicia testified at Peter’s appeal for a new trial, in which she said she will welcome Peter back home and asks for him to be returned. Her son snuck into the trial hoping to show the blackmail pictures to his father, who wasn’t present.

In Ep. 9, Amber Madison has been interviewed on talk shows about the book she is writing about Peter Florrick. Alicia found the interview online and watched part of it before Amber calls Alicia at work. This led to her visiting Peter in prison and asking him to make Amber Madison stop, which Peter does by threatening her with her ex, a Russian mobster. This led to Amber waiting by Alicia’s car after work in an attempt to “warn” her. Ignoring everything Amber had said, Alicia drove away, walked into Peter's office, and kissed him.

Episode 11 introduces Ms Browning, the wife of Glenn Childs, who hired Alicia has her divorce lawyer in an attempt to scare her husband into ignoring their prenuptial agreement and giving her their house and full custody. Childs’ wife threatens to tell Alicia what her husband knows about Peter, but despite getting her ideal divorce settlement, tells Alicia that her husband tapped their phones regardless, before signing the non-disclosure. 

Alicia tells Peter this in Episode 12, using a note written on papers and pretending they required Peter’s signature YAHOO Also in this episode, Alicia fires the nanny she hired briefly after her children tell her that the nanny was discussing inappropriate things with them. During Ep. 13, Alicia refuses to sit in the audience during Amber Madison’s testimony at Peter’s appeal, as well as telling him that he won’t be staying in her bed, but she does still love him. At the end of Episode 14, Peter is granted a new trial and is allowed to move back home

Personality

Alicia has often been known as, if not is, a rather very complicated person.

Having spent so many years as "the good wife", Alicia finds herself at the bottom of the career ladder, trying to juggle both home and professional life with the ongoing scandal surrounding her husband with whom she has two children, Zach and Grace. However as complicated as she is, Alicia is smart, independent, fiercely protective of her children, and much more than a good wife. She is a firm mother who does her best to protect her children from the spotlight at all costs. She excels at keeping a cool exterior and is usually quiet. She is rarely ruffled and almost always thinks through what she is going to say, choosing her words for maximum impact or sting.

Alicia is often asked to hand-hold difficult clients on cases, which sometimes annoys her, but she proves good at reassuring people and remaining calm. Diane has even said that Alicia is that kind of person that tells the truth, even if it hurts.

Relationships

Peter Florrick

Peter Florrick met Alicia Cavanaugh for the first time primarily because they were both attorneys, but Alicia did not seem to have Peter's political ambitions and leaves work as an attorney to become a good political wife. They had been married for fifteen years by the beginning of the show, and had two children named Zachary and Grace Florrick, and lived in a large home in Highland Park, Chicago, for thirteen years. Alicia had never asked Peter any questions about his political activities because she did not believe it was necessary. Glenn Childs, one of Peter's political and personal enemies, revealed Peter's activities with prostitutes by leaking a sex tape to the press, and Peter was convicted on corruption charges and sent to prison.

Alicia remained distant from Peter for several months after and shied away from physical contact with him. However, she decided that she would not seek a divorce and later testified on Peter's behalf. Peter's devotion to his family was seen clearly when he threatened the prostitute from the sex tape, Amber Madison, and Amber's subsequent silence relieved Alicia so much that she kissed Peter.

While Alicia and Peter remained married, they slept in separate bedrooms while he was released under electronic monitoring. At the end of season two, after Peter won the election for State's Attorney, Alicia discovered he had slept with her friend and co-worker Kalinda Sharma before the scandal. Alicia packed up his boxes while he was celebrating the win with his team and moved him into a new apartment, paying his first three months' rent in advance. They became legally separated, and Alicia consulted David Lee, Lockhart/Gardner's family law specialist, for advice on how to protect herself financially in the face of divorce.

After David Lee reveals to Eli Gold that Alicia has been speaking to him about divorcing Peter, he questions her about it. She is outraged that David Lee even mentioned it to Eli so she says she won't be needing his services anymore, saying she has decided not to divorce. Peter and Alicia's relationship is still strained though, though it does improve in season 4. However after Will's death during season 5 Alicia decides to separate from Peter, but stay married in the public eye as it benefits both their careers

Will Gardner

Will Gardner and Alicia Florrick attended the same law school, Georgetown, and worked together before Alicia married Peter, had children and resigned. However, after her husband's sex scandal, Alicia presumably contacted Will, looking for a job, and Will selected her for a junior associate position at his firm. They spent many late nights together, which Jackie Florrick, Peter's mother, brought to the children's attention.

In Episode 17, Heart, After Will lost an important case, Alicia comforted him, telling him he did all that he could, and he kissed her. However, Alicia stopped it there and left the building. Then she seemed to change her mind and returned upstairs, only to find him gone. Their "bad timing" is a refrain throughout their relationship, from Georgetown to the present.

At the end of the first season, Will called Alicia and told her that he did want to be with her, to which Alicia responded by challenging him to come up with a plan. He called back a few seconds later, but when she didn't answer, he left two voicemail messages. The first one said that she was right--he was her boss, and she was his employee, and they should leave it alone. The second, more emotional, message said, "The plan is 'I love you,'" that he had been in love with her since Georgetown and that he would meet her anywhere and they could make a plan. Unbeknownst to either of them, Peter's campaign manager Eli Gold erased the second message, presumably because Alicia's departure would harm Peter's future chances of running for political office. Because Will ended the second message by telling her that if she didn't understand what he was saying, she should ignore it, he did not question her lack of response.

Alicia discovered the existence of the second message the next year when she listened to wiretap recordings and heard Will talking to his friend Henry Baxter about his relationship with her. However, when she asked him what the second message said, he lied and told her it was similar to the first.

After winning the Judge Ellerbee murder trial, Will and Alicia celebrated by doing tequila shots. She asked him about his girlfriend Tammy, and he explained their recent breakup. Will went on to ask her, "What if we were to suddenly have good timing? Just for an hour?" and they got a hotel room together.

When Grace goes missing Alicia blames herself for being distracted by her relationship with Will. She ends their short relationship after Grace is found. When she walks away from him she is seen crying, so she might have strong feelings for him. Will later tells her he doesn't want things to be weird, and they go back to the way things were before. However, it is still strongly hinted that Will is in love with Alicia.

Alicia does have dreams about making love with Will and being with Will again.

Diane Lockhart

Diane acts as a sort-of mentor for Alicia throughout the series. She initially doesn't respect Alicia, but soon finds out that she is a smart, kind, and diligent lawyer. In season 3, Diane and Alicia have an awkward tension because of her affair with Will, which Diane worries compromises their judgments and the integrity of the firm.

Kalinda Sharma

Kalinda was Alicia's best friend throughout the first two seasons. She helped Alicia settle in at Lockhart/Gardner and they worked together on numerous cases. After avoiding being indicted, an investigator for the State Attorney's office pursued information about Kalinda and discovered that she had in fact slept with Peter before the sex scandal. The investigator Wiley turns up during the celebration of Peter's election and tells Alicia of the affair. Alicia breaks down in her apartment. Days later, she confronts Kalinda and says their entire friendship was a lie. Kalinda walks away and cries in the elevator. From then on Kalinda and Alicia had a strained relationship.

Kalinda helps find Alicia's daughter when she went missing and returns her home. Kalinda asks Grace and Zach not to tell their mother that she had helped, though she eventually found out. When Kalinda is arrested by Cary, Alicia makes an effort to find her and free her. When they are sitting in Alicia's car, Kalinda says thanks and Alicia thanks her for finding her daughter.

Alicia wants to rebuild their friendship but says that she can't be the only one being honest. Kalinda agrees and the two start to be friends again.

Owen Cavanaugh

Owen is Alicia's younger gay brother. Although personality-wise Owen is the polar opposite of Alicia, they do love each other very much. Additionally, her brother being gay never bothered her.

Eli Gold

In Eli Gold's first scene with Alicia, he realizes that she isn't just another politician's wife, and respects her caution and intelligence. At the end of season 1, Alicia asks Eli to have some of his clients switch to her firm, out of fear of being fired. At the end of season 2, Eli joins Lockhart/Gardner and, in season 3, he hopes to restore Peter and Alicia's marriage so Peter can run for the governorship successfully.

Kenny Chatham

Kenneth Chatham's mother and Alicia Florrick had been good friends during the days when Peter and Alicia were still together regularly, and Kenny always saw Alicia as sort of a "fun mom." Kenny showed up at Alicia's office and everyone assumed that he was her son. Having been caught picking up marijuana, he had come to Alicia because he needed a lawyer. Alicia told him that he had to go to the police instead. Kenny told her that she had once been "much cooler" than she had become. Soon, however, Kenny was accused of murder and Alicia was forced to accept his defense. She won the case and prevented Kenny from being jailed. After the case was won Kenny's mother approached Alicia but Alicia pointed out that their friendship was not going to rekindle and Kenny's mother was not going to call her, this refers to earlier in the episode when Alicia tells Kalinda that after the scandal Kenny's mom was the first to stop calling.

References

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