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Diane Lockhart is a named partner at her law firm, Diane is a liberal champion of women's causes, thus having strong opinions on many issues, including an extreme dislike of guns and violence. Although in one plotline she had a romantic relationship with a conservative ballistics expert.

She speaks fluent French and seems to have an active social life. Among her paramours is Kurt McVeigh, a firearms expert and conservative Republican, whom Diane is drawn to despite their political opposites and her dislike of guns, and they eventually marry.

Biography[]

Season 1[]

She is initially sceptical when Alicia Florrick joined Stern, Lockhart & Gardner, seeing her as "entitled" and a junior associate who doesn't think she is one.[1] She also offers to mentor Alicia Florrick, and while Alicia does not officially accept, Diane appears to be someone she can rely on. Every so often, Alicia goes to Diane for help, and she is happy to oblige. During the competition between Alicia and Cary Agos, Diane initially seems to favor Cary over Alicia, while Will favors Alicia.

Eventually, though, Diane and Will each see the worth of Alicia and Cary and have a hard time choosing one over the other. They end up keeping Alicia after she secures Eli Gold as a client for the firm.

During this season, Stern, Lockhart & Gardner goes through many challenges. The firm experiences financial troubles and has to lay off a spate of employees.

The situation is aggravated when Will challenges the power of their fellow founding partner, Jonas Stern, whose presence at the firm is becoming sparse. When Stern needs representation at court for a case against him, he chooses Alicia, who previously represented his daughter. When Diane and Stern find out that Will has been trying to push out Stern, they assume it is because Stern has almost always agreed with Diane on their voting matters. Stern lashes out at the founding partners and tells Diane that he only hired her because it looked good to "have a woman in the office". Stern then decides to quit the firm and start his own law firm, taking their clients and a third of their business.

Diane receives an offer from the Democratic ward and committee chairs to run for a position as a judge in the upcoming election. She is told she is a shoo-in because she is a woman and will be campaigned for by Democrats. Diane considers it but running would mean she would need to divest herself from the firm. Although Diane wants the spot, the committee later returns to her to tell her that she cannot run because of her client roster, although it is most likely because a recent SLG case revealed the corruption of another judge that the committee favored, and if she runs she will have to compete with them.

Season 2[]

Lockhart & Gardner merges with Derrick Bond's firm to become Lockhart/Gardner & Bond. Diane decides to move out on her own after discovering that Derrick and Will are planning to oust her. Tensions between Will and Diane come to a head when Will uncovers her plan, although they quickly reconcile, once they become aware that after Diane has been pushed out, Bond will isolate Will, and go through the same procedure with him. The two work together to turn the equity partners against Bond, eventually forcing him out of the firm

Prior to forcing Bond out, Kurt asks Diane to represent him in a lawsuit. The two grow close again. Following the case, Kurt asks Diane to go away together, or even to get married. Diane refuses, saying that she has to stay for the firm and her work, as that is what she is committed to. Kurt leaves soon after, and Diane goes back to her work.

Season 3[]

Will and Alicia's suspected affair causes friction between the two name partners; Diane being of the opinion that the relationship is both wrong and unwise, due to Alicia's position as an associate while Will is a name partner. Nevertheless, Diane comforts Will once the affair is broken off. She fights against his suspension, believing that staying away from the law will destroy him. When he is suspended, she runs the firm alone, renaming it Lockhart & Associates.

Shortly after Will's suspension, Diane visits Kurt, who she has not seen in a year. When Kurt asks why she has come, she tells him that she has missed him, revealing that she still has feelings for him, despite the fact that she declined his offer the year before.

Season 4[]

Lockhart & Gardner is suffering through severe financial difficulties, resulting in the firm going into bankruptcy. A trustee is assigned to the firm, and they are given 5 months to raise $60 million, or the firm will be dissolved. The trustee attempts to remove Will and Diane as managing partners, believing that they are destroying the firm. They fight against this and are given another 5-month deadline to achieve the $60 million aim.

After they save the firm from bankruptcy, Diane is asked to become a Supreme Court Justice by Peter Florrick, following his election as Governor. She asks Kalinda to look into some issues in her background. Kalinda discovers that Diane's father caused a close friend's suicide. This revelation shocks Diane to the core, having previously idolized her father for his strong moral compass. Kurt comforts her after this, and Diane proposes to him, but instantly withdraws the proposal as she is embarrassed. Kurt tells her not to be, but that he needs time to think about marriage. Diane tells him that she does not want to keep on waiting, fearing that they will always be waiting. The two decide to get married.

Season 5[]

Peter Florrick's recent gubernatorial success means a Supreme Court Justice seat for Diane is in the works. Shortly afterwards, she reluctantly gives an interview when she talks about Will and his suspension. As a result, the firm is brought into some level of disrepute, and Will attempt to force Diane to leave early. Diane takes a step back from the firm, before discovering that Alicia is planning to leave. She informs Will of the recent discovery and helps him to handle the firm after she and the others have been fired. However, as Alicia has left, Diane realises that her own judgeship is in danger now. She rushes to Peter's office, where Eli reassures her that they will not let any personal problems affect the judgeship. However, Peter decides that he no longer wants Diane to become a Supreme Court Justice, as she fired Alicia. Diane asks Kalinda to find out whether or not she is still in the running. When Kalinda tells her that she has been removed, Diane breaks down into tears in the bathroom. She asks Will if she can stay at the firm, and Will and Diane form an even stronger partnership.

Just before she discovers that Alicia was leaving the firm, Diane and Kurt have a night out where they meet each other's friends. Diane's friends are incredibly surprised that she is marrying a hardcore republican, given the fact that she is a known and respected liberal. She tells them that unless she completely loses track of herself, they should not interfere. After meeting Kurt's friends, Diane has doubts about the marriage, wondering whether or not she really wants it. Nevertheless, the two marry the next day.

Diane is in court when she hears a gun go off. After hearing that Will has been shot, she and Kalinda rush to the hospital where they find his body. Devastated, she cries over his body. Following her return to the office, that same day, she takes command of the firm once more, telling them all what has happened. She fires an intern who is crying loudly, as well as firing a client who insisted that she meet them that day to discuss his case. When Alicia comes to the firm, they embrace tightly, both crying. Bridges that had previously been broken between the two begin to be rebuilt. Diane tells Alicia that she loved Will, and that he loved Alicia. They attend Will's funeral together, remarking that they knew Will more than his family did. They spend time in a bar together afterwards, with Diane remarking that Will was a "real man". They subsequently decide that there has been enough ill will between the two and decide to merge their firms.

David Lee becomes aware of the plan that Diane is making between the two firms. In a bid to wrest control from Diane, he brings in Louis Canning as a third partner. Without Will, Diane finds that it will be much easier for the other two partners to move against her. Peter Florrick asks herto run for State's Attorney, an offer that she declines as she is tired of constantly fighting. Canning gives Diane an ultimatum, either let him become managing partner and push her out, or he will have the firm dissolved. Diane decides against either, and goes to Florrick Agos, and asks them to hire her.

Season 6[]

Diane, as well as other partners from Lockhart/Gardner, join Florrick Agos, forming Florrick/Agos/Lockhart. When Alicia is not allowed to be Cary's lawyer in the drug case, Diane takes over, forming a tight bond between the two. Just before Cary's sentencing hearing, after he pleads guilty, Diane pulls down faked metadata from Kalinda's computer, believing it to be real. She presents it in court, leading to Cary being acquitted. Later, when the police officer is being investigated, Kalinda tells her that the metadata was faked. Diane goes before the disciplinary board and admits her mistake. The SA's office gives Diane an option, if she turns in information about Lemond Bishop, a top drug dealer who is a client of the firm, she will not be prosecuted. However doing so will mean that Diane is breaking attorney-client privilege. As well as this, turning in Bishop will mean that Diane is in a great deal of danger, as Bishop is an incredibly dangerous man, who is known for having people who testify against him killed. In order to stop this, Kalinda gives information on Bishop to the SA's office, then disappears, so Bishop will not kill her.

Season 7[]

Diane stays at Lockhart, Agos, Lee after Alicia leaves the firm. She becomes Peter's lawyer during his case, leading to clashes with Alicia. Just prior to this, Kurt tells Diane that he wants to move in together, having lived apart due to their work. Diane is ecstatic about this. During Peter's trial, she asks Kurt to oversell his evidence so that he is not lying, but it will be more helpful to her defence. This backfires in court, leading to Kurt's humiliation. Diane is extremely upset with herself at having done this. She goes to Kurt's house that night and breaks down in tears as she repeatedly apologises and begs him to forgive her. Shortly afterwards, she clashes with Alicia, as Alicia wants to undercut Kurt in the trial, as his testimony will not support Peter. Diane orders her to not undercut him, believing that he is honest in everything that he does. Lucca and Alicia go against Diane's orders and reveal in front of the court that Kurt has had an affair with a fellow ballistics expert. Diane leaves the courtroom before he can answer. The series ends with Diane slapping Alicia.

The Good Fight[]

Season 1[]

The Good Fight starts one year after The Good Wife's end, with Diane retiring. A merger has occurred between three law firms, leading to the biggest firm in the Midwest being formed. Diane is planning to retire and move to South France. She is about to make a down payment on a house. However, just before she can, all her money is lost in a Ponzi scheme. In order to stop herself from going completely bankrupt, she must continue working. When she returns to her firm, however, they refuse to let her back in, as she has signed an exit agreement. No other firm will hire her, due to her close association with the family who engineered the Ponzi scheme. She returns home and calls Kurt, telling him to divorce her, otherwise, his finances will suffer as well. He refuses, not wanting the door to close completely between them. Adrian Boseman, of Reddick, Boseman & Kolstad, an all African-American firm, then asks Diane to join them. Diane accepts and brings her goddaughter with her. Diane is integrated into the firm, although name partner Barbara Kolstad is hostile towards her. Towards the end of the season, Diane realises that she is happy to have moved to the new firm, and becomes a name partner there.

Season 2[]

The season starts with Diane attending name partner Karl Reddick's funeral. She finds herself unable to comprehend the world around her, as so many of her friends and other lawyers are dying. A "Kill All The Lawyers" campaign has started. Diane begins to microdose psilocybin and appears to be going insane. A "Kill All The Lawyers" letter comes to Diane, apparently filled with ricin, although it is actually baking soda. This causes Diane to become even more paranoid. Following a party at the firm, Diane sleeps with the bartender and wakes up, completely shocked and angered at herself. Kurt comes to her office and she breaks down in his arms, apologising to him profusely. Kurt tells him that he wants to move back in with her. She however refuses, not believing that she can after sleeping with another man. Diane's insanity comes to a head when the Democratic Committee comes to the firm, as they need a law firm to help them impeach Trump. Diane tells them that she is incredibly close to taking a gun to the streets, as she cannot believe the state that the world is now in. However, following Adrian's shooting, she takes the gun to the police and has it melted down, as well as throwing her own tube of psilocybin down the sink. In a bid to regain control of her life, she asks Kurt to decide their "status" (whether or not he wants a divorce). The two reconcile and decide to move in together. Shortly afterwards, Diane believes that Kurt's background check for the FBI has some ulterior motives. This is proven when she is pulled in front of a grand jury, and the tape of her saying that she will take a gun to the streets is played. She realises that she is being bugged, as they also have conversations that she had with the bartender in her bedroom on tape. Not being able to find any way out, she has some information on the prosecutor released, which will cause Trump to fire him.

Relationships[]

Jonas Stern[]

Diane was Stern's protege at the original firm. He is absent for much of the first season. However, when he returns following a DUI, he argues with Will and Diane. He tells Diane that the only reason he promoted her was that it would look good to have a woman as a name partner. Diane rebuts and says that she was promoted because she was the best lawyer at the firm. Stern then reveals that he is leaving the firm with his clients. Stern then fights with Lockhart/Gardner on several cases following this. However, following Stern's death, Diane and Will are slightly upset, as he did bring them together.

Kurt McVeigh[]

Kurt is seen as being Diane's first love interest, despite their opposing politics. She is very taken by him when he first arrives, and the two begin to grow close. Eventually, in Season 4, after spending many years running in circles around each other, she does propose to Kurt, and the two become engaged. Many of Diane's liberal friends are shocked and dismayed that she is marrying a republican, but when they attempt to dissuade her, she asks them not to intervene unless they see her ruining her life. The two marry, but still live apart due to the nature of their work. Three years after their marriage, Kurt tells her that he is tired of only seeing her for thirty days a year and wants to move in with her after selling his business. Diane is ecstatic, but is quickly angered by Holly Westfall, who Kurt wants to sell his business to. When it is revealed in court that Kurt has had an affair with Holly, Diane leaves the courtroom, later slapping Alicia who uncovered the affair. Following the Ponzi scheme, Diane asks Kurt to divorce her, saying that his finances will suffer as well. Kurt, unwilling to do so, tells her that he will not be the one to move forward with the divorce, and she will have to divorce him if she wants to. Following Kurt's accident, she takes him back to his house in the country, where he asks her to stay the night, and the two reconnect. Following Diane's one-night stand with the bartender, she collapses in Kurt's arms, begging his forgiveness but not giving him a reason for her distress, out of fear that he will leave her. When she asks Kurt to decide whether or not he wants a divorce, Kurt tells her that he instead wants to move in together and to finally be a married couple. Season 3 of The Good Fight begins with the two living together.

Will Gardner[]

Will and Diane run the firm Stern/Lockhart and Gardner together, and have done for approximately eight years. Despite constantly butting heads over the direction of the firm, the close bond between the two is unmistakable. Will appears to be overjoyed when Diane is offered a judgeship in Season 1, but nevertheless is equally happy when it falls through. Tension between the two grows throughout Derrick Bond's tenure at the firm, with Diane believing that Will will side with Bond against her. However, the two reconcile, and following their attempts at forcing Bond out, the two dance in her office. Tensions once again arise once Diane suspects that Will is having an affair with Alicia, something of which she does not approve. Nevertheless, when Will breaks off the relationship, she does comfort him. She is outraged by Will's suspension, constantly encouraging him to return to the office in order to help her. When the firm begins to fall apart the following year, the two work together to save it, and manage to do so, making the required amount.The friendship of the two seems to come to an end once Diane gives an interview which portrayed Will in a bad light in order to become a judge, but once the judgeship is taken away by Peter Florrick, Will comforts her, allowing her back into the firm, promising to take it to the top. Following Will's death, Diane is devastated, crying with Alicia, telling her of how much she loved Will.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • She has a pet dog named Justice.
  • She is a Democrat.
  • In the beginning, she seems anti-gun yet after meeting Kurt (Gary Cole), the ballistics expert, she seems to gain an interest in them.
  • She marries Kurt in Season 5 of The Good Wife
  • She is considered for a judgeship twice

Gallery[]

References[]

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