Saul Goodman

James Morgan McGill, better known by his alias Saul Goodman is of Irish descent and was born on November 12, 1960, to Charles Willard McGill and Ruth McGill, in Cicero, Illinois, near Chicago.^[18][19] His older brother Chuck became a successful lawyer as one of the partners at Albuquerque law firm Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill (HHM). As a child, Jimmy worked at his parents’ corner store in Cicero, and watched as customers took advantage of his gullible, naive father; Jimmy soon began pilfering small change from the store.^[20]

Determined not to end up like his father, Jimmy became a con artist and earned the nickname « Slippin’ Jimmy » for staging « slip and fall » accidents. He also ran petty scams including the « fake Rolex » with the help of his best friend and partner-in-crime Marco Pasternak.^[21] Jimmy began to use the alias « Saul Goodman », a play on the phrase « It’s all good, man ». He initially used it as a fake name when performing his scams with Marco. He would much later use the alternative identity for the high-energy pitchman in television ads he produced,^[22] and made when he began a business reselling prepaid cell phones on the street.^[23] During high school, Jimmy also produced fake IDs and sold them to his friends so they could buy beer.^[24]

At some point in the past, Jimmy had been married and divorced twice.^[25] One of his ex-wives cheated on him with a man named Chet. Jimmy ran into trouble when he drunkenly defecated through the sunroof of Chet’s car, an act he calls a « Chicago Sunroof »; unbeknownst to Jimmy, Chet’s children were inside the vehicle. Arrested and facing the possibility of having to register as a sex offender, and in spite of a five-year separation from his family, Jimmy turned to Chuck for help. Chuck successfully defended Jimmy, but required that Jimmy move to Albuquerque and work a legitimate job in HHM’s mail room.^[26][27]

While working in the HHM mail room, Jimmy befriended Kim Wexler, an HHM employee attending the University of New Mexico School of Law. Over time, their friendship turned romantic. Inspired by her success and Chuck’s career, Jimmy resumed his education, completing his undergraduate degree and then a J.D. from the (fictional) University of American Samoa’s correspondence law school.^[28] He passed the bar exam hoping to be hired at HHM, but Chuck secretly compelled senior partner Howard Hamlin to deny Jimmy the opportunity.^[29] Jimmy then began a solo practice as a lawyer, basing his office in the utility room of a Vietnamese nail salon at a strip mall. During this period, he took whatever cases he could get, including low-paying public defender work.

Some years later, near the time of Chuck’s divorce with Rebecca,^[30] Chuck developed a psychosomatic aversion to electricity and became semi-reclusive. Jimmy cared for Chuck, bringing him groceries and running his errands. However, Jimmy still struggled with finances, and drove a signature Suzuki Esteem with mismatched doors (a visual pun reflecting Jimmy’s poor self-esteem).^[31] While arriving at and departing from court, Jimmy frequently butted heads with Mike Ehrmantraut, a former Philadelphia police officer who at that time worked as the courthouse parking lot attendant. On one day of doing errands for Chuck, the older brother attempted to let Jimmy confide in him about his unsatisfying public defender work and tell him it’s never too late to change his path, but Jimmy assumes he’s looking down on him like usual and rebukes this; Chuck responds « We always end up having the same conversations. »^[a]