She-Hulk (Vol. 3) #1
Motion
At the offices of Paine & Luckberg, LLP, She-Hulk is waiting for her review with the owners of the firm. The secretary asks if she is nervous about it, but Jennifer is confident that it will go well given all the billable hours she managed to clock while simultaneously filling in for the Fantastic Four. Soon she is called into the boardroom and is stunned by how beautiful the room is. After the owners brag about their fifty thousand dollar teak meeting table they get down to business. After explaining the purpose of the review, the senior partners tell her that she will not be receiving a bonus. They then tell her that the whole reason they hired her was because of her connections to the superhero community and they are disappointed that she hasn't brought in Tony Stark, Daniel Rand, or Reed Richards into doing business with the firm. As it turns out, that is the only reason why they hired her, saying that if they wanted someone to work cases and generate billable hours they would hire a lawyer to do it. This angers her, and she decides that she will not reduce herself to the level of exploiting her relationships in the superhero community so that the law firm she works for can make more money. When they try to fire her for this insubordination, Jen beats them to the punch by quitting on the spot. They tell her that she will be able to take her files with her, including the blue file which she brought with her to that firm. As she walks out, she hears the senior partners complaining about how bad an investment she was, and she turns around and shatters their expensive meeting table with her finger, then walks out.
She-Hulk then goes to a bar for some drinks when she is approached by a woman named Holly Harrow. Holly needs legal help and Jennifer decides to listen to what this woman wants but offers no promises. She explains that her late husband had believed that someone stole his ideas but nobody wants to go near the accused because it could ruin them. Looking over the paperwork, Jennifer sees a convincing case. However, she knows the accused personally and tells her that she will talk to him and have it straightened out, convinced that it won't have to go to court. Jennifer goes to Stark Tower so she can talk to Tony Stark about the situation. At first, the holographic secretaries grant her access until she says she is coming because of a lawsuit. This initiates a protocol in their programming and they tell her to report to the eighteenth floor. She grudgingly goes up to the 18th floor where she finds a man named Legal who reviews lawsuits to see if they merit Tony's personal attention. He goes over the file and knows it instantly, telling Jennifer that the Harrow widow hasn't even filled out her statement of claim. After going over the lengthy history of Tony Stark's family company, he tells Jennifer to return once she has had a chance to review the file and correct any inconsistencies.
Jennifer soon takes Stark Industries to court, where she faces off against Legal and his team of five other lawyers. Before she can get a word in edgewise, Legal requests more motions be added to the trial, pointing out that they hadn't had time to form a proper defense, he requests a lot of additional conditions including questioning if Jennifer Walters is fit to represent her client due to her past relationship with Tony Stark. With a lot of work ahead of her, She-Hulk is brought to the storage locker where Jonas Harrow kept his inventions. She begins to think that this case is becoming too complicated and is about to back out when she sees the state of Holly's car and her children and sticks with it. As Jennifer begins cleaning out the storage space for information that will help her case, she is suddenly attacked by a robot that becomes active due to her intrusion. She-Hulk quickly smashes the robot and finds it was holding an audio recorder inside. She gives it a listen and finds the smoking gun she needs to win her case. Jennifer then goes back to Stark Tower where she is confronted by the security robots who tells her that she is not authorized in the building while legal proceedings are underway. However, she is not here in her capacity as a lawyer, but as She-Hulk. She makes short work of the robots and forces her way up to Tony's office on the top floor of the building.
Stark apologizes for the robots attacking her, as they are automated to protect him from the many people gunning for him. She then tries to talk to him about the Harrow case, only to discover that Tony has no idea that he is in the midst of a lawsuit. She explains how Accutech, an old Stark subsidiary and it's vice-president stole repulsor technology designs created by Jonas Harrow. Stark remembers Eddie Finch and recounts how he embezzled money from the company and ran unauthorized tests and had since been fired. She then convinces Tony to quietly write Mrs. Harrow a reasonable check to make this go away and perhaps rethink having so much automation within his company. Tony is impressed and agrees to her terms, calling her magnificent. Later, at the bar, Jennifer is greeted again by Holly Harrow who has been trying to track her down. Jen admits that she is taking a break from lawyering, but Holly wanted to thank her for what she has done for her family and wanted to pay for her services. She-Hulk is given a substantial check that allows her to open her own private practice.
Recurring Characters
She-Hulk, Tony Stark, Wrecker, Thor
Continuity Notes
She-Hulk mentions that she was filling in for the Fantastic Four. That happened in FF Vol 2 #1-16
Holly Harrow's late husband was the mad scientist known as Jonas Harrow, he died in New Avengers #60.
Legal gives an abridged version of the history of Stark Industries:
First, he mentions how Stark Industries renamed itself Stark International. That happened in Iron Man #50.
Tony later gave control of the company over to James Rhodes in Iron Man #170 while he was dealing with his alcoholism.
It was later part of a hostile take over carried out by Obadiah Stane and was renamed Stane International in Iron Man #173.
Tony later bought back Stane International in Iron Man #283, changing the name to Stark Enterprises.
When Tony Stark seemingly perished in Avengers #295, the company was bought and merged into Stark-Fujikawa in Iron Man #329.
When Stark returned in Heroes Reborn: The Return #4 he started Stark Solutions in Iron Man Vol 3 #1 but the company was a failure and he sold off all its assets in Iron Man Vol 3 #37-41.
Tony later restarted Stark Enterprises when he inherited the assets and fortune of his late friend Trevor Donahue in Iron Man Vol 3 #45.
He eventually got control back from Fujikawa in Iron Man Vol 3 #56.
He then started Stark Resilient in Invincible Iron Man Vol 2 #26, eventually turning control of that company to Pepper Pots in Invincible Iron Man #519.
Lastly, he restarted Stark Industries in Superior Iron Man #1.
Legal states Jennifer's past dealings with Tony Stark, namely their brief romance in She-Hulk Vol 2 #16 as well as their falling out in She-Hulk Vol 2 #18.
The evidence that She-Hulk finds is on an old tape recorder. The technology displayed here should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616 that is relevant to the date of publication. Likewise, should any dollar amount referenced in this issue.
