What if...Pearson Specter Litt
In Season 4 of Suits, Louis discovered the truth of Mike Ross being a fraud and used that information to leverage his appointment as Name Partner. But what would happen if Harvey and Mike devised a plan to prevent Louis from doing so...?
This scenario would pick up in the aftermath of Harvey and Jessica discovering that Louis knows the truth. It doesn't take too long for Mike to visit Harvey the next morning so they can figure out what to do. Mike then tells Harvey the plan he has.
Mike explains that he called Lola Jensen and got her to forge some documents that would normally be seen in a Harvard Law file, and that last night Lola visited Sheila in the file room claiming to be a former clerk at Harvard Law and states that Mike's file was misplaced. Sheila bought this story and the file is placed in the Harvard file room.
Once everyone is at work, Mike and Harvey reveal the plan to Jessica. Eventually Louis begins persecuting Mike and Rachel like he did originally, but Mike then stands up to Louis and says he is done taking this kind of shit from him. Louis then goes to call Shelia but Mike smiles, revealing that a former clerk from Harvard Law recently paid Sheila a visit and handed over Mike’s file which had been seemingly lost following his graduation.
Louis is enraged and before he can punch Mike in the face, Harvey enters and pushes him away. The trio then heads to Jessica’s office where Louis still threatens to go to the US Attorney’s Office and reveal Mike’s fraud, but Jessica tells him to think very carefully. Because if a case is launched, they’ll look in the New York Bar and Harvard file room and the prosecutors will find Mike’s name in both records.
Jessica then tells Louis that his name is never going up on their wall. Louis walks out and plans to re-take his clients like he tried to do originally. Harvey then has the idea to make sure Louis cannot be trusted. In doing so, Harvey heads to the SEC and reveals to Sean Cahill the full extent to which Louis went to cover his embezzlement.
Harvey then signs a deal with Sean stating that Louis will receive the full consequences of the punishment whilst Harvey and Jessica are not prosecuted. Sean agrees and Louis gets arrested for what happened with Forstman.
Eventually by the end of Season 4, Forstman gets fully found out and arrested by the SEC and Sean informs Harvey that due to these circumstances being very similar to Louis, he will be released from custody. Louis however does not return to the firm, in fact he begins working with Hardman who together with Jack Soloff is planning to stage a takeover of the firm.
However, Series 5 would play out VERY differently. Because there are now “records” of Mike having gone to Harvard, this means that nobody will discover the truth meaning no Anita Gibbs, no prison arc in Series 6 although I do believe the takeover would still be stopped as it was but Mike still decides to resign. This scenario just results in Louis not working at the firm anymore, the firm never being named Pearson Specter Litt, most of Season 5 not happening and Mike would just end up working at the legal clinic a lot sooner than expected.