Jessica Lourdes Pearson, Esq. is the managing partner of Pearson Specter Litt.
History
In 2003, Jessica was a senior partner of Gordon Schmidt Van Dyke. Shortly before Harvey joined the firm, Daniel Hardman and Jessica, led a successful coup against the name partners, creating Pearson Hardman. The takeover was supposedly very fast and took the name partners by surprise, as described by Harvey Specter.
In 2008, Jessica notices that someone had been stealing from the firm by looking at the firm's books. She sends Harvey to investigate, promising him partnership if he succeeds. After it was revealed that the thief was Daniel himself, she approached him, asking why was he stealing the firm's money. He said this it was for his wife, who was just diagnosed with cancer. Jessica believed Daniel but not Harvey, who found proof that Daniel was having an affair. Armed with this knowledge, Jessica and Harvey force Daniel out of the firm, and Jessica becomes the leader of the firm.
Character Background
Gina Torres portrays Jessica Pearson, Managing Partner at "Pearson Hardman", who will let nothing stand in her way. She appears cold-hearted and only lets certain people into her life. While she may be a control freak at times, extenuating circumstances set her straight. She doesn't like to seem weak, possibly because of how hard it was for her to make her way up to where she is today. Deep down she is a loving person, but is not afraid to knock someone down when they mess with her.
Season 1
Episode 1
Louis Litt came to her and told her that Gerald Tate had arrived and wanted to know what was happening to his deal. Jessica told him to go get Harvey, causing Louis to look at her before she turned her eyes from her computer to him as he decided to do what she had ordered. While she and Gerald talked, Harvey walked in. Jessica introduced the two and stated that he was their best closer. Harvey managed to tell Gerald off, even telling him that he had his balls. While Gerald asked Jessica if she was going to let him talk to him like that, Jessica related that Harvey spoke for the firm.
After Gerald departed, Jessica got up and took a paper out of Harvey's pocket, telling him that they had been paid before Gerald signed the deal before walking away after Harvey told her that she was the blue team captain and that she would have to wear a fire hat.
Season 2
After Daniel Hardman returned to Pearson Hardman with the intention of reclaiming his position as managing partner, Jessica had to fight for her firm. After she discovered the truth about Mike Ross, she chose to let Harvey be the one to fire him. However, when it became clear that Harvey would leave the firm before firing Mike, Jessica chose instead to allow Mike to stay, realizing that she would need the support of both Harvey and Mike if she was to win the fight against Daniel.
Relationships
Harvey Specter
Harvey is Jessica's protégé. She saw his potential when he was working in the mailroom at Gordon Schmidt Van Dyke, and spent her own money to put Harvey through Harvard Law School, and later made him a senior partner. He is the only person she trusts and he fuels her ambition to win at Pearson Hardman. Although Harvey's attitude is slightly more affectionate toward Jessica, she maintains a hardcore business demeanor, although it is clear they are somewhat friends. They understand each other and work well together, even reading each other's minds and thinking ahead, which is one of the reasons why Pearson Hardman is such a successful firm.
However, in Season 3, their relationship is somewhat strained as Harvey is bitter towards Jessica regarding the merger. Jessica feels the same way when Harvey tells her the truth of the deal he made with Edward Darby.
Louis Litt
Jessica does not appear especially close to Louis, and it is clear she does not fully trust him. She initially believed Louis was stealing money from the company, given his financial expertise, only to later discover that he had been set up by Daniel Hardman. Louis is angered by Jessica's favoritism of Harvey, and often questions her decision to promote Harvey to senior partner over him. His anger towards Jessica and his hatred of Harvey initially prompted him to side with Daniel when he returns to the firm, until Louis learns the full extent of Daniel's actions.
Mike Ross
Initially indifferent towards Mike being a rookie associate, Jessica notices his potential in assisting Harvey. During the mock trial, Mike backs down from hurting Rachel, and Jessica takes this as a sign of weakness, that he will not move in for the kill when he is asked to. She soon finds out that Mike never attended Harvard Law, and has no degree from any colleges. She orders Harvey to fire Mike, but when he refuses, she realizes that she will need both Harvey and Mike to keep her firm and get rid of Daniel Hardman.
Though she never quite forgot the bind Harvey put her under because of Mike, over the course of season 2 she had come to respect, and even rely on Mike's work during tough situations. One such situation is when Mike's quick thinking had saved Jessica and Harvey's jobs and got Hardman kicked out of the firm. During the second season finale, after Mike's betrayal of Harvey, Jessica stops Mike from being fired despite Harvey wanting him gone, a complete opposite of the positions they each held at the beginning of the season.
At the beginning of season 3, after Mike gains leverage over Jessica to not expose him, she compares working with Mike as working with a tiger. Over the course of the season, Jessica continues to rely on Mike's work much more than before. Despite not having the type of relationship they maintain with Harvey, they can be seen bantering. This can be seen when both Jessica and Mike blame Harvey for slowing Jessica down when Mike arrived at the conclusion to collect money from Folsom Foods an hour before Jessica.[1]
During season 4, Jessica is seen to be strongly against bringing back Mike to the firm as she does not want to go back to hiding his secret once more. She however is left with no choice when Louis hires Mike back. Shortly after, Katrina reveals to an unemployed Louis that VersaLife (a client) will most likely be dropped by the firm due to a SEC rule, leading to VersaLife being poached by Louis. Jessica blames this on Mike as she thinks Mike did this to return the favor of Louis hiring him back before he himself got fired. After Mike manages to get VersaLife back by beating the rule, Jessica expresses to him how he always manages to come though just as she sees no reason to have him around.
Since discovering Mike's secret, the trio (Jessica, Harvey, Mike) have handled the firm's worst cases, some of which include Folsom foods' gender discrimination lawsuit, Ava Hessington's murder trial, the dissolution of Pearson Specter and Darby International back when they were merged as Pearson Darby and later as Pearson Darby Specter the SEC's charges of collusion against the firm. This has led to comments such as Daniel Hardman calling them "The Three Stooges".[2] For Jessica to trust Mike, an uneducated first year associate, with such responsibilities over countless other actual Harvard educated associates, many partners and several senior partners show just how much she values his work.