It marked the second in a string of guest appearances by Alan Cumming as Eli Gold, a cutthroat political operative whom several commentators said closely resembled White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

With the Stern, Lockhart & Gardner firm in dire financial straits, Diane (Christine Baranski) and Will (Josh Charles) consult an efficiency expert about cuts that would help them avoid layoffs.

Assistant United States Attorney Harrison Rivers (Sharif Atkins) claims Dorfman gave the name of a federal witness to his client, drug kingpin Lemond Bishop (Mike Colter), resulting in her murder.

When Alicia learns her son Zach (Graham Phillips) communicates with his girlfriend Becca (Dreama Walker) with Twitter, they realize she is Upriser7, and Eli Gold confronts her at school and intimidates her into stopping the Tweets.

While working on the case, Alicia realizes Dorfman's daughter Tammy (Katie Kreisler) gave the witness list to Bishop to win her father's approval.

The subplot involving Twitter addressed the growing popularity and influence of the blogosphere, demonstrating how even unsubstantiated claims and gossip on social networking sites can trickle into the public consciousness and eventually the mainstream media.

[1] The cutbacks and financial difficulties facing Stern, Lockhart & Gardner were also reflective of the global recession affecting much of the industrialized world at the time the episode first broadcast.

"[2] "Fleas" marked the second in a string of guest appearances by Alan Cumming as Eli Gold, a political operative said to be based on White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.