As every new season of Suits starts, it’s important to keep track of two things: who knows Mike’s secret and what the current name is of the law firm. 

We’ll start with the easier one. When Season 2 ended, Mike Ross (played by Patrick J. Adams) had finally revealed to Rachel Zane (Meghan Markle) that he didn’t go to Harvard, doesn’t have a law degree, and is putting himself and the entire firm at risk just by working there. As for who else knows, it’s only named partner Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres), senior partner Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), and Donna Paulsen (Sarah Rafferty), Harvey’s assistant. If Mike’s secret were to be exposed, the fact that they knew — and employed him — would kill the firm and all their careers.

You’d think untangling the web of Mike’s secret would be the most complicated storyline in Suits from season to season, but keeping up-to-date on the law firm’s name is more complicated. When Season 2 wrapped, Jessica had just concluded a merger with British law firm Darby International. So, at the start of Season 3, the firm is named Pearson Darby. (If you haven’t already guessed, it’ll have a different name by the season’s end.) The merger was made for financial reasons, to help keep the firm afloat — but with more faces in the office, that only means more eyes that could catch on to Mike’s secret.

Does Harvey forgive Mike?

The short answer is yes, eventually. Harvey Specter can hold a grudge, but he also needs people on his side to help him with his schemes. When Season 2 ends, Harvey is upset at Mike for losing three cases, which ultimately leads to the Pearson Darby merger (and keeps Mike’s secret from getting out). It’s a tricky situation for Mike, but Harvey sees it as a betrayal, and despite Mike’s apologies and offers to help with cases, Harvey won’t forgive — that is until he sees a client take back her own protégé, who had testified against her. Harvey finally lets bygones be bygones and the duo rejoins forces in early Season 3.

Got it. And what happens to Mike?

On a personal front, things are going pretty great for Mike. Rachel finally knows his secret. They officially become boyfriend and girlfriend and move in together. Word gets around the office that they’re dating — and it eventually gets to Jessica. Worried that Rachel’s father and opposing counsel, Robert Zane (Wendell Pierce), could find out about Mike and destroy the firm, Jessica asks Rachel to sign an affidavit. Rachel uses it to her advantage and says she’ll sign it if they’ll waive their rule of only hiring Harvard associates once she’s done with law school. Jessica agrees, which will work in Rachel’s favor once she finishes Columbia Law School, where she’s just been accepted.

Professionally speaking, things are going pretty well for Mike there, too. It’s mostly a quiet season for Mike’s Big Secret, but that starts to change when Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman) begins to date Sheila Sazs (Rachael Harris), who works at Harvard. She conveniently leaves him alone in a records room. Louis obviously snoops, and he can’t find a file for Mike Ross. 

Louis thinks Mike must have gone to a third-rate school and lied about Harvard, not that he lied about having a degree entirely. So he tries to get info from Donna’s computer, but she catches him and suggests he request a transcript. Thankfully, a transcript had been added to Harvard’s system by a hacker client in a previous season. There’s a discrepancy that Louis susses out, but Rachel is able to get him to back down. 

Things quiet down for a bit until Harvey and Mike are both extorted by a rival counsel who threatens that they’ll need to pay up or he’ll report them to the New York State Bar for fabricating claims. It’s not what Mike thought he’d be reported for, but he starts to wonder if he should give up being a (fake) lawyer. Thanks to a game of telephone, the US Attorney brings Mike in for questioning. Only, it’s not about his secret — they want him to turn on Harvey. He doesn’t do it and they’re both safe for now, but it’s too much of a close call. Mike takes a job in investment banking with Sidwell Investment Group, one of Harvey’s clients. 

What else happens in Suits Season 3?

The big client that the firm takes on with the Pearson Darby merger is Ava Hessington (Michelle Fairley) and her company, Hessington Oil. Harvey takes on — and settles — the government’s case against Ava for bribery. Louis takes on the company’s legal issues with a takeover case, which they think is their biggest issue, until Ava is arrested for murder. The case is brought by District Attorney Cameron Dennis (Gary Cole), Harvey’s former mentor with corrupt ethics, so things become even more contentious than usual.

To make matters worse, Edward Darby (Conleth Hill) sends over the company’s fixer, Stephen Huntley (Max Beesley), to help Harvey push Jessica out, which Edward had promised to do in Season 2. When Louis and Jessica decide that the best way to stop the Hessington Oil takeover is to have the board vote Ava out, they go behind Harvey and Darby’s back to make it happen. Darby isn’t pleased and flies over from London to voice his outrage to Jessica — and to remind her that he owns a 51% share of the firm.

As often happens with Suits, the lines of allegiances blur as Harvey and Jessica must team up to work on the murder and takeover cases together. The fate of one could determine the outcome of another. In the midst of the case, Jessica made Harvey a named partner in New York. You guessed it: We have a new firm name! Please meet Pearson Darby Specter. Feeling guilty, Harvey fills Jessica in on what he and Darby had cooked up. She’s hurt at first, but ultimately she sees him as family and is glad that he owned up. 

The team end up figuring out that Ava had nothing to do with the murders; in fact, it was Stephen, the Darby fixer who arranged them and colluded with the DA to bring the charges against Ava. It turns out that Ava’s father was Darby’s lover, so Ava is like a daughter to him. Darby is so happy that the firm cleared her of charges that he agrees to dissolve their US partnership, so the firm will be Jessica and Harvey’s alone. 

As the season wraps, we have yet another firm name: Pearson Specter. Don’t get too attached. We still have six seasons to go.

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