Mia Fey

"Phoenix Wright"

- (She was a top-notch defense lawyer, but a certain case forced her into "retirement". But...whenever I'm in trouble, she comes to help, just like this.)

"Larry Butz"

- Yeah, who could forget! A couple of gorgeous sisters! Hubba hubba!

Mia Fey was a defense attorney working at Grossberg Law Offices who eventually created her own criminal defense law firm, Fey & Co. Law Offices. She was Phoenix Wright's boss and mentor; she left her firm to him after her death at the hands of Redd White.

Mia Fey has a younger sister, Maya, who served as Wright's assistant during his law career.

Early life
Mia was born into a prominent family of spiritualists and was destined to become the next Master of Kurain Village. She was once caught trying to piece together the Sacred Urn of Ami Fey with her sister Maya. A picture was taken of the event and placed in the Kurain Talisman, which their mother Misty Fey held at the time.

However, after Mia's mother disappeared during the DL-6 Incident, Mia left the village to become a lawyer and find out what had happened during that incident. She also did not want to fight her sister Maya for the position of Master of Kurain, having seen the rivalry between her mother and her aunt Morgan Fey. Mia left Maya in the care of her Aunt Morgan. Despite abandoning the life of a spirit medium, Mia continued to wear a magatama until her death.

While in law school, Mia befriended Lana Skye, who would later become a police detective and then the Chief Prosecutor.

Law career
Mia Fey became a defense attorney working under Marvin Grossberg. She eventually learned about Redd White and his leakage of the information of her mother's involvement in the DL-6 Incident to the press.

First case

 * Main article: Turnabout Beginnings

For her first case, Fey took a case in which the suspect was an escaped convict by the name of Terry Fawles, who was charged with the murder of Police Sergeant Valerie Hawthorne. Fey's co-council for the trial was Grossberg's best lawyer at the time, Diego Armando. The prosecutor for the trial, Miles Edgeworth, happened to be new to the court system as well. During the course of the trial, Fey managed to prove that the "eyewitness" Melissa Foster was actually Dahlia Hawthorne and tried to prove that she was the real killer, but Fawles took the stand and committed suicide by drinking a vial of poison. The case left serious scars within Fey's heart, and she did not take another case for one year.

Meanwhile, she and Armando became a couple, and Armando began investigating Dahlia Hawthorne, which would lead to his poisoning at her hands.

Second case

 * Main article: Turnabout Memories

Fey eventually returned to the courtroom, taking the case of a university student named Phoenix Wright, who was charged with the murder of another student, Doug Swallow. She had taken the case because she had suspected the existence of a connection between this case and Armando's poisoning. During the trial, Fey was able to get Wright an acquittal by proving that Dahlia Hawthorne had killed Swallow to cover up the fact that she had poisoned Armando. Her defense also traumatized the prosecutor, Winston Payne, and he has never been the same since that case.

Later years
"Miles Edgeworth"

- One of the biggest names in the world of law, as I'm sure you'll agree.

Over the next three years, Fey established her own law firm and hired her former client Phoenix Wright. She also gathered information on Redd White and the DL-6 Incident, uncovering an entire career of blackmail and names of people White had blackmailed over the years. It is unclear to what extent she learned of Grossberg's involvement in the destruction of her mother's reputation, as she told Maya to call him if she ever needed a lawyer. She enlisted the help of her sister to safeguard evidence on more than one occasion.

Fey was Phoenix Wright's co-council in his first case, in which he represented Larry Butz in the murder of Cindy Stone.

Death

 * Main article: Turnabout Sisters



One month after Wright's first trial, Redd White had learned that Mia was keeping close tabs on him and was afraid that she would get him in deep legal trouble. Thus, to prevent her from investigating any further, he visited the Fey & Co. Law Offices and smashed Mia's skull in with a miniature statue of "The Thinker", in which Mia had been hiding legal documentation against White. As Mia lay dying, White took some of her blood and wrote "Maya" on a receipt for a lamp, which Mia had bought the day before. April May, an accomplice to White, "witnessed" the crime from her room at the Gatewater Hotel and called the police.

Maya discovered Mia's body first, followed by Wright. Detective Dick Gumshoe discovered them both at the scene and arrested Maya for the murder. Wright took Maya's case and took on April May and prosecutor Miles Edgeworth in court, exposing May as an accomplice. Wright investigated further and eventually confronted White, accusing him of the crime as well as a long history of blackmail. In response, using his connections gained through his blackmailing, White called on the police to arrest Wright as Mia's killer.

White stood in court as a witness to the murder, and he and Edgeworth backed Wright into a corner. Wright eventually lost all hope, but then he suddenly saw Mia next to him, telling him not to give up. Believing he was hallucinating, he immediately fainted, calling for a recess. In the defendant's lobby, Wright saw Mia and panicked, still thinking he was hallucinating. On closer inspection, however, it was Maya channeling her sister's spirit to help Wright expose White as the killer. Mia instructed Wright to look at the other side of the lamp receipt, which White had claimed to have seen before Mia's murder. In doing so, Wright revealed that White could only have seen it during the time of Mia's murder. At this time, he admitted that April May had been his accomplice, tapping Mia's phone.

Edgeworth persisted, however, asking the judge to postpone the trial for further investigation. At this, Mia handed to Wright a list of names to be read to White: the list of people White had blackmailed. Mia threatened to release this list to the press, and White confessed to the crime.

Posthumous mentor


Despite being deceased, Mia Fey was able to act as Wright's mentor and co-council in his later cases thanks to the channeling abilities of her sister Maya and, later, her cousin Pearl.

Murder of an actor

 * Main article: Turnabout Samurai

During his investigation into the muder of Global Studios star Jack Hammer, Wright came across Cody Hackins. Although he had witnessed the murder, the young boy refused to talk to Wright. Maya eventually channeled Mia who used her charm to persuade a suddenly more cooperative Hackins to tell them what he knew. This information eventually led to the aquittal of Wright's client Will Powers.

Edgeworth's trial

 * Main article: Turnabout Goodbyes

Mia did not play much of a role in Wright's fourth trial, her sister being unable to channel her at the time, something that shook Maya's self-confidence. However, Wright remembered Mia's advice during the final stages of the trial, and used it to implicate the true killer in the case.

Maya's second murder trial

 * Main article: Reunion, and Turnabout

"Phoenix Wright"

- M-Mia!

"Mia Fey"

- I guess I made it just in time, wouldn't you say?

"Phoenix Wright"

- Y-You...But...P-Pearls!

"Mia Fey"

- Her clothes ARE a bit small...Anyway, what are you waiting for, Phoenix!? Let's go!

When a doctor that Maya was performing a channeling for was murdered, Maya was accused of murder for the second time in her life. Wright agreed once again to defend her and set about investigating the case. Eventually, when he returned to visit Maya in the detention center, Wright was surprised to find Mia being channeled by Maya instead. Mia told him off for his glum expression and asked Wright to fill her in about Grey's murder.

Mia told Wright to believe in his convictions and fight for the complete acquittal of his client. She recognized the importance of the Channeling Chamber key in Wright's possession, cryptically declaring it to be the "key" to the case. Mia also hinted at Maya's innocence by her little sister's mention of a dream she had apparently had, during the channeling, of being dead and buried. Mia pointed out that this should be impossible as mediums do not dream whilst channeling a spirit, and so she must have been set up. To Wright's shock, three Psyche-Locks appeared around his former mentor, hinting that Mia knew more about the real murderer than she was letting on. Unbeknownst to them, Franziska von Karma, the prosecutor for Maya's case, had set up a secret camera to take a photograph of the pair while they talked.

Wright began to struggle during his cross-examination of Lotta Hart, admitting to himself that he would testify the same thing in her place. When Wright was about to give up, Mia appeared beside him, being channeled by her little cousin Pearl. Mia helped Wright to realize that the prosecution was hiding a second photograph Hart had taken. Although this photograph appeared to show someone who was not Maya, Wright was unable to object due to Franziska's knowledge of the Kurain Channeling Technique. She backed this up with the secret photo taken during Mia's conversation with Wright in the detention center.

Mia was outraged at this, pointing out that it was illegal to take pictures of someone during a private visit and that it couldn't be submitted as evidence. The prosecution pointed out that she had no intention of actually using it as evidence, although its point had already been made. Luckily, Wright was able to point out that Maya must have left the crime scene since he had the channeling chamber key that Pearl had found. This ended the trial for the day to allow more evidence to be gathered.

After the trial, Wright visited the detention center again. He was surprised to see Mia, feeling that she was risking being caught on film again. She responded that there were some things in life, or in her case, death, that one just has to risk. The two talked about the background of the Kurain Channeling Technique, knowledge that would prove to be later useful to Wright.



After gathering more evidence and information, Wright returned to the detention center to find his old mentor being channeled once again. He realised that there was one more thing he needed to do before the trial: break Mia's Psyche-Locks. While Wright was trying to break the locks, Mia provided some guidance, allowing Wright to piece his thoughts together in the process. Mia's help allowed Wright to realise that while Ini Miney had committed the actual murder, it was with the help of Morgan Fey.

Before the trial, Wright asked Pearl to channel Mia. Although Pearl was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to watch the trial, she agreed. Wright did this partly for Mia's sage advice, but mainly so Pearl wouldn't have to watch him expose Morgan's role as an accomplice to a murder. After Wright and Mia revealed Miney and Morgan's plot and Maya's innocence, a tearful Maya was finally able to see her elder sister again and the two shared a loving embrace.

Maya's kidnapping

 * Main article: Farewell, My Turnabout

A theft and a murder

 * Main article: The Stolen Turnabout

Aiding Wright again

 * Main article: Recipe for Turnabout

Helping for the final time

 * Main article: Bridge to the Turnabout



Personality and legacy
"Marvin Grossberg"

- What does it really mean to have a relationship of mutual trust with the client? Perhaps it is we veteran lawyers who have lost sight of this.

Mia Fey could be described as clever and quick-thinking, and she was a top lawyer during her career. She was known for her bluffing tactics and her determination in the courtroom, which her boss Marvin Grossberg once noted was lacking even in veteran lawyers. She would take even the most hopeless cases if she felt that the accused was innocent. She never stopped believing in her clients, even when they had stopped believing in themselves. She would stubbornly try to find any way necessary to get the information that she needed to obtain control of the trial. Mia Fey was also known for her intimidating gestures, especially one in which she flipped her hair. As both her client and her student in law, Phoenix Wright would come to adopt many of Fey's ideals and tactics to great effect during his own law career. Mia's method of providing guidance to Wright was by trying to get him to solve things for himself by asking him questions and pointing out flaws in his case that a prosecutor would take advantage of.

Mia Fey was very diligent and determined in her legal studies as well. Before her first case, for example, she spent all night watching and studying court procedure videos. She also kept many law books in her office along with meticulous records of various cases and evidence. Wright does not appear to have inherited these character traits, as although he has kept his mentor's law books, they "make his head hurt" and once dropped a book on his foot, making his foot hurt as well..

Mia Fey had a problem with names, calling Phoenix Wright "Wry" ("Naruhodo" becomes "Naruhodou" in the Japanese game) and Larry Butz "Harry" (in the Japanese, Yahari becomes Yappari). She also kept an office plant named Charley, which she considers the office mascot and which Wright is still taking care of. According to Dick Gumshoe, it is a Cordyline stricta.

Mia Fey bears many similarities to her fellow law school alumnus Lana Skye. Both have younger sisters who have helped Phoenix Wright in his cases. Both also wear scarfs tied round the neck in a similar fashion.

Mia has attracted the attention of a number of male admirers including Dick Gumshoe and Larry Butz. Even when being channeled after death, Victor Kudo and even Cody Hackins were enamored with her. Just a photograph was enough to trigger an interest from "Director Hotti" and Luke Atmey.

Name

 * Her Japanese name, "Chihiro", can mean "great depth", or "a thousand fathoms". In her surname, "Sato" may come from the word "village" or "home country", whilst the "Aya" part has no particular meaning.


 * The name "Mia" is a pet form of "Maria", which is itself the Latin equivalent of "Mary". "Mary" is originally from the Hebrew for "bitterness". This could be a reference to her unpleasant death. Other possible meanings include: "rebelliousness" and "beloved-child". "Maya" is also a pet form of "Maria".


 * Fey can mean "magical", "fairy-like", "strange", "otherworldly" or "spellbound". An archaic meaning is "doomed to die".


 * "Mia" is also an anagram of "Ami", as in Ami Fey, the founder of the Fey clan.

Development

 * Originally, Turnabout Sisters was to be the first case in the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, but this was changed to enable Mia to interact with Wright more as his mentor before her death.


 * The design theme for Mia was that she was a "glamorous, beautiful big sister type". Mia's death was used to explore Maya's medium abilities.


 * The mole on Mia's chin, along with her much larger bust size, serve to identify when Maya or Pearl are channeling her. Interestingly, she changes her fringe when being channeled by Maya so it bears a resemblance to her hair as a newbie defense attorney. Also, whenever she is being channeled by Pearl, her arms always obscure her cleavage, likely in effort to keep Pearl's small clothes from exposing her chest.


 * For Mia's design as a newbie defense attorney in Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations, she was made to look more youthful by pulling her bangs down in front of her brow and slightly reducing the size of her breasts. Many of her motions were made to resemble Wright's, to show the strong effect she had on her protégé.