The $60 courtesy email
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 8:58PM A hat tip to @lawyergina and @lichtermanlaw for tweeting about a fascinating post by Jennifer Walzer on the NY Times You're the boss blog.
How do Lawyers get away with this stuff? records Jennifer's experience as the client of a lawyer she engaged to review her company's lease of a new office.
You need to read the full post, but suffice to say that it covers most of the worries which people have about using a lawyer... open ended costs, poor communication and arrogance. My personal favourite is the $60 charge for an (unnecessary) courtesy response to a simple email she sent explaining that she was out of the office for the day.
How do lawyers get away this stuff? My view is that they probably won't for much longer (and to be fair, whilst I don't know the position in the US, they really couldn't get away with this over here at the moment without falling foul of the Solicitors Regulation Authority).
As @lichtermanlaw commented on Twitter:
Why do we only do fees on a flat-fee basis, agreed to in advance? [Because this is] the alternative
A really useful read for anyone thinking of instructing a lawyer... and a reminder to make sure that they give you their charging structure and fees up front!
Reader Comments (1)
Oh well, it's a Friday night so what the heck.
What is happening, (note, not what will/may happen), is that the whole balance is shifting. The main driver of change will not be some Legal Service Act or whatever. It is delusional for solicitors to think they are in control of this change.
The real changers are, as they always has been, economic and market driven.
Jon you know my views here, shall spare you the boring rant.
For law firms...'saddle up' or prepare to be 'shipped out' (maybe not all of you but certainly most of you), cos those people paying your mortgages are going to see your service provision in a very different light...and they will vote with their feet. And just for the record it is not (just) about price...duh!...it is about service, having one that is what the market wants rather than the one you want it to have.
The really, really, really big shame is that solicitors were told it was coming and they chose to ignore it. It is "you could not make it up" "if it wasn't so serious you would laugh" stuff.
Oh and just for the record this is not just a law firm problem...it affects many industries, political parties and governments. Yep its that significant. Guffaw all you like, your call.
Over and out!