Monday, February 20, 2012

Taking it to the Top

Having been stiffed by his law firm, with a bill for a .... rather aspirational amount, and not having got much sympathy from his lawyer, Mine Host has an idea.

He goes to see one of the law firm's senior partners.

The partner is caught unawares by the matter. Which is pretty much how Mine Host felt when he got the big fat bill.

The meeting is productive. Mine Host obliquely drops a reminder about the size of his legal bills and makes an even more obscure reference to how much he enjoys being a client of the firm & looks forward to a productive future relationship etc. etc.

This message is not lost, not on a firm that is losing clients & is having to retrench staff.
Mine Host now feels that the matter will be resolved in an adult manner.

The meeting ends with the partner assuring Mine Host that the matter will be looked into.

Actually it doesn't. The meeting ends with the senior partner chatting on for Twenty minutes or so about how much he'd like to take Mine Host along with him on his next overseas trip.

(Mine Host & the senior partner have a common background, one that is shared by very few - if any - lawyers or publicans).

Still, this is a most surreal ending to a meeting during which one has more or less accused the firm of cheating a client.

1 comment:

Skeeter said...

May I suggest that, before you get too elated at the outcome of your meeting, you find out how much is added to your bill for the 20-minute addendum to the consultation.
I can recall my old Dad spotting his solicitor at a pub. Dad walked over to tell the learned gentleman that the matter, for which Dad had hired him, had been successfully completed.
Those few seconds' consultation in the pub, added an extra 30 quid to an already aspirational bill.