This is more of a Norm Pattis post, so it may be significantly above my usual banter.  For many years, there was no charge for an initial consultation.  After all, how could a client decide to retain me without a sit down and chat?  It was how this business worked, and who was I to be different.

No more.  I actually feel quite badly about it, but I’m left with no choice.  Over the past few years, there has been a spate of “potential” clients seeking a consultation with me.  They have no intention of retaining me to represent them, as they are a little too price sensitive for that.  No, they come to see me for an entirely different reason.

This isn’t the initial consultation of the old days, but a consultation in the truer sense.  They want me to sit down with them, read the papers, hear their story and then tell them what can be done and how to do it.  The presentation is how I would represent them if I am retained.  But I won’t be retained.  They want a cheap lawyer, but expensive advice.

The economy is in the toilet, and people are tight with their money.  I can’t blame them.  I am too.  But I have only a few things to offer, my skills as a lawyer and my personal integrity.  Both are taken from me when a person pretends to seek counsel but is really looking for a free ride on strategy or options that he can bring to someone else for execution.

Yes, I realize that it’s not going to work out as well for the defendant, since the execution of a honed defense strategy is not a simple matter, and still as dependent on the skill of the lawyer as the development of the strategy itself.  But that’s the defendant’s choice, not mine. 

I’m here to represent people.  It’s what I do.  But I feel no shame in being paid for my services.  I do, on the other hand, prefer to not allow people to take advantage of me, even if I realize what they are doing.  Should I give my legal advice away for free, it is my choice.  It is not something that I will allow to be taken away from me by deception or subterfuge.

And so, to avoid this from continuing, I no longer offer an initial consultation for free.  I would be honored to devise a strategy for you and provide you with the wealth of available options, including an assessment of their viability.  But there will be a fee for this service.  This is what I do as a lawyer.

Bennett will disagree with me (as he has in the past) and tell me that he will offer a free initial consultation to anyone who asks, since that’s how a criminal defense lawyer gets his business.  But then, he may not have a situation like mine.  I think Norm may understand better why I do this.