b'POINT/COUNTER POINTTerrible Lawyers and Clients from Hell: Billing TusslesBy Steven Bers, Esq. and Bob ShawThe tag-team of Shaw and Bers, nostraightforward (buy low, sell high; a bad outcome still smoldering. strangers to PVA members, parry onbe on time; deliver value for theBusinesspeople have trouble shifting the attorney/client relationship. Herecustomer). Another area of personalfrom leading front-line crew on tasks they go again. discomfort with the law includes un- we know intimately to conversing with expected bills from attorneys. As I getlegal talent that costs 20 times as much Shaw: Steve, in April, we coveredolder, I dont really embrace surprises;per hoursometimes up to $800+/coaxing a straight answer from athey are seldom birthday cakes andhour in our top cities!on topics lawyer, operating while in the fog ofponies and mostly resemble kidneywhich our knowledge wouldnt fill a law and the frustration of runningstones. The same has been my expe- thimble.it by legal. Your chestnut of wisdomrience with legal bills. We probablySo, lets start with an easy, softball was thatdespite the vast universe ofall have had situations in which wequestion: How much will this cost?lawyer jokesclients are appreciativethought the meter was between $5-10kBers: Bob, two thoughts: that aint of their own personal attorneys. and got an eye-popping bill of $25k.no easy softball, and I respect that Ive struggled with the graynessI had a $250k business issue unravelsome folks may prefer kidney stones of the law as business is generallyinto $750k in legal fees over six monthsover opening the lawyer statement. Sometimesno, almost all the time attorneys just do not know for certain how much time and effort it will take to INNOVATIVE.provide effective representation.Once an appearance is entered in a legal pro-ceeding, it can be impossible to stop or control an adversary who manipulates UNIQUE.ALL AMERICAN MARINE the system in a way to make the litiga-tion so expensive as to cause the other side to cave.PROVEN. I can offer this: while the actual cost of cure may be impossible to know for sure, lawyers can do a better job these days of keeping clientswho make the requestbetter updated as to what time is being expended. Most lawyers have immediate daily electronic time keeping and no longer rely on painstak-ingly adding time up at the end of the month. I suspect a running total is now technologically available.Sometimes the assumption of needing a big firm in the biggest city is just wrong, and an expensive mistake. By example, legal fees in my Baltimore, Maryland offi ce habitually run at least 25 percent less than New ALLAMERICANMARINE.com York, Chicago or other venues, and Bellingham, WA | 360.647.7602 in my opinion, with no less capabil-Sales@allamericanmarine.com ity. Why pay for the fancy expensive suites in these cities?Non-urban and Pictured: Orca I - The first of two 78 Passenger Tour Vessels for Great Western Attractions small fi rms, with smaller overhead, and 18JULY 2020FOGHORN'