Thanksgiving has come and gone. I am full. I spent the day with my wife’s family. Her father, a Navy veteran of WWII lives in Farmington, Missouri. He moved there to a small apartment after living in the VA home in Cape Girardeau for a while. It is a nice apartment but I think he would like to get back to the VA home. There is one in Warrensburg that interests him.
My father-in-law goes by Bud. He is an interesting guy. He spent his time in the service as a SeaBee. Now he is 84 years old. He spent the rest of his adult life as a home builder. Age has slowed down his body but not his enthusiasm.
I suppose I get reflective around this time of year. The holidays approach. As America continues to diversify it gets harder to remember all of the holidays. Being politically correct has never been one of my strong points. I respect the rights of all people. It is part of my professional responsibility and part of my personal makeup.
On the other hand, I am what I am. To me the “holidays” means Christmas. Entrepreneurs wrestled Christmas from the hands of the Christians years ago. Christmas may, in theory, be a religious holiday. But in the minds of most Americans, from Jews to Gentiles, Hindus to Muslims, it is the period of year when people spend a lot of money on things they would not normally buy.
Christians have the added element of celebrating the birth of Christ. Many Christians voice offense at the term “Xmas.” Some of them are sincere, some of them don’t even know why they are supposed to be offended. Greeting cards range from “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays.”
So, whatever this season means to you, I hope that you enjoy it. With Thanksgiving officially behind us, the “holiday” season is officially upon us.
The law profession is, in many ways, a strange profession. That applies doubly to my part of the profession. As most of you know I handle mainly Personal Injury cases, DWI cases, Criminal cases and Traffic cases.
Think about this. That means for a person to be my client, some type of misfortune must have befallen that person. For example they, or a family member has to have been injured in an accident. It could be a car accident, an injury at work, or some other type of event that visits them unexpectedly and interferes with the day-to-day enjoyment of the simple tasks of everyday life.
Or perhaps they have made a bad decision or choice. It catches up with them in the way of a criminal charge, DWI, or even a traffic ticket. Now they find themselves charged with a crime. Maybe it is something as routine as speeding. Maybe that speeding event brought on a charge of driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence of drugs. That can happen with prescription or even over the counter drugs.
Perhaps a family argument escalates into shouting. One or the other feels physically threatened and calls the police. By the time the police arrive tempers are flaring and there are claims of pushing, shoving, slapping or choking. The police, rather than just let everybody calm down, arrest one of the people involved and now the spouse, significant other, mother or father sits in jail charged with a crime.
In my office I see people charged with everything from Trespassing to Murder. To paraphrase the man on the popular Pawn Star series, “You never know what’s going to walk through that door.”
So how does all of this rambling fit in here? I’m going to tell you right now.
Because of all of my great and wonderful clients, this has been a great year for my law office. We have had some great successes. I have had murder cases, drug cases and even serious assault cases dismissed. Clients facing life sentences, as well as lesser charges, have been acquitted. I have gotten some remarkable deals for clients on DWI and other cases. I would not have had the opportunity of enjoying those victories if it were not for the people in trouble who have asked for my help. Those people came to me and paid the fee I quoted for my services.
We are in some of the worst economic times we have been in for a long time. The holiday season is coming up. Money is tight. Frankly money is usually tight for most of my clients. So I looked around to see how I could help. Here is my solution.
From now until December 23, 2010 any person, old client or new client, who comes to my office charged with a Felony, Misdemeanor, DWI, Traffic Ticket or Municipal Ordinance violation (That means from Murder to Littering) can tell me what they think they can afford to pay for my services. If I can handle the case for that price, I will do it.
Now, I am not going to do it for free. If you think my services aren’t worth anything, why are you in my office, get it? But, if you come to see me on a case that I usually charge $1,000.00 for and you can’t afford that, tell me what you can afford and I may take your case for that amount. I don’t have to take it. (It may be financially impossible to handle a case for the amount you suggest. Ethics rules may prohibit me from taking on certain cases) But for the most part, I will let you tell me what the case is worth to you.
I don’t want to get into all of the details. It has to be a new case. You can’t bring me some case that some other lawyer has charged you a fee on already. I am not going to undercut some other lawyer.
You have to be prepared to pay the fee you suggest or at least show me that you have the reasonable means to pay it.
I may not accept your case for the same fee as I accept for a similar case. Each case is different and just because I take one person’s drug case for $500.00 doesn’t mean I will do them all for $500.00.
You will have to come in to the office to see me and discuss your case. I will not be able to handle these transactions on the phone for all sorts of reasons.
Now I am doing this because of the Holiday season and the poor economy. So that you understand, this is my way of giving back this year. This is my way of showing my appreciation to you for being my clients. Of course, I hope that none of my existing clients have to use this offer. To do so means that more misfortune has befallen you, and I do not wish that upon you. If you have been my client and paid my normal and customary fee this year, consider this as my way of giving back to the community on your behalf. I am doing this in your honor.
I wish you all the best of fortune and luck. I want all of you to prosper. I hope you will use this holiday season to pass along my best wishes to all of your friends and family members. I thank you for the trust and confidence you have shown me in the past.
I will end this offer at 4:00 p.m. (CST) on December 23, 2010.
0 comments:
Post a Comment