06-28-2012, 02:05 AM
I think the problem with law, is that there a fairly small number of truly brilliant people, whose services are really valuable, and they naturally attract high fees. It goes wrong, I believe, when far lesser men and women, cling on to their coat-tails, and do the same, or something like it.
Many years ago, I bought a flat in France. The Bank gave me a form for the solicitor to complete, which said that my wife had no interest in my house. I told the solicitor, the senior partner of some local firm, that I thought the Bank was wrong, since long before that, there had been an Appeal Court decision, to the effect that a man could not sell the matrimonial home without the consent of his wife, whether or not it was in his sole name.
The man looked at me, as teachers sometimes do: as if I was an idiot. I went through it again, likewise my wife said it was just factually inaccurate. No, he said, in the poshest voice he could muster (how much extra for that?), if I wanted the loan, I must sign. So I did -- I was in a hurry. Later, I spoke to the Bank who with no hesitation saw that they had given me the wrong form. So back to the Solicitor. No apology for being an ignorant prick. But for fiddling around with the Bank's pro-forma, he had no hesitation in sending a decent bill! He could have been the original for the author of the Bill of Costs
In the matter of Mr J Ponsonby de Tomkyns
To Seeing you on the other side of the Strand
and crossing to discuss a matter with you 1 guinea
To Realising that I had misidentified you and
crossing back 1 guinea
Total 2 guineas
Many years ago, I bought a flat in France. The Bank gave me a form for the solicitor to complete, which said that my wife had no interest in my house. I told the solicitor, the senior partner of some local firm, that I thought the Bank was wrong, since long before that, there had been an Appeal Court decision, to the effect that a man could not sell the matrimonial home without the consent of his wife, whether or not it was in his sole name.
The man looked at me, as teachers sometimes do: as if I was an idiot. I went through it again, likewise my wife said it was just factually inaccurate. No, he said, in the poshest voice he could muster (how much extra for that?), if I wanted the loan, I must sign. So I did -- I was in a hurry. Later, I spoke to the Bank who with no hesitation saw that they had given me the wrong form. So back to the Solicitor. No apology for being an ignorant prick. But for fiddling around with the Bank's pro-forma, he had no hesitation in sending a decent bill! He could have been the original for the author of the Bill of Costs
In the matter of Mr J Ponsonby de Tomkyns
To Seeing you on the other side of the Strand
and crossing to discuss a matter with you 1 guinea
To Realising that I had misidentified you and
crossing back 1 guinea
Total 2 guineas