This is the second part of my experience as a lawyer hiring a lawyer.  Because I could never get through to my lawyer, I considered not paying his bills.  But Alan sent bills the same way he returned telephone calls, that is infrequently.

I only had a vague idea of what, if anything, I owed Alan.  I received bills in October, November and December.  However, once 2010 rolled around, I stopped receiving bills with any sort of regularity.  I’d walk to the mailbox slowly somewhere around the fifth of every month and heave a sigh whenever I opened the mailbox.  I wondered if this was the day that I’d be receiving a bill which reflected that Alan or someone in his office had actually worked on my case.

No bill in January and no return telephone call from Alan. No bill in February and no return telephone call from Alan.  And no bill or return telephone call from Alan in March, although I did receive a one-line email in March wishing me happy birthday.  Hurray! At least he hadn’t forgotten me completely and perhaps he actually worked on my case.

Finally, I received a bill in April.  The bill started with a carry-forward balance of $3,500.00 indicating that Alan or someone in his office had done some work on my case.  It was work that was not described in the bill and work that I knew nothing about!

As I looked at the detail of this bill more carefully, I saw something that left me flabbergasted.  Alan had billed me a tenth of an hour for e-mailing me birthday wishes!

(To be continued)