Every lawyer (and most every law student) has faced the awkward task of turning away free-advice seekers. For just about every question I get asked, I can almost always (and truthfully) respond that the area is really not my specialty, and that the inquirer would be better served by asking a specialist. In my younger and more naive days as a practicing lawyer, I'd actually try to give useful counsel to friends and relatives. I was the first (and still the only) lawyer in my family, and my immigrant parents and extended family assumed that a Harvard law grad must necessarily possess mystical powers to resolve any legal problem of any variety. Ironically, what little general advice I was ever able to offer was almost universally ignored, sometimes to my great frustration. Maybe if I had charged them for it, they would have taken it more seriously!
In any event, yesterday's WSJ had a funny piece on how to avoid the free-advice-seeking throngs. Apparently ipod technicians just can't seem to make it through a cocktail party without having to do some repair work or give some free advice. My favorite comeback is the doctor's. When another party guest says, "I have a medical question," the doctor replies, "Great. Just get undressed." Is there a good stock reply for lawyers?
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1. Posted by Jake on June 9, 2007 @ 17:49 | Permalink
Fred's post strikes home. There is a good stock reply for lawyers.
Tell any seeker of free advice to go and collect some concrete information that might shed light on whether they have a real legal complaint to deal with, as opposed to some vague discomfort.
In my experience, sending a cocktail party acquaintance off with some ideas about the due diligence they might perform to solidify a lawsuit usually is the end of the matter. Most folks who speculate about filing lawsuits decline to make a record of the stuff they need to make the suit stick.
Most people are fundamentally lazy. This does not mean most people are bad persons. But they might not have room to complain when their kids have to work for immigrants to the US who have better work ethics.
2. Posted by anonymous on June 9, 2007 @ 20:30 | Permalink
Stock reply for lawyers-- what's wrong with "Great. Just get undressed."?! I think it's perfect.
3. Posted by mmm on June 11, 2007 @ 6:56 | Permalink
I find that "I'm not an expert in that area" doesn't work because people asking you the question have obviously not sought out the expert. They just want free advice.
As a computer geek and a lawyer, I am doubly sunk with respect to the free advice/help issue.
My stock reply to the legal request for help is "well, my hands are tied until I can do a conflicts check. I don't want to get fired."
My stock reply for computer help (unless I know the answer of the top of my head) is "Well, I'd really have to sit down and see, and I don't really have time for even my own computer lately since I'm a lawyer."
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