Rajah
Reigning Bologna Princess
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2007
- Messages
- 1,774
- MBTI Type
- ENTP
- Enneagram
- 7
I've only ever worked for firms that charged hourly. That's the standard 'round these parts.Could it be because the legal profession attracts some quite pompous rule obsessed naysayers? Sorry, I don't include you in that.. but it does, right? Regardless of the training they just like to witter on in a pompous manner sometimes.
Also, many legal firms seem to charge by the page. Never a good idea when balancing that with succintness. That certainly used to be the case, but maybe is less common in today's email world?
-Geoff
Here's what I think, broadly:
(1) Lawyers have inflated egos, and like to use "impressive" vocabulary. They don't focus on writing skills, because they just figure they know it all already.
(2) Lawyers are afraid to commit to a definite position. If they do, there's less room to wiggle out of it. Their wishy-washy writing reflects this.
(3) If you have a 25-page limit for a brief, a client expects you to use it. Even if you can say what you need to say in ten pages, the client assumes you're not doing a stellar job if you don't use all 25.