Once again, I must give a nod of thanks to my old friend and former colleague, Philly lawyer Joe Ferry, for this item:
http://www.linkedin.com/share?viewLink=&sid=s513316724&url=http%3A%2F%2Flnkd%2Ein%2FQRVzZR&urlhash=pXCJ&pk=member-home&pp=6&poster=42909920&uid=5505932529246416896&trk=NUS_UNIU_SHARE-title
Joe and I were associate attorneys together at Philadelphia's Saul Ewing, during what seems like a lifetime ago. Saul was never the sweatshop that some of the bog firms were... and obviously still are. All the same, I left in 1993, feeling that my kids were growing up without me. The watershed event for me was my son's birthday. I went to the office that day, early in the morning, and wrote a new draft for a brief to a US court of appeals. I took the afternoon off to celebrate the birthday with the family. Then, the partner in charge having reviewed the brief during that same afternoon, I returned int he evening to review his edits and get out a new draft to be available to him in the morning.
These firms are billing there lawyers out at $500-$1000 an hour. I guess God forgot to give me a big enough ego. But I don't think I could look a client int he eyes and quote that sort of a rate.
When I entered private practice in 1983, law was still a profession. SInce then, it's become a business, much like any other. Just look at the billboards along the interstates. Law.com, indeed.
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