Nothing for Nothing

On Monday, I was hired by a man’s father to represent the man on a serious felony case.

When I say, “I was hired” here I mean that the father and I agreed on a fee for my representation, and the man approved my representation. We had, in other words, a contract.

It was not a written contract, but this is Texas, where we do business on our word (see, e.g., Pennzoil v. Texaco), and I had no reason to think that the father wouldn’t comply, so I went to court for the man. I spoke with the prosecutor about the case, arranged for a bail hearing, and drafted and filed a writ of habeas corpus.

Tuesday morning—I’m sure my fellow CDLs saw this coming—the father called me and told me that his local law firm had recommended a Houston firm, and they would be going with that firm. Tuesday night, the father sent me this email:

Let me again thank you for your help on such short notice…. We have been able to engage a lawyer from [website] through our long term local law firm. He will be with [my son] for his court date on [date]. In closing, I wanted to comment on your slogan, “Just Lawyers Helping People”; it is very nice (and unusual) in today’s world to find someone who does walk the walk.

Maybe it’s just because I am a man of my word, but I haven’t found it at all unusual in today’s world to find lots of folks who “walk the walk” and help people when they need it. When your word is worthless, I guess things are different. When you walk away from your promises, I guess it’s fair that people aren’t eager to help you out.