The Better Chancery Practice Blog

Or maybe a doctor joke …

A doctor and a lawyer are having a pleasant conversation at a weekend cocktail party when a woman interrupts, elbowing the lawyer aside.

“Doctor,” she says, “I have a pain right here, and it won’t go away. What should I do?”

The doctor politely gives her an opinion and suggests she make an appointment to see him within a week. Satisfied, she wanders off into the crowd.

The doctor turns to the lawyer and says,”People do that all the time, and I don’t know how to handle it. How do you discourage people from approaching you outside your office for free legal opinions?”

“Well,” said the lawyer, “what I do is I give them an answer to their question and then send them a bill the next day. Works like a charm.”

“Excellent advice,” said the doctor. “First thing Monday, I’ll send her a bill.”

On Monday, the doctor arrives at his clinic and exuberantly tells his secretary to send a bill for $75 to the lady, for “Consultation at cocktail party.”

Still chuckilng over his cleverness, the doctor enters his office and sits down to read his mail. There, among his other correspondence, is a bill from the lawyer for $200 for “Billing advice at cocktail party.”

This from the first paragraph of Judge Griffis’s decision in the COA case O’Brien v. O’Brien, handed down February 11, 2014:

¶1. Russell Gary O’Brien appeals the chancellor’s judgment of divorce. He argues that the decree “reads like a honky tonk chorus,” and he refers to Jerry Reed’s hit song “She Got The Goldmine (I Got The Shaft).” We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.