Stracher s writing style is impressive but his story is old. When comparing his modern, everyday occurrences with tales from the early part of twentieth century, attorney s experiences haven t changed a bit. At a starting salary of 40 dollars a month, with a five dollar raise every two months, I answered court calendars, served papers, looked up law, interviewed witnesses, toted brief bags, watched my seniors try cases in the lower courts and argue appeals before the higher courts in short, did all the chores that a new hired man performs around every law office. Stracher describes this same type of traditional legal work that inexperienced junior associates have been doing for over 100 years. None of it rises to the level of illegality that the title of this book suggests.
Double billing occurs when the client is billed twice for the same work.
On one occasion, Stracher wrote a legal memorandum for a client, a computer software company, that was a defendant in a securities class-action lawsuit. A senior associate rewrote the memorandum in a week, turned it into a memorandum to dismiss a civil complaint that was filed in court. Many young lawyers spend long hours toiling in the firm s library or on the computer reading cases and writing legal memoranda. Law firms expect that this research will be done by associates and law clerks who, at lower hourly rates, provide the legal foundation to support claims or defenses in cases that are worth millions of dollars. Again, not much has changed.