Or sometimes they come in with five or six companies chasing them, and I get a sense that there is something there. To some degree I trust my ears, although not completely because I know I don't have great ears. A lot of people will ask for a modest retainer. I think that one is a little steep. And then I would only give them money after I had checked them out very thoroughly and made sure that they were legit.
Some attorneys have a business of doing nothing but taking fees to mail out letters and tapes.
People at the companies know that these guys don't screen the tapes, and that they'll shop anyone who walks in and pays them a fee. I think that's true. I don't want to diminish small town attorneys either, because they can be very bright, but it's sort of like any other skill. Having said that, there is an attorney in Atlanta who has a first-class practice that would rival anybody's. It's not a hard and fast rule, but for the most part, it is tough for anyone to be seriously in the business unless they are either in L.A., New York or Nashvile, or commuting to those cities on a fairly regular basis with substantial enough clients to kind of keep them in the game.