Opinion ID: 1692119
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Employment Arrangement

Text: Mary Elizabeth testified that she did not want Mallory practicing law with her at Mantiply & Associates. However, she said that because Mallory had no place else to work she allowed him to work at Mantiply & Associates as an employee at will. Mary Elizabeth stated that she made it clear to Mallory that he was an employee at will, that he did not have any interest in Mantiply & Associates, and that he did not have the authority to write checks on behalf of Mantiply & Associates. She testified that she told Mallory that if he chose to work at Mantiply & Associates she would be in charge of the firm's money and that she would pay him what she thought was fair. Mary Elizabeth testified that Mallory agreed to those terms. Mallory testified that Mary Elizabeth's law practice at Mantiply & Associates was dead when he started practicing law there in November 2001. As mentioned above, Mallory presented evidence indicating that the practice had lost approximately $30,719 from January 2000 through November 2001. Mallory testified that he did not want to practice law with Mary Elizabeth because she does not practice and that during the time he worked at Mantiply & Associates he was the only one practicing law. Mallory testified that Mary Elizabeth wanted him to come to work at Mantiply & Associates and that she told him certain things that induced him to forgo looking for other employment and to work at Mantiply & Associates. Mallory stated that Mary Elizabeth told him she had $100,000 to use to finance the law practice and that she had some matters pending, including several cases that had the potential to generate substantial fees. Mallory testified in his deposition as follows: She told me to come on up there and work. She told me she had $100,000 in the bank. She told me she had things going on. She told me we could make it. She told me to bring the cases up there and we would go from there. I heard those things. I went up there, I sat down, I went to work. Mallory stated that he and Mary Elizabeth did not have a partnership agreement and that they had no written agreement as to compensation. He described the agreement they did have as follows: Q. And what I am asking you for is to tell me what you understood your agreement was in connection with you going to work at [Mantiply & Associates] in November 2001. A. Well, the agreement was that I would come up there and sit down and go to work for the clients and for clients to come and that the money would be run through her business and that I would be treated basically fairly. Mallory stated that he did not have the authority to sign checks for Mantiply & Associates and that he had no control over what was being paid out by Mantiply & Associates. He stated that the only control he had was what was coming into [the law firm] based on how hard [he] was working and the checks [he] was paying into it. Mallory testified that he considered himself self-employed while he worked at Mantiply & Associates.