There's an idiom in Chinese that will somewhat gross out MJ, but it's basically translated to, "don't use a knife for killing cows to kill a chicken." A very brutal image to describe a much more palatable concept: don't use too much effort to handle a trivial matter, or in some cases, don't use an overpriced, partner-level attorney to do basic legal work. That is essentially what my uncle in China is dealing with now, where he has hired an attorney at a big law firm to handle his trademark infringement litigation case, but the case has gone longer than expected without the other side caving in or asking for any settlement, thus the case continues with large legal fees (partner's fees at bigger law firms can easily be more than $400/hour, I've even heard of $700/800 an hour for the biggest white collar firms! An astronomical sum for an hour's work, especially considering that a lawyer bills multiple hours of work for their time. As one can imagine, those legal bills can pile up quick, so you don't want an overqualified partner doing some basic legal work that only requires mundane tasks, as a client you want them to do the real heavy lifting, provide extra value to the case in terms of strategy or experience. A regular associate probably bills around half that, and sometimes the tasks can be done by paralegals and other legal staff. Having worked at various law firms in my life, I can say that there's nothing "magical" about lawyers do to justify being paid so much; it's just that the market is set so high!
Overbilling is very common in the legal profession, since the client doesn't really know exactly how much is being done or how useful certain things are. Appearing in court in front of a judge may seem super important for the ordinary citizen as that is the culturally accepted image of an attorney, but that's often a routine scheduling for a trial; often the judge has already decided what he will decide from the submitted arguments on both sides. What is important is actually the writing that's done by attorneys behind the scenes, or at least behind their computers, at their desk where no one's watching; that's where the research and legal writing comes in that's at the heart of the value.
I feel bad for my uncle that he is being overcharged (in my opinion) by his attorney, almost like it's my money (even though it's not, thankfully) that's used to pay the attorney. The most sinking feeling about being a client for an attorney is that the case keeps going on without any end date, and the attorney continues charging all the time for it. At least if you buy a car or house, they're expensive items but there's a finite end to the price, but a legal matter is like the worst Netflix subscription that you ever got sucked in, you just pay and pay every month considerable amounts until you run out of money and see how far in the case you've gotten. I've always been aware of this fact while working as an attorney myself, but often I work for multinational conglomerates where the legal fees become a drop in the bucket and get passed off to the customers; I feel but a twinge of guilt. But when flipped on its head and I'm on the client side, suddenly I'm aware of just how much of a money drain attorneys are. No wonder people hate us.
And I don't like the image of killing cows or chickens neither.........I wish we didn't need to do it. I feel guilty nowadays about eating too much meat, as I'm in the camp of feeling empathy for all living creatures....and the pain they suffer when we kill them. I knew a guy back in high school who adhered to Jainism...... they believe that no living creatures should be harmed.
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