It's Not About the Money

I don't know how usual or unusual we are here in the Trenches, but we really care about our clients.  By "really care," I mean that we worry about them and their children, anguish about the effect their case will have on their lives, and  go above and beyond for them.  How do we do that?  Well, let's see, we've gone to a client's home to make sure they were all right, gone with them on the weekend to file for protection from domestic violence, taken phone calls and emails on vacation, driven them home from the hospital, arranged for babysitting during court - all without charge.  Here's where it gets complicated.  Every one of those people for whom we went so far above and beyond, told us how much they appreciated what we did for them, how much it meant to them that we cared and worked so hard for them, and then each and every one of them stiffed us.  That's right, stiffed us.  Not a couple of hundred dollars here and there, but thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in fees.  Not even apologetic about it; didn't even call us prior to bankrupting our fees.  Did I forget to mention that we've kept our hourly rate lower than most of our contemporaries?  Do we learn our lesson?  Not really, because it's how we are.  We're more careful with who we choose as clients and how much money we get up front, but we can't change how we are.  It just hurts not to be appreciated.  Sometimes it's not the money.  Here in the Trenches.