John Heidenry and Brett Topel are plagiarists and lawyers suck, too

Honestly, I don't see the lawyers' crime here. Unless you agree to a set fee, lawyers charge by the hour. When you call them, when they make calls for you, when they go to meetings, when they negotiate your settlement, they're charging you by the hour. Adds up fast.

But you should still tell them to cut their fees.

Wondering why you got your own lawyer, instead of letting the publisher's lawyer handle it...?

 

Waiting to see what their "discussion" unveils; hoping it is along these lines.

I'm calling them "my laywer" just for ease here; it is a lawyer the publisher uses (who in turn had to hire another lawyer; fun).

 

Bitter much? As one who billed by the hour for 13 years, it is a distasteful system which is ripe for abuse. However, in most cases it is the most efficient and effective way to charge for attorney time.

 

I was a victim once. I took it to an attorney, but because of the crime against me, I didn't have a lot of funds to pay up front. Attorney quoted a 60/40 split of the winnings, but all depositions and travel would have to come out of my 60.

That meant if I only won $100, I would get $60 but would then have to pay the attorney all the costs for the depositions and travel - an estimated couple of thousand dollars. (The only way I found that out was by asking a thousand questions - to their annoyance.)

Yeah, no thanks. I took it to court myself and negotiated my money back - and then some - with the other guy's attorney, but only after he tried to muscle me around. All the same I wouldn't have got my money back had I went with an attorney.

And 21, I never said the attorneys did anything illegal. I just think victims should know that the most lawyers are out to take your lunch money, too.

 

Why would the attorney pay for the costs of depositions and travel expenses? That's not money which goes in the pocket of the attorneys -- they are expenses which go to third parties.

It is a for-profit business. The rates and hours spent are negotiable.

 

"Bitter" is your word, Webster. I'm just saying, if you're going to give someone an estimate, then either stick to it or advise the customer if you're going to go over that estimate. If you expect the client to hand over a blank check, to be filled in to the attorney's liking at the back end, then be clear about that, too.

I've accepted plenty of writing assignments for an agreed-upon fee, only to find out while doing them that they required much more legwork, phone work, rewriting, etc., through no fault of my own. Doesn't mean I could just stick the client with a bill for more hours at my preferred rate. I roll up my sleeves, do the work and complete the job for the original fee. The way a pro should.

What's so "bitter" about that, Webster?

 

Referring to an entire profession as weasels maybe would qualify. A profession in which the ethical are the huge majority.

Most lawyers bill by the hour -- that is the way that the profession operates. The reason that they do so is that clients historically prefer this arrangement, especially on matters which are more than ministerial.

If a lawyer agreed that a fee for a matter would not exceed a certain amount, they shouldn't charge over that amount. Done that a number of times, even when I've been forced to eat some hours. But if a lawyer is asked to provide an estimate of their fees and they exceed that estimate because they worked additional hours, then the client should pay.

 

I didn't say it was wrong, it just didn't benefit me.

I'm just saying, as have others on here, to be real careful when entering into a contract with an attorney. They're not going to volunteer much at all. They don't give a damn if you read the fine print or not.

 

OK, here is the final post-mortem (promise). The lawyers never got back to me, but I did have a nice talk with the publisher this past Friday. He's a really nice guy and was very concerned that I come away satisfied and that I did not think ill of his company. He said that writers are the backbone of his company (paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it).

He then said that his company would not only give me all of the 50-50 split (a whopping $124 and change ), but that he'd cut me a check for $1,000 for all my time and effort and such.

So I never got the written apology (no shock there I guess), the lawyers got all the money from the lawsuit and no one has stepped up to help call out the offending authors, but I will walk away with a little cash. Hopefully one day those authors will be bitten in the butt by all of this - that would be the true reward. I just hope it happens (and that I know about it).

Thanks again to all who wrote kind words during this whole mess.

 

good news, lan.

 

Thanks for all your hard work and dedication in fighting this and bringing it to our attention. Merry Christmas, too!

-- Your lawyers​

 

lantaur:

The subject looks interesting. It’s the kind of book I’d like to read, but I obviously don’t want to purchase the plagiarist’s version.

Is your book available on Amazon?