Maintain the
dignity of your effort.
I am assuming that Nature began the work of making you a lawyer before
you were born; that you have been preparing yourself, with the
enthusiasm of the artist and the passion of professional devotion, for
the work of your great calling, by years and years of discipline and
study such as no other calling requires; that, with your natural
qualification and your general equipment, you are bringing to your
client's particular case an industry that knows no limit in his
immediate service.
This being true, tell him frankly that you propose to give him the
best that is in you (and that best is your very life--no less--for you
write "victory" at the end of every one of your cases with your
heart's blood; or "defeat," if you do not win), and that for this best
which is in you you will charge the highest professional fee justified
by your services and the magnitude and difficulty of his case.
At the same time, never turn a poor client away from your office door
because that client comes with no gold in his hand. When a lawyer is
too busy to give counsel without fee and without charge to a poor man
or woman, that lawyer has too much business.
Pages:
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194