I work at a private law firm, which means that the other 6.5 lawyers in the firm try to fill their schedules with paying clients. Not me. I have all kinds of clients who don't pay.
Sometimes I know they're not going to pay and I do the work anyway; other times, clients like to surprise me with that at the end of a case. And still other times, I work on contract with the Public Defender office, where I'm appointed by the court to represent clients on criminal charges that the PD's office doesn't have time to handle. This is where I meet some of my favorite people.
Today, my court-appointed Client had been charged with being a habitual violator of driving while his license was suspended. I introduced myself, explained what would happen at his arraignment that day, and made sure he knew the maximum penalties for what he'd been charged with. The maximum penalty for this is 2 years in jail. When Client heard this, he said something to the effect of:
"Whhhaaaaaaaaaaaat?" with an upward inflection on the end, for effect.
I then told Client the following things: (1) We can fight the charge and go to trial; (2) You can probably plead guilty to a lesser charge; (3) You will, under no circumstances, actually do 2 years in jail; and (4) It is most likely that you will do no jail time...none at all.
Client was either not listening, or simply not comforted by any of this, because he looked at me with suprising sincerity and said:
"I'm going to need to get a lawyer, aren't I?"
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