James Lee Widrig

James Widrig

When you take the witness stand in court there is a reason why they ask you to swear to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The whole truth is different from half/ partial truths. Half/partial truths change the perception of what really happened. You were not sent any surprise bill out of the blue. You received your first month’s statement. Your statement for this current month should be sent to you shortly. All clients receive a monthly invoice outlining all of the time spent on each task for that month and how much each individual task cost. (Example phone call with client. Time spent 0.1. Charge $35) You did not dispute that any of the work in the bill was actually performed nor did you dispute the quality of the work; in fact you emailed me about how thorough it was. You were just upset about the amount of the bill. You may have been surprised by the amount of the bill, but that does not make it a surprise bill out of the blue. Again, you requested additional services be performed outside of the quote that the initial retainer was for, so this is not a surprise bill sent out of the blue. It was your monthly statement/bill. Again your next month's statement will be sent shortly. Also you were not overcharged. Again, the legal representation agreement you signed is for an hourly fee. It was not a flat fee. That was communicated to you upfront on the phone and it’s clearly stated in the contract you signed with my office. The Legal Representation Agreement even has it in bold that the initial retainer is an estimate and it is not a flat fee agreement. When you and I spoke on the phone about the charges on your first monthly statement I stated to you that I did not specifically tell you verbally that the additional work you requested would cost you more money as I assumed you understood that additional work equated to additional fees. Reviewing a prenuptial agreement and redrafting a prenuptial agreement are different tasks. I should not need to apologize for performing the additional services that you requested be performed; nor should you expect those additional services be completed for free. You were not taken advantage of, and as I said before I am sorry you feel that way. However, you are correct in that I am unapologetic for doing the extra work that you requested be done, which you later used, and I am unapologetic for expecting someone to pay for services that they request. I did apply a substantial courtesy discount to your first month’s bill and have previously informed you that I was also not charging you for work that was performed in this month’s statement. Again you were not overcharged for anything. I would be happy to talk about any individual charges on your account if you like as I try hard to make sure clients are happy with the services that we provide for them. However, I do take issue with your statement that the communication between us was poor. You were charged for all phone calls, emails, and meetings between us. I find it confusing that you are upset that you were charged too much but also are upset that the communication was poor. You can’t have it both ways. You either have good communication and are charged for all those events under the hourly agreement that you signed, or you do not have good communication and you would not be charged as much because again there is no communication. Without communication there is nothing to charge you for. You can't have it both ways; you don't get your cake and eat it too. Again, please let me know if you have any questions about the individual charges on your next monthly statement.