Charged after"Free" 30 minute consultation

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California.

I recently sat down for a free 30minute consultation with an employment law attorney I found on Yelp. The conversation extended on to ~50 minutes and at the end of the talk the lawyer said he will bill me for the extra half hour of his time (at $350/hr). This was never discussed up front and came at a surprise.

Is this normal practice?

Should the attorney have discussed this with me prior to commencing the talk or at least mentioned it when the free 30 minutes had expired?

Can I ignore this invoice?

jenjentai said:

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California.

I recently sat down for a free 30minute consultation with an employment law attorney I found on Yelp. The conversation extended on to ~50 minutes and at the end of the talk the lawyer said he will bill me for the extra half hour of his time (at $350/hr). This was never discussed up front and came at a surprise.

Is this normal practice?

Should the attorney have discussed this with me prior to commencing the talk or at least mentioned it when the free 30 minutes had expired?

Can I ignore this invoice?

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You can, but you run the risk of being sued. Whether or not a given attorney would sue for $175 is anyone's guess.

Did you expect a 50-minute consultation to cost the same as a 30-minute consultation? What exactly where the terms of the conversation? Why were they not discussed?

Charged after"Free" 30 minute consultation

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actually, you weren't charged until after the extra half hour of counsel after you had first used your free 30 minute consult.

Do you not have a watch?

jenjentai said:

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California.


Can I ignore this invoice?

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I would ignore the invoice unless you signed a document stating that you would owe anything to the attny for going over the 30 min.

You don't have a contract regarding how he would represent you; contingency, hourly, combination , etc. The attny would need to prove that you agreed to pay him & it likely is that you did not.

BOR_ said:

I would ignore the invoice unless you signed a document stating that you would owe anything to the attny for going over the 30 min.

You don't have a contract regarding how he would represent you; contingency, hourly, combination , etc. The attny would need to prove that you agreed to pay him & it likely is that you did not.

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You give bad advice.

Zigner said:

You give bad advice.

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Actually, BOR's advice was excellent advice! What is the Attorney going to do if the OP refuses to pay this ridiculous charge? The OP recieved a consultation that went over the 30 minute period. Did the attorney remind the OP that his 30 minutes were up? Probably not. No agreements were signed so the OP isn't obligated in any way.

If the attorney does any collection activity, take him to small claims and let the judge decide. I really don't think an attorney can enforce this at all. Further, an attorney's time is vauable, so I don't see him wasting his time if sued in small claims--he will probably let it go. Just my perspective.

Willlyjo said:

Actually, BOR's advice was excellent advice!

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Advising the OP to ignore this was absolute hogwash. I expect YOU to agree, since you almost always spew similar hogwash.

Zigner said:

Advising the OP to ignore this was absolute hogwash. I expect YOU to agree, since you almost always spew similar hogwash.

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Since you read my post, you owe me $175. You going to pay me? No..it would be silly.

Lawyers never file suits for this because they know the judge would toss them out on their bee-hind.

No contract = no contract. Simple.

I'm curious as to why the poster thinks (first) that he's entitled to 50 minutes free when the agreement was clearly for 30 minutes free; and (second) why the lawyer had the sole responsibility to take note of the time. He was there too - why didn't he ask, when the 30 minutes were up, what happened next?

OP used 50 minutes of time and were only owed 30 minutes. That extra 20 minutes if not specified beforehand what the rate was (although I suspect it was - either in print or on the phone) would be left to interpretation. Surely, lawyers charge for their time because their advice is valuable and sought after. Therefore, if you use that service you owe for it. The part that's open for interpretation is whether you owe what the lawyer says you owe or some other amount.

I would think that two reasonable people could come to a compromise and determine a fair price since it wasn't disclosed up front. If not let the lawyer sue and argue in court what the fair price should be. Either way you knew you were getting 30 minutes free but would be charged afterwards. It's like 1-900 numbers that have free trials and after the trial period they start charging (although they are usually much more explicit about what that rate will be).

BOR_ said:

Since you read my post, you owe me $175. You going to pay me? No..it would be silly.

Lawyers never file suits for this because they know the judge would toss them out on their bee-hind.

No contract = no contract. Simple.

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Well, based on quantum merit, since you're advice is worth absolutely ZERO, you are owed absolutely ZERO

Zigner said:

Well, based on quantum merit, since you're advice is worth absolutely ZERO, you are owed absolutely ZERO

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Also, you would still owe me as your advice is worth less than zero...base on quantum merit.

is it not:

quantum meruit?

justalayman said:

is it not:

quantum meruit?

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Of course

BOR_ said:

Also, you would still owe me as your advice is worth less than zero...base on quantum merit.

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You forgot the "neener neener"