“Kaitlyn?” I called out into the lobby. Of course it was her. You see, no one at my office had met Kaitlyn before and didn’t know what she looked like, so she had somehow managed to get on my list of consultations for the day, right before my lunch hour.
I ushered her into one of my firm’s conference rooms, pretending to not know her and apprehensive at first as to why she was there.
At first, Kaitlyn kept up her charade, and pretended to ask me some legal questions. I went along with it and explained the ins and outs of her purely hypothetical legal issue, and the potential options for her as one of my clients, and then I quoted the cost of my services (a $5000 retainer).
Now I don’t typically negotiate my fee as a rule, but some rules are meant to be broken.