All Chapters of From Pro Bono Client to My First Defendant : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I took a deep breath and made one last attempt to reason with them."Helena, Zack, a case like this would normally cost at least 50,000 dollars in legal fees. I didn't charge you anything because Zack and I go way back. On top of that, I've spent more than 1,000 dollars over the past two weeks on filing costs, documents, printing, and other case expenses."Helena rolled her eyes and folded her arms, looking utterly unimpressed."Oh, give me a break. For all we know, you were just using Zack's case to get some practice. And you never asked us for money in the first place. You chose to do it for free. "If you're offering free representation, you see it through to the end. You don't start shifting the financial burden onto us halfway through."Zack backed her up immediately, forcing the crumpled parking receipt right into my chest."William, don't be so petty. You drive a luxury BMW and live in a high-end penthouse. Why are you sweating 50 bucks? "To a guy like you, that's just a

A year passed before I knew it, and my law firm thrived during that time.The client whose multimillion-dollar acquisition I'd turned down ended up respecting me more for sticking to my principles. Instead of taking his business elsewhere, he later entrusted me with even larger matters.As for Zack, he vanished from my life completely until one rainy Friday afternoon.Rain was coming down in sheets when the receptionist called my office, sounding hesitant."Mr. Harvey, there are two people at the desk who insist on seeing you. They claim to be former classmates of yours. They don't have an appointment, but they look… pretty desperate. They're actually kneeling outside the front doors and refusing to leave."I furrowed my brows and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows.Down on the street below, heavily soaked protest banners hung over a crowd of devastated homeowners, many of whom were crying and shouting for help.Sunshine Cove, the city's largest residential development

The next hour was the most satisfying hour of my life.Zack and Helena sat across from my desk, looking like they were sitting on a bed of nails. Every single time they opened their mouths to speak, they'd pause, trying to calculate exactly how much money that sentence was about to cost them."What do we do now, Mr. Harvey?" Zack asked with obvious caution.I took my time savoring a sip of coffee before slowly responding, "First, we need to sort out the legal issues. An abandoned residential development can involve breach of the purchase agreement, disputes over the mortgage contract, and potentially criminal fraud."I deliberately spoke slowly and leaned heavily on legal terminology, making fairly straightforward concepts sound far more complicated than they were.The clock on the wall ticked steadily, and sweat began to bead across Helena's forehead."Mr. Harvey, could you speed this up a little? We're paying more than 80 dollars a minute!"I frowned. "Legal advice has to be p

When people got desperate enough, their common sense usually went out the window. To avoid paying those few thousand dollars in court costs, Zack and Helena cooked up a colossally stupid plan.They figured that since I'd already secured the paperwork proving the funds were embezzled, they could bypass the legal system altogether and cause a scene.They thought if they made a big enough stinking mess, the local government would step in, and the developers would cave under pressure.Without giving me a heads-up, Zack and Helena rounded up dozens of desperate homebuyers. Brandishing makeshift protest signs, they swarmed the real estate developer's corporate headquarters.The mob didn't just blockade the front entrance. They trashed the lobby, smashed up the reception desk, and a few people even threw punches at the building security guards.Zack led the charge at the very front, waving the photocopies of the escrow records I'd tracked down for him as he bellowed at the top of his l

Just as I'd expected, winning the case turned out to be the easy part.Once we filed for the enforcement of the judgment, the court reported that the developer had no assets left to collect against.Its bank accounts had already been frozen, with only a few hundred dollars remaining, while the land had long since been pledged to the bank.And because the unfinished construction was an abandoned eyesore, it was completely unsellable at auction.In short, Zack won the lawsuit, but he wasn't going to get a single penny.To make matters worse, dissolving the purchasing contract meant they legally forfeited all ownership rights to the property. Even though the building was an abandoned shell, it had still been a physical asset they could claim. Now, even that shell was gone.Furthermore, while the judge ordered the developer to issue a full refund, the bankrupt company didn't have the cash to pay them back.On the banking side of things, while the court granted a temporary freeze o