Discussion Reponse

You are the only associate recently hired by a solo practitioner, Norman Wilson. You were hired about a year ago after a lengthy job search. You feel 55extremely fortunate to have the job because the market for lawyers in your area has been very tight; a number of your classmates still do not have a position. One of the matters on which you have worked is Sylvia v. United Truck Lines, an automobile accident case in which the firm represented the plaintiff, Sylvia. The case settled about a month ago for $300,000, and the file was closed. You did some legal research on the case and met with the client on several occasions regarding discovery issues. You did not participate in settlement negotiations or in the disbursement of settlement funds. Recently, you came across a research memo that you did in Sylvia v. United Truck Lines that was misfiled. You pulled the file of the Sylvia case from the firm’s closed files. As you were putting the research memo into the file, you happened to notice the closing statement in the case. The statement signed by the client, Mr. Sylvia, showed a gross settlement of $300,000, an attorney’s fee of $100,000 (⅓ fee), and expenses of $20,000, with a net amount to the client of $180,000. The file also contained the following handwritten note by Mr. Sylvia: