What a strange story this was that I read. I’m sure everyone has heard about that Anna Nicole tragedy and how there is currently a battle over who the father of her child is. A person named Larry Birkhead claims to be the father and he had a lawyer named Debra Opri to represent him in the case. From what I read she is no longer representing him and so she sent him a Fed Ex which was a bill for her legal fees. Now apparently her rate is $475/hour and the bill came out to $620,492.84 in total.
As crazy as that is, the things that were written on when she was working was a little absurd. For example, I was reading that in attended Anna Nicole’s funeral, which she apparently was asked not to go, she billed him 10 hours for the preparation in going, 10 hours for the actual day of the funeral and another 10 to travel back. There were a lot of other strange things such as dining out at restaurants without having Birkhead present, yet she billed him for it. There was an interesting example where she had dinner at a steakhouse which was $161.65 and $50 of that bill was in tips. Of course, she billed him for that. Now apparently she also offered him a “discount†where she would reduce his bill to $511,365.09 if he accepted the offer immediately.
How can any professional in any field have the conscience to do something like that is beyond me. I mean I fully support that you deserve to get paid what you are worth and I’m sure in a high profile case like that it is probably a lot more time consuming, but that looks like pure exploitation. Usually when someone brings up the topic about a lawyer it seems to spawn some kind of joke or parody that they are all just money hungry animals. Yet in business you are usually advised not to do anything drastic without enlisting the help of one in many cases.
I personally wouldn’t limit that type of billing practice to just lawyers though as I’ve seen people in other industries attempt similar practices. It’s just one of those things where it’s easier for people to label the entire profession due to some bad apples like anything else. I remembered when I was looking for a lawyer the first thing I did was to look for one through personal referrals. I think that is usually a great way to approach things when you are trying to acquire services in something you really need while not exactly being too knowledgeable about it yourself.
If this story is entirely accurate though, then I would hope that she won’t be able collect all of the fees that she billed her client for.
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