Chapter 5
The small lobby outside Royce McKnight’s office was empty when Mitch arrived precisely at eight-thirty, on schedule.
He hummed and coughed and began to wait anxiously.
From behind two file cabinets an ancient blue-haired secretary appeared and scowled in his general direction.
When it was apparent he was not welcome, he introduced himself and explained he was to meet Mr. McKnight at this appointed hour.
She smiled and introduced herself as Louise, Mr. McKnight’s personal secretary, for thirty-one years now.
Coffee? Yes, he said, black. She disappeared and returned with a cup and saucer.
She notified her boss through the intercom and instructed Mitch to have a seat.
She recognized him now. One of the other secretaries had pointed him out during the funerals yesterday.
She apologized for the somber atmosphere around the place.
No one felt like working, she explained, and it would be days before things were normal.
They were such nice young men. The phone rang and she explained that Mr. McKnight was in an important meeting and could not be disturbed.
It rang again, she listened, and escorted him into the managing partner’s office.
Oliver Lambert and Royce McKnight greeted Mitch and introduced him to two other partners, Victor Milligan and Avery Tolar. They sat around a small conference table. Louise was sent for more coffee. Milligan was head of tax, and Tolar, at forty-one, was one of the younger partners.
“Mitch, we apologize for such a depressing beginning,” McKnight said. “We appreciate your presence at the funerals yesterday, and we’re sorry your first day as a member of our firm was one of such sadness.”
“I felt I belonged at the funerals,” Mitch said.
“We’re very proud of you, and we have great plans for you. We’ve just lost two of our finest lawyers, both of whom did nothing but tax, so we’ll be asking more of you. All of us will have to work a little harder.”
Louise arrived with a tray of coffee. Silver coffee server, fine china.
“We are quite saddened,” said Oliver Lambert. “So please bear with us.”
They all nodded and frowned at the table. Royce McKnight looked at some notes on a legal pad.
“Mitch, I think we’ve covered this before.
At this firm, we assign each associate to a partner, who acts as a supervisor and mentor.
These relationships are very important. We try to match you with a partner with whom you will be compatible and able to work closely, and we’re usually right.
We have made mistakes. Wrong chemistry, or whatever, but when that happens we simply reassign the associate. Avery Tolar will be your partner.”
Mitch smiled awkwardly at his new partner.
“You will be under his direction, and the cases and files you work on will be his. Virtually all of it will be tax work.”
“That’s fine.”
“Before I forget it, I’d like to have lunch today,” Tolar said.
“Certainly,” Mitch said.
“Take my limo,” Mr. Lambert said.
“I had planned to,” said Tolar.
“When do I get a limo?” Mitch asked.
They smiled, and seemed to appreciate the relief. “In about twenty years,” said Mr. Lambert.
“I can wait.”
“How’s the BMW?” asked Victor Milligan.
“Great. It’s ready for the five-thousand-mile service.”
“Did you get moved in okay?”
“Yes, everything’s fine. I appreciate the firm’s assistance in everything. You’ve made us feel very welcome, and Abby and I are extremely grateful.”
McKnight quit smiling and returned to the legal pad.
“As I’ve told you, Mitch, the bar exam has priority.
You’ve got six weeks to study for it and we assist in every way possible.
We have our own review courses directed by our members.
All areas of the exam will be covered and your progress will be closely watched by all of us, especially Avery.
At least half of each day will be spent on bar review, and most of your spare time as well.
No associate in this firm has ever failed the exam. ”
“I won’t be the first.”
“If you flunk it, we take away the BMW,” Tolar said with a slight grin.
“Your secretary will be a lady named Nina Huff. She’s been with the firm more than eight years.
Sort of temperamental, not much to look at, but very capable.
She knows a lot of law and has a tendency to give advice, especially to the newer attorneys.
It’ll be up to you to keep her in place.
If you can’t get along with her, we’ll move her. ”
“Where’s my office?”
“Second floor, down the hall from Avery. The interior woman will be here this afternoon to pick out the desk and furnishings. As much as possible, follow her advice.”
Lamar was also on the second floor, and at the moment that thought was comforting. He thought of him sitting by the pool, soaking wet, crying and mumbling incoherently.
McKnight spoke. “Mitch, I’m afraid I neglected to cover something that should’ve been discussed during the first visit here.”
He waited, and finally said, “Okay, what is it?”
The partners watched McKnight intently. “We’ve never allowed an associate to begin his career burdened with student loans. We prefer that you find other things to worry about, and other ways to spend your money. How much do you owe?”
Mitch sipped his coffee and thought rapidly. “Almost twenty-three thousand.”
“Have the documents on Louise’s desk first thing in the morning.”
“You, uh, mean the firm satisfies the loans?”
“That’s our policy. Unless you object.”
“No objection. I don’t quite know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. We’ve done it for every associate for the past fifteen years. Just get the paperwork to Louise.”
“That’s very generous, Mr. McKnight.”
“Yes, it is.”
_____________
Avery Tolar talked incessantly as the limo moved slowly through the noontime traffic.
Mitch reminded him of himself, he said. A poor kid from a broken home, raised by foster families throughout southwest Texas, then put on the streets after high school.
He worked the night shift in a shoe factory to finance junior college.
An academic scholarship to UTEP opened the door.
He graduated with honors, applied to eleven law schools and chose Stanford.
He finished number two in his class and turned down offers from every big firm on the West Coast. He wanted to do tax work, nothing but tax work.
Oliver Lambert had recruited him sixteen years ago, back when the firm had fewer than thirty lawyers.
He had a wife and two kids, but said little about the family.
He talked about money. His passion, he called it.
The first million was in the bank. The second was two years away.
At four hundred thousand a year gross, it wouldn’t take long.
His specialty was forming partnerships to purchase supertankers.
He was the premier specialist in his field and worked at three hundred an hour, sixty, sometimes seventy hours a week.
Mitch would start at a hundred bucks an hour, at least five hours a day until he passed the bar and got his license.
Then eight hours a day would be expected, at one-fifty an hour.
Billing was the lifeblood of the firm. Everything revolved around it.
Promotions, raises, bonuses, survival, success, everything revolved around how well one was billing.
Especially the new guys. The quickest route to a reprimand was to neglect the daily billing records.
Avery could not remember such a reprimand.
It was simply unheard of for a member of the firm to ignore his billing.
The average for associates was one-seventy-five per hour.
For partners, three hundred. Milligan got four hundred an hour from a couple of his clients, and Nathan Locke once got five hundred an hour for some tax work that involved swapping assets in several foreign countries.
Five hundred bucks an hour! Avery relished the thought, and computed five hundred per hour by fifty hours per week at fifty weeks per year.
One million two hundred fifty thousand a year!
That’s how you make money in this business.
You get a bunch of lawyers working by the hour and you build a dynasty.
The more lawyers you get, the more money the partners make.
Don’t ignore the billing, he warned. That’s the first rule of survival.
If there were no files to bill on, immediately report to his office.
He had plenty. On the tenth day of each month the partners review the prior month’s billing during one of their exclusive luncheons.
It’s a big ceremony. Royce McKnight reads out each lawyer’s name, then the total of his monthly billing.
The competition among the partners is intense, but good-spirited.
They’re all getting rich, right? It’s very motivational.
As for the associates, nothing is said to the low man unless it’s his second straight month.
Oliver Lambert will say something in passing.
No one has ever finished low for three straight months.
Bonuses can be earned by associates for exorbitant billing.
Partnerships are based on one’s track record for generating fees.
So don’t ignore it, he warned again. It must always have priority—after the bar exam, of course.
The bar exam was a nuisance, an ordeal that must be endured, a rite of passage, and nothing any Harvard man should fear. Just concentrate on the review courses, he said, and try to remember everything he had just learned in law school.
The limo wheeled into a side street between two tall buildings and stopped in front of a small canopy that extended from the curb to a black metal door. Avery looked at his watch and said to the driver, “Be back at two.”
Two hours for lunch, thought Mitch. That’s over six hundred dollars in billable time. What a waste.