that I did not ask for free legal counsel.

I asked for recommendations for a good, domain-specific attorney that offers consults.

That simply is not legal counsel, that's an attorney who hears about a case to decide if there is one worth pursuing, as well as to see if there is a good mutual fit with the potential client. Once that is determined, the two parties agree to move forward, a service agreement is signed, and then and only then is actual legal counsel provided (which, yes, is billable). It's common practice and smart business for them as a new client acquisition strategy.

And yes, those consults can be and often are very brief, and yes, in the ensuing time this afternoon that consult has already happened. Out of respect for the professional's time, I had already done most of the legwork, determining the specifics of my case hinged on one single particular, and therefore it was indeed a 7 minute phone call. Both he and I spent less time on the call than you have spent badmouthing me this afternoon, and now he's going to make some money out of the deal (an outcome about which I'm sure you'll be delighted). He didn't give me legal counsel, rather confirming that my understanding was correct on the germane aspect of the case and that the contract needed review to determine next steps. The difference is he's going to make money for actually reviewing a contract instead of making money for telling me whether or not he is interested and able to review a contract.

I have hired attorneys (of other specialties) in the past, in the manner described, and several of those initial consults were less than 15 minutes. Based by the way you're speaking on this subject, I suspect you may not have had to do so, which is fortunate.



Lastly, your analogies are rather incongruous and misapplied.

My ask of the board was not analogous to asking a doctor to see me as a patient for free. Rather, it is analogous to asking if anyone could recommend a site better than WebMD that had a symptom matching feature with better drug data so I could look up recommended dosage of Ibuprofen by bodyweight. You're saying I should have to go to a doctor, submit to and pay for a full exam in order to get that information.

There is nothing about my post that even remotely comparable to showing up to a mechanic's shop and asking them to drop what they're doing and look at my car for free. That's comically absurd. A poor, but at least logically consistent analog would be calling a mechanic's shop, describing the work you'd like done, and asking if it is in their wheelhouse and a ballpark estimate range before incurring the hassle of trailing the car down to them to do said work. Your comparative assertion would be that I should being expecting to pay the mechanic for the phone call to see if I had business for him, which of course we'd all consider a non-starter in an auto repair scenario.

(BTW, as an aside, many shops do, as a matter of course and custom acquisition strategy (again), take a cursory look to see if the problem is obvious in order to inform the customer of the work needed and provide an estimate to consider. Most only charge a diagnostic hour if it is going to require more involved diagnostic work or time investment. In fact, I made a recommendation to another poster on CB this afternoon for a shop that operates this way and has many loyal customers as a result. Regardless, not a fitting analogy, because this is actually free advice or work, which wasn't being asked for in my case, as established.)

An apt analogy for your own reflection would be someone asking the board for a contractor recommendation to get an estimate on a project, and you haughtily berating them for demanding free labor.