Six reviews, each labeled and dated

The six reviews

1. 01

   What matteredThe fee in the letter was the fee charged

   C01–C08

   My husband and I had put off wills for eleven years because we assumed it would turn into an open-ended bill. Eleanor Voss sent a letter with one flat fee and a list of the four documents it covered, and that was the figure we paid. She explained what a financial power of attorney does and does not allow in words we could repeat to our children. The signing meeting took forty minutes, with the witnesses and the notary arranged by the firm.

2. 02

   What matteredThe exit terms we had never discussed

   C01–C04

   Three of us were forming a small design company and thought the operating agreement was a formality. Daniel Okafor spent most of the first meeting on what happens if one member wants to leave, which none of us had discussed. The draft came back with a note beside each clause saying why it was there. The state filing fee was listed separately, exactly as the engagement letter said it would be.

3. 03

   What matteredTold the bigger service was not needed

   C07–C12

   I asked for a full review of a supplier agreement and was told, after a short read, that it was a standard form and did not need one. The firm suggested a consultation instead and charged the consultation fee. That is not what a firm says when it is selling. The forty-five minutes covered the two clauses that mattered, and I left with a written summary of both.

4. 04

   What matteredOptions set out, with no promise attached

   C01–C06

   My landlord kept most of my deposit and I wanted to know where I stood. Priya Raman read the lease, my move-out photographs and the letter I had been sent, and wrote out three options with the steps and the dates for each. She was clear that she could not tell me how any of them would turn out, and I trusted that more than I would have trusted a confident guess.

5. 05

   What matteredThe signing window was flagged first

   C09–C12

   I sent the form on a Sunday evening with a severance agreement that had a short window to sign, expecting nothing before midweek. The reply came on Monday morning and put that date at the top before anything else. In the session Priya Raman went through what the release clause would give up and what I could reasonably ask about. I made my own decision, but I made it knowing what I was signing.

6. 06

   What matteredTold plainly what the firm does not do

   C01–C12

   I booked a consultation about my late father’s house because I wanted someone to tell me which of the things I had read online applied. Eleanor Voss explained why the estate would probably need to go through probate, and then said plainly that the firm does not handle probate administration. She wrote down what to ask and what kind of lawyer to ask. An honest forty-five minutes was worth the fee.