Full disclosure right off the bat. I come from a family of lawyers: my brother, my father, my grandfather… all the men in my family. Why not the women? Well, that’s another story, for another day.

The story for today is that I don’t understand why lawyers get such a bad rap. I’ve had occasion in the past few months to talk to half-a-dozen different lawyers for various reasons, and all but one have been generous, wise and flat-out amazing, without asking for a dime. Now admittedly, had it been necessary to proceed in any of these situations, every one would have charged an hourly rate, which, as we all know, tends to be a wee bit more than a writer’s hourly rate. If you’re cynical you might say they were just doing advance marketing. But at least half of them knew I’d never be hiring them, because they didn’t have expertise for the situation. Bottom line — if you need a lawyer in LA any time soon, I hope you’ll email me for contact info.

Meantime, I was so inspired that I paid it forward. A publisher was stuck for somebody to do some proofing and write a few headlines, so I helped him out gratis.

Whoever thought lawyers would change the world?