Page 4 of Ask for Moore

“That it would,” he agreed, strumming his fingers on the desktop. “Being admitted to the bar and maintaining your license in three states is unusual for lawyers, especially before they’ve practiced the requisite five years that would allow them admission via reciprocity. What prompted you to become licensed in Wisconsin and Indiana?”

I set my notebook and pen in my lap. “I helped with a document dump for one of Mr. O’Reed’s clients during my first week as an associate. The client was a Chicago developer with a project in Gary where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. He was being sued in Indiana, and something Mr. O’Reed said about being assigned the case for one of our largest clients stuck with me.”

His head tilted to the side as he asked, “What did O’Reed say that was so inspiring?”

I briefly considered making up something better but decided against it. “That the only way someone with a law degree from Wayne State would get a partnership at this firm was if he made himself indispensable. He explained that the only reason he’d been assigned that particular client was because he was licensed in Indiana as well as Illinois.”

“That sounds like O’Reed.” He shook his head with a chuckle. “But you graduated from Pritzker.”

“I figured the advice still applied.” I shrugged while fidgeting with my pen. “Being licensed in two more states within easy driving distance couldn’t hurt and wasn’t really that much of a time suck.”

“Your hunch paid off, Miss Duncan.” He reached for a stack of folders and slid them toward me. “Burkhart Development uses an Indianapolis firm for their deals in Indiana, but they’ve run into an issue with a recent deal. Roger Burkhart asked me if we had someone who could take over two cases pertaining to a deal he did in the middle of nowhere about two hours from Indianapolis.”

It seemed as though the taunt I’d lobbed at Jack was actually true. Burkhart Development was one of our biggest clients, and their legal issues were usually dealt with by a partner. “Take over?”

“They also have projects in Milwaukee, with another firm representing them up there.” Interlacing his fingers, he pressed his forearms against the desktop as he leaned forward. “He’s handing us a golden opportunity to prove that we can handle his business across state lines. If you impress Roger while working on this case, it may be just what we need to tip the scales in our favor. Dealing with one lawyer on all of his deals across three states would be much simpler for him.”

Tripling our billable hours with a major client would be a coup for me and would go far when the time came for the firm to choose which associates made partner track. “I’ll do my best, sir.”

“Win the case against the county planning commission, and you’ll get partner track before the other four-years. Land the rest of his business, and we’ll give you a partnership in one year.”

I was stunned by his offer. Becoming a partner in only five years was virtually unheard of around here. My fingers trembled with excitement as I gripped the folders he had given me. “You said there were two cases?”

“Yes, the second is more of a contingency plan in case the first turns out to be unwinnable,” he explained.

“I see.” The carrot the firm was dangling in front of me suddenly made sense. They didn’t expect me to win the case that would guarantee me the partnership.

“Take today and tomorrow to hand off your current clients.”

My brows drew together. “Is that really necessary, sir? I’m used to handling a much heavier caseload than this.”

“I’m sure you are, but millions of dollars in billable hours depend on your performance in these two cases. We can’t afford for you to be distracted while you’re in Indiana, and we need you out there by Wednesday morning.”

Two days wasn’t much time to finish my notes on my current cases, but I would find a way to finish everything. Getting to Indiana was a different issue, though. “I don’t have a car, sir.”

He waved away my concern. “See Judy on your way out. She’ll make all the arrangements for a rental and a place to stay.”

“A place to stay?” I echoed.

“It doesn’t make sense for you to drive back and forth when the trip takes at least three hours when traffic is bad. We can’t bill Roger for your travel time, but he will cover your expenses.”

His answer didn’t leave me any room to argue. Maximizing the bottom line was a mantra drilled into every associate’s head. “How long do you think I’ll be down there?”

“As long as it takes to convince him that our firm is well-equipped to handle all of his business.”

Message received: win or lose, securing Burkhart Development’s business was my top priority.

3

Ryland

Ileft several messages for a former colleague at my old firm before he finally returned my call on Wednesday morning. “Hey, Ryland. Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you. You know how hectic things can get around here when you’re in the middle of a big case.”

Leaning back in my chair, I tapped my pen against the top of my desk. “That’s your excuse for waiting until now to finally call me back?”

“My reason, not an excuse,” Mike countered.

I ran my fingers over my beard. “So it’s just a coincidence that you waited until I’m less than an hour away from a meeting with my new client so we can be ready to meet with yours soon?”

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