In a current magazine we find the following:
Some years ago an attorney was called in by a large company and
handed a lease.
“Give us your opinion,” said the president. “We have a great
deal of this sort of legal business, and it is only fair to say
that your opinion may mean much to us and to yourself.”
The lawyer went through the document with some care, but
quickly, and on the spot.
“This is one of the best-drawn leases I have ever examined,” he
said heartily. “You are wise to handle such matters inside your
own organization. I commend your business judgment.”
“Can you suggest any improvements?”
“None whatever,” declared the lawyer.
“Can you discern any flaws?”
“No--emphatically! Mr. Johns,” continued the attorney, turning
to the president’s assistant, “I want to congratulate you, as a
lawyer, upon your thorough grasp of this most difficult branch.
In my opinion this instrument is unassailable. It will hold in
the highest court in this State.”
“That is what we want--your honest opinion,” said the president.
“You have given it, and we are much obliged to you, and shall
be pleased to have a bill for your service. My dear sir, the
highest court in the State declared this lease null and void
last week, and we have lost a ten-thousand-dollar suit upon it!”
Both the business man who drew the lease and the lawyer who approved
it were mistaken. They believed in themselves, but a higher tribunal
showed their fallibility.
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