Question:
My friend wanted to sell his house so he talked with a lawyer and told him that when he finds a buyer, he would like him to do the contract for him. The lawyer agreed and during that conversation he gave him many different advices related to the legal part of the sale.
After a few weeks he found a buyer but the problem was that his wife told a friend of her’s that’s a lawyer that she’ll be the lawyer. He called the first lawyer and told him that although he told him before that he’ll be the lawyer of the sale, now he has to go back on his word because his wife already talked with a different lawyer.
The first lawyer said that no problem, but since he already started working for him, since his advices were related to the sale, he has to pay him also the whole fee.
My friend told him that those advices werent part of the job, they were just advices and that he doesnt want to pay him anything.
Now my friend wants to know if he is right or not
Answer:
There really are two sheilos
First is if you have to pay for the entire job. For that to be true you need hascholas melocho and that can’t be true before there was a sale since there was no job yet so to charge the full price he can’t. However, if people charge for giving advice and he wouldn’t have done it otherwise then he can charge for the advice however much that normally costs-it depends on custom
The second question is which lawyer to use. If his wife spoke first then for sure he should use his wife’s friend but if he spoke first then if there’s no special reason there is a machlokes if he should perhaps us his lawyer bec there’s a machlokes if he’s a mechusar amono by changing-see in Mishpatei Yosher page 386
Yosef Fleischman
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