Lawyers (relatives aside) aren't my favorite breed. Maybe I have been programmed too much by news of ambulance chasers. Maybe I have been disillusioned by the concept of "intellectual property". Maybe it's the politicians that I really despise.


Never the less, sometimes you have to play their game. My fantastic cousin Patty gave me help with a contract last month, and just recently, we sought out a Lawyer in Bangkok to help us understand where we "live."

First off, how do you tell a good lawyer from a bad one? When you don't have a good recommendation to start from, sometimes the best you can do is google. Should you respond to a google ad? Well... I did.

I sent off an e-mail explaining my situation and the advice required and asking if they might have time available "today or tomorrow." I get an e-mail back shortly basically telling me that he can fit me in for a half hour in twenty minutes. Luckily, he was close by...

Does his immediate availability raise some concern?

We got to the office (on time... pesky American thing), and were asked to wait a few minutes while he finishes up with the previous client. No problem. We sit down. They offer water. We drink. Patrick takes up blackberry and heads to nearest Nerd website. Marie fingers through the reading selection on the table.

First problem: He has a United Airlines in-flight magazine on top. No shame? Can't even buy a frigging magazine for the table? So much for first impressions!

Related next problem: We've read every page of every United in-flight magazine several times with all our flying. But, we've been trained... Marie proceeds to flip through the ads.

For a little bit of irony, I am reading about a lawyer suing his client for breach of contract. The lawyer didn't actually have a contract with his "client." In fact, the client made a phone call to inquire about a class-action suit only, and the law firm then initiated the class action suit "on his behalf" (before the phone was hung up?). Since the suit was against my favorite company, I call ambulance-chasers! (This awful firm also makes a habit out of doing class-action suits against my favorite company... all the worse!)

Anyway, the scummy lawyer claimed that their "client" would be liable for any legal fees resulting from their actions on his behalf...

Enough of that. I just wanted to be able to do the "scummy lawyer" googlebomb.

Our lawyer is ready to talk to us. And, after a half-hour, things actually went really well. He told us everything we wanted to hear. Apparently we are tourists in Thailand, and live out of rental cars and hotels for America. And, we can give Immigration a big old rasberry when they are mean to us! (Maybe not that last part.)

Anyway, the lawyer was nice, gave good information, spoke perfect English, and actually has relatives living or citizens of the US. Got what we needed.

Can we leave Bangkok now?

(Not before doing some ACTUAL shopping...)