Lanie's Lessons by Maddie Taylor Page A

practice on his throwaway cases. In every single one of those cases the client was a bottom feeding scumbag or the PD’s office wouldn’t have passed them off. Walt had the nerve to tell me that I was doing so well with them, he was thinking about assigning them all to me—the bastard.”
    “What did he do?”
    “He laughed. So I went to Mr. Williams, who defended his right to assign cases to junior associates as he saw fit. He was so condescending; he may as well have patted me on the head, given me a lollipop and sent me off to play. The old goat! From there I went to Mr. Wolfe and demanded the PD cases be distributed evenly amongst the junior associates or I’d resign on the spot.”
    “And?” Beth asked as she paused.
    “Uh, hello?” She reached into the box on the bench beside her and pulled out the nameplate she’d swiped from her door. Holding it up, she gazed pointedly at Beth.
    “Yeah, I got that.” She frowned. “What happened there at the end?”
    “Ole Walt thought he could get some action in exchange for severance. Ew! As if. The sheer nerve of that asshole astounds me.”
    “What will you do now, honey? Does Ethan know? Will he be pissed?”
    “I haven’t told him yet. He’s still in class. But he’s been pissed ever since the pig grabbed my ass after the last case. He said it was an accident, that he was aiming for a pat on the back, but that ticked Ethan off more. It was all I could do to keep him from coming to the office and separating Walt’s head from his shoulders. Short of that, he wanted me to file charges or quit. That was three months ago, so it’s still fresh. He is not going to have a problem with my leaving.”
    The waitress came with Beth’s Reuben and Lanie’s roast beef club and a refill of their drinks. When she left, Lanie picked up where she’d left off. “What Ethan says I should do is start my own practice. He’s said he’d back me financially. He’d like me to find a partner, though. It’s really not a financial thing, he doesn’t want to be seen in the community as being involved, thinks it would undermine my position by casting a shadow over my success, at least initially.”
    “That’s smart. You wouldn’t want to be known as Ethan Fischer’s wife the attorney. So would he be a silent partner?”
    “No, he only wants to be an investor. Of course, if I ask, he’ll advise, and I’m counting on his expertise to get up and running, but he won’t interfere at the office or in court, that’s a given.” Lanie took a bite of the huge, crunchy dill pickle the deli was known for. “ Oh pissah , I’m going to miss this place—especially these pickles.”
    Beth giggled.
    “I didn’t use that right, did I?”
    “Close, but it’s more like a cuss than a sigh. If you’d a said ‘Oh pissah! Some idiot put mustid on my three way, then you’d be a true Baystater.”
    Not a native of Boston like Beth, after living ten years in the city, Lanie still had a hard time with the lingo. “Remind me what a three way is again, avoiding the obvious, of course.”
    “Roast beef with cheese, sauce, and mayo. Or just ask for an all around. Same difference.”
    Meeting Beth was the best thing about working at WW&S. Lanie reached out and squeezed her friend’s hand. “I’m going to miss you too, honey.”
    Returning the gesture, with a sheen of tears misting her eyes, she burst out, “How much of a buy-in?”
    “What?”
    “The partnership.” It came out “pahtnahship,” but Lanie was too stunned to tease her about it.
    “Five hundred thousand. Why? Are you thinking of leaving? Oh, Beth, that would be wonderful. I was hoping to find another woman. Wouldn’t that be wicked cool? A women’s law firm, for women, by women. It’s a big investment though. I thought Ethan’s number was somewhat high. We can scale back if it’s a problem.”
    “Honey, Steven’s loaded. I just need to ask him.”
    “He is?”
    “Yeah. He’s published. Written about a dozen