Time to get to down to work.

I read through my employment contract. Most of it was reasonable except for the non-compete clause which would keep me from working for a year if I quit or was fired with cause though some of the language was ambiguous considering it was written for people who worked at a law firm.

I went to work looking over the file Mister Wolf had given me which was thinner than I would like. It had more about the client, named Miranda Winters, then it did the university or the professor including her address for billing, her phone number, and the name of the strip club where she worked. It had been a couple of weeks since she had hit him after she had taken the final in his class she had been asked to stay behind and he had made his move and she hit him breaking his nose. I kind of liked this girl though we had never meet.

I looked the professor up online. The professor was still young only being in his early thirties and struck me as one of those teachers who acted like the students friend and was probably well liked by the students or at least the male ones. I didn't find much dirt other then he divorced his wife five years ago. That told me though this might not be the first time he had done something like this and the school had covered it up but his wife had not believed he was innocent. Or it could be he was to dedicated to his job but I would go with the first assumption.

Miranda had even less about her online except for a private social media profile which she probably set to private after the incident so she could not be harassed. I pulled out my lap top and set my phone to a mobile hot spot typed in the strip club just to see if she appeared on there. Sadly the clubs website was sparse and she did not appear as one of the featured girls meaning she was not doing this as a profession like some girls. I thought it over and then sat it aside and pulled out my phone and called my brother.

I did a little background on the university itself looking for anything in the press about incidents in the past year and did not find much. The only thing even remotely interesting was that someone had stolen a hundred-pound brass bell from the that the players touched for luck and was as old as the school itself.

I picked up my phone and decided to call my brother. “Hey bro.” I said when I heard it pick up. I could tell he was driving and I was on speaker phone.

“Hey, how did the interview go?” John replied.

“I got the job of course. I am sitting in my cubical now.” I looked around the small space. It was nice as far as metaphorical prison cells went. Unless someone was standing right next to the cubical I had complete privacy.

“And he has gone to the dark side.” Kennedy his partner teased over the phone. She was like part of the family and had been in my brothers graduating class at the academy and was a fixture at our father’s bar some nights.

“Hey. I am just getting in a place where I can help when you two get arrested for corruption.” I joked. I doubt he ever get in trouble as my brother was a boy scout compared to me.

“Your brother maybe.” Kennedy replied. “I am smart enough to not get caught.”

“Hey now.” John protested. “So, are you just calling to let us know or you need a favor?”

“You scratch my back and I scratch yours. They gave me a civil case I am not expected to win as my first one. I was wondering if you can give me some info. I need to know if a college professor is up to something illegal?”

“I take it he is not your client?” Kennedy asked. She knew me well enough to know I would not call them if I had a client who was guilty.

“No but one of his female students decked him and I have a feeling it was for a reason. Sadly, the case will go to arbitration and not court. If it had just been **** then the professor could have just pressed charges but she says he grabbed her ass.”

“Give me the name.” Lawson said. I was sure the second she hurt the woman was a victim she would help. If Lawson ever did cross the line it be because she was protecting someone else.

“Professor Edward Jenkins.” I replied. I had to wait a few seconds as she entered the name into the patrol cars computer.

“Just a bunch of outstanding parking tickets and a recent speeding ticket caught by a street camera. Your guy is clean otherwise. Enough for an arrest him but not enough to hold him.” She said.

“I take it the tickets are not on campus since he is a teacher and would have a parking pass. Can you give me the addresses?” I asked wondering where he was parking to get the tickets. Repeated tickets could pinpoint what he liked to do after lectures. Everyone had their vices.

“Sure.” She said and read them out and I wrote them down on a pad. She read them off to me with six in all.

“Thanks.” I said as she read the last one. The six tickets were in three different areas from the addresses she had given me. Three were close to the university but just off campus, two were a little further out and one was close to where the client worked meaning he might have been to see her at the strip club.

“Want to come over to the bar and have drinks with us tonight to celebrate.” John asked. Dad ran the bar after his **** retirement when he was injured in the line of duty. Not even a bullet could kill that though old bastard.

“How about we celebrate this weekend and have dinner at mom and dad’s maybe if you are not working. I have a feeling this is going to be working late at nights this week, I want to make a good impression.”

“Got you. Now you are the rookie brother.” He gave a little laugh over the phone. I used to give him hell about being a rookie cop so I guess now I was going to get it.

“Yeah. Yeah.” I shook my head.

“Oh, how the court case go this morning with the film student?” Kennedy asked.

“I am still undefeated in court.” I smiled. “Sadly that might be the last case I can take on my own for a bit unless it’s for you guys.”

“We will keep that in mind. Love you.” Kennedy replied.

“Yep. Love you two guys two. Kennedy try not to shoot my brother.” I joked.

“No promises but you know how much I hate paper work and that would be a lot of it. See you around Consular.” Kennedy replied and a few seconds later the call cut out.

I looked over the addresses and entered them into the a map and then pulled up a street view and looked around at the nearby buildings and was mildly surprised to see it was near a strip club just off campus. The Professor had three tickets around the strip club meaning it was his favorite. The other two tickets were other strip clubs one of which my client worked at. He was not a squeaky clean as he first appeared.

“What are you doing here?” A voice said and I turned to see a stout older lady with her blonde hair pinned back. She looked at me through a pair of rectangular rimmed glasses. Despite the stern look she was not a bad looking woman even if she was old enough to be my mother. She had a full voluptuous figure with full large breasts hugged by her blazer. The blouse she wore underneath showed a fair amount of cleavage without it being overtly obscene. A tight skirt hugged her hips going down a little past her mid-thigh.

“Wolfe hired me. Christopher Knight Ma'am.” I said as I stood up and offered my hand.

“Janice Walker. I manage all of the junior associates. Are you looking for places to celebrate tonight I take it?” She said as she glanced to the computer where the image of a strip club was on screen as was the one still up on my lap top.

“Running down leads. The client is a stripper and the plaintiff is a professor in the case.” I replied.

“Wolfe gave you that case? And your strategy to protect your client is to find out where she worked. That will not help your case Mister Knight to point out she is a stripper.” She gave a smirk.

“No though the university will use that against her and attack her character but I found out the professor has parking tickets outside of three strip clubs meaning he most likely knew the student from her job and will give weight to the allegations that he hit on her and grabbed her ass. If he got tickets on a few nights how many nights was he visiting the clubs when he did not get tickets? They can not bring up her work and drag her through the mud if their client is in it with her. The only way to win this is to disarm the opposition and take away their leverage at the barging table. They will say he is a good man but clearly he is not as good as they will make him out to be.” I replied and held up the note pad that I had written the notes for the parking tickets. If I could not turn my girl into a ideal citizen of society attacking the professor was my only chance of winning.

“So, your strategy is ****?” I saw a sly smile form across her lips as if she approved but could not say as much. I had a feeling she was even more fierce in court.

“**** implies I want to keep it hidden. I was thinking more scorched earth and make it public. The university has an image to protect and will buckle well before the client would. I doubt a woman who takes off her clothes for a living in front of men and sucker punches a professor is not looking to play it safe but I will have more than one strategy.” I shrugged. I just did not know what my other one was yet.

“See that you do but the nuclear option is what I would use. If I am going down for something I would take him with me. This alone will not win anything for the client but keep digging.” She said handing me back my notes.

“Good to know.” I said and sat back down.

“What is your next step?” She crossed her arms.

“I still need to meet the client but after that the professor has an ex-wife and if anyone knows how to hurt a man its his Ex. If he has done something like this before she might be willing to talk and if there is history the university will be more willing to bargain. It be easier then subpoena the college for there records and look into past incidents since they would block it and I have to go to a judge to fight them blocking it. If the Ex-wife knows where to find the dirt I will know what to subpoena at least if I need more.” I shrugged. A lot of what I needed to do on this I could not do while sitting behind a desk.

“Its a bit of a reach but I would turn on my Ex if given the chance in court if I hadn't already taken him for everything in the divorce and you are right. You are right the college will try and block any subpoena you send and if they do comply, they will bury you in files but if you do it, it will let them know you are looking and give them pause to negotiate if there is something to dig up that makes them worry.” Mrs. Walker said with a sly smile.

“Let them know that I know they are hiding something even if they are not before we meet. Could work.” I grinned. I did not need the actual files but just needed to let them know I was digging into the university and the professor for evidence. She was good.

“Everyone is hiding something and would do anything to hide it. The more they have to hide the better you will do even if you have nothing to go on.” She smiled. “You sign your papers?” She glanced past me at the envelope.

“I am not signing anything with an non-compete clause in it even if it is just for a year but am willing to negotiate terms. You can take my vacation days or the 401K or something.” I handed her the papers.

“It is put in there to keep our junior associates from jumping ship and going to another firm in the city on a whim to share information with a rival firm.” She smirked as she flipped through it.

“Then it should say in the city though your statement would not work because the state line is just a few minutes drive away. Reword it to say that I will not take any cases against your firm for one year and that I will never steal clients that the firm represents and I will gladly sign that but I want to work here because I can and not because I have ****. That will cover you and allow me to find work but as the language is written now you could fire me for poor performance even if its not true and I would not be able to work for a year other then suing the firm for lost wages. Besides you may want to change the wording to say twelve months from now on and not one year in the contracts moving forward. As far as legal contracts go I could argue that one could technically start working at another firm on January 1st of the new year the way it is written now. I wouldn't be much of a lawyer if I just signed the first thing you put in front of me would I?”

“Very well, I will have my secretary write up a new draft. But don't expect everything to change. You sure you want to get rid of your 401k?”

“I have a business degree I got before becoming a lawyer and have my own investment strategy.” I shrugged. I had a buddy who handled my trades and my money was spread out over nine different companies. It had been ten but when one of them took off I had used the money I had made to pay off my law school fees so unlike many lawyers my age I was debt free.

She shook her head and handed me a folder. “Good I could use someone who knows business law. When you get done looking at strip clubs look over this lease agreement.”

I opened it looking over the figures. “These figures are in British pounds?”

“And in square meters and not square feet. A British business company wants to rent office space here in the city and we will be their legal team in the US once they have a headquarters. Will that be a problem for you to handle?” She gave a sly smile. I knew she was testing me.

“I only took one class on international business but if there is no exchange rate clause that will allow for exchange rate fluctuations the leasing company will not necessarily receive the same payment if the US dollar rises or falls respectfully and vice versa if the price is fixed in US dollar’s then the client will have to adjust their payments monthly. They would need a bank to set a predetermined exchange rate and soak up any lost in the exchange rate.” I shrugged. Math was math but the fact that the numbers changed constantly would make it a bad deal for one side or the other which is why a law firm was involved. Banks might take a little bit of lost in the difference in the lease if it meant handling the money for all of the businesses transaction.

“Well since we are representing the UK company let’s find whatever benefits them best. Though it is good to see you were not just hired for your good looks and I will not have to hold your hand like most of the first year associate's.” She grinned. I was sure she have a lot of new faces next week who she would have to babysit their first few months.

“I appreciate the compliment ma'am.” I nodded.

“Don't get used to it. I will need a copy in American dollars and square feet before lunch so we American Lawyers can understand the numbers and see if they are being over charged for the space in any way.”

“Yes ma'am.” I nodded. I liked her already and saw why she was put in charge. If I was going to hide figures putting it in a way the client would understand but the lawyer would not was not a bad idea. “ Anything else you need me to do until you get some more first year associates to pick up the slack.” I smiled. I wasn’t so much kissing ass as hoping she give me something serious to work on that might get me into an actual courtroom even if I was sitting second chair.

“You don’t have enough on your plate?” Mrs. Walker gave me a look.

“I came to work cases not just to fact check. This will not even take me till lunch at the most.” I put my hand on the folder.

“Very well since you are asking for it.” She fiddled with the stack of folders in her left arm till she found the one she wanted and handed it to me. “I need you to write up a strategy for this case. A model named Madison Waters is suing Wicked Temptations lingerie company after an underwire brassier scratched her nipple and is asking for half a million due to lost wages and pain and suffering. One of the second years suggested we try and fight it and counter sue for defamation since it is a cash grab but the model has the second-best firm in the city, King and Rhodes representing her.” I took the folder and opened it to see a picture of the blonde haired model holding her breasts and covering her nipple as she was showing off a long cut along the side of her breasts.

“We would have to prove that the company lost revenue due to her bad mouthing the brand for that argument to hold any weight which is hard since it would have to be a significant lost and not just a minor fluctuation in sells.” I shook my head agreeing it was a bad strategy and probably over done this day and age. “Does the lingerie company have a number they would settle for?”

“The lingerie company would like us to settle to avoid a trail and will pay up to twenty thousand but would prefer we get them to go down on the number but I know the guy who is representing her and he does not back down easily and will not settle for a small payday? This is a contingent fee arrangement meaning the longer this goes on and the more the company has to pay the less our firm will receive. I like to get them under ten thousand meaning we get paid an extra five thousand.” A contingent fee was good for a lawyer only if he could win but gave them more reason to do so.

“Do we know if she is currently employed by another lingerie company?” I grinned as I glanced up and Mrs. Walker.

“You are thinking we counter sue for unfair competition or **** of process against her and the other company?” Mrs. Walker smiled.

“Maybe even unjust enrichment. If they get dragged into a suit they will be **** to drop her to avoid legal liability. She could become blacklisted in the industry for suing one company and getting dropped by another. She will most likely drop the case if it means she will not work again in the industry and we could maybe file a tortious interference suit if the modeling agency she is with stops working with the lingerie company due to the suit and they could be **** to drop her from the agency.” We didn’t need to win so much as to get her to drop the suit. The firm would get paid and the company would avoid any bad press. While I felt bad for the model the cut wasn’t that bad.

“See which brands she represents and what modeling agency she is with. Hopefully we can shut down the lawsuit before it goes any further.” Mrs. Walker nodded.

“On it. Would it be inappropriate of me to go out and buy one of the bras during lunch?” I looked up.

“You have a girlfriend you need to shop for?” She gave me a playful smirk as she put her hand on her hip.

“No, I am just wondering if we need proof of how well the brassier is built so we will know if we are protecting a good product or facing a potential class action lawsuit down the road. The plaintiff’s lawyer no doubt already has the brassier as evidence so it might not be a bad idea to see one for ourselves. If the bra is cheaply made and a liability then we will want to settle quickly with as little press and fan fair as possible to save the company’s image.” I shrugged trying to think what the other lawyers were up to and how they would attack us.

“Very well. They have an office here in the city and I am sure they be happy to give you one as well as talk to you about how it is made. Just remember if you are working everything gets billed. Even lunch meetings with clients but the firm expects results for your time out of the office and you need to be reachable.”

“Understood.” I smiled and glanced over as I noticed a run in her stocking peeking out from under her skirt. “Not trying to be inappropriate but did you know your stocking is torn?” I asked.

“What?” She said and looked down as she stuck her leg out. She sat the papers down on the end of my desk. She leaned over and pulled up the side of her skirt and had to twist slightly to see it as it ran up the side of her thick thigh. As she leaned forward I got an eyeful of her massive breasts as I thought they might spill out of her satin blouse. “Fuck.” She said tugging them up causing her breasts the jiggle slightly. My eyes were fixed on the sight before me, and I couldn't help but admire the view. Her breasts seemed to be defying gravity, straining against the satin fabric of her blouse as she tugged at her stocking. As she finally managed to adjust her stocking, she let out a small sigh and smoothed out her skirt, her hands brushing against her thighs. She glanced up at me to catch me looking as she stood back up. “Not a word.”

“About what?” I said as I turned toward my desk and smiled as I went about my work looking over the numbers. Smiling as she walked away from my cubical.