Chapter 41: Chapter 21 (part 2)

There was indeed a high probability that suing for slander would come to nothing. Even if they did somehow manage to struggle through and win, any monetary gains were limited. Since Lu Feng had not endured any serious consequences or economic loss, he might get one or two thousand if he was lucky. Essentially, it was more of a matter of receiving an apology and negating a bad reputation. However, it has always been the case that bad rumours spread quickly, while whitewashing an image is difficult. Yes, it would be nice to get an apology, but how helpful was that?

When contrasted to the possible results, the case simply wasn't worth his time and money.

Not only was this true for him, but it was also true for the lawyer who took him on. It took a lot of time to investigate all the twists and turns of a case. The fees for a defamation case typically ran about 2,000 to 10,000 yuan, or sometimes about 10-30% percent of the total compensation awarded if they won. In Lu Feng's case, however, there wasn't much in the way of potential payout, and even if he could pay the fixed fees, it had to be shared with the firm and taxes had to be paid...

A lawyer with a community contract was required to take legal consultations from residents free of charge, but anything that had to go to court was paid at their normal rate. If they were disinclined toward it, they could choose to decline the case. No matter which way you looked at it, this particular case wasn't worthwhile. Fu Zheng went over the pros and cons mentally, then looked to Ning Wan, waiting for her to politely decline.

"No worries. How do we know it can't be done if we don't at least investigate?"

But to Fu Zheng's surprise, Ning Wan did not retreat. She took on the case with a smile, and offered Lu Feng a fee close to the minimum market rate. They agreed that if nothing turned up from the investigation or if there wasn't enough evidence to be sure of winning the case, the agency contract would be terminated and not a penny would be charged.

Upon Lu Feng's departure, Fu Zheng couldn't help but assert, "You're exerting yourself so much for this case when you might not even earn anything. You've already been here in the community for quite some time, have you never thought that if you don't bring in any income, you might find it difficult to be transferred back to headquarters?"

Large law firms signed contracts with communities for legal advisory services mostly at the behest of the Judicial Bureau, or as a PR move to boost their reputation and get their name out. Since it was a publicity move, the fees were usually quite low. Once the contract was drawn up, the firm usually divided the work among several lawyers.

However, since it wasn't a very lucrative post, most young and elite lawyers were unwilling to waste their time with such work. Even if they did, the job was usually done in a cursory manner, or they might send in an intern to mosey about, take a few selfies, then post a few pictures on the firm's official website, before taking off. Form was more important than substance...

If even Fu Zheng could see this, then Ning Wan was obviously also aware of it. The approach she should be taking to get back to HQ should be to take advantage of being stationed here in the community to find disputes that commanded high fees, like divorce cases involving real estate, inheritance disputes, and so on. With a few brilliant, income-generating achievements to her name, it would be much easier for her to return to headquarters, and even perhaps be assigned into a good team. It was just that...

"I know what you're saying, but if I don't represent them, who will?" Ning Wan sighed. "A lot of people here at the community are in the lower or middle-class. They don't really know what the law is even about, and they can't afford to pay for expensive legal services. But don't they still deserve legal aid?"

"Of course, one might think that in our modern capitalist society, you shouldn't retain a lawyer if you can't afford it. That's all well and good, but if you think about that carefully, isn't it just like how people say 'you're too poor to have a child'? This is something many families struggle with - they have a child or two, then encounter difficulties and ask for help. And as a result, they face judgment online: 'You're so poor you can't support yourselves even with a dual income, what did you go and have a kid for?'"

"It's a normal human thing to admire the strong. That's how our society progresses. But to turn a blind eye to the living conditions and the cries of the weak, and furthermore to criticize them, can't be right either. If we simply follow the logic that you only deserve what your money can buy, those in poverty wouldn't be able to meet the 'bar' for having children all their lives. Do they not deserve to have a family? Should we just let them go extinct? Lu Feng's case is troublesome and unrewarding, but to abandon him just because he has no money, to let his hard-won plans to settle down in this city fall through, for him to be forced to run away..."

Ning Wan took a deep breath, "If I didn't know about him, I wouldn't have cared, but now that I do know I can't just turn a blind eye. Should I be a social Darwinist and let the poor fend for themselves? First the poor will die out, and then the old and weak, and then the sick and disabled, and by the time you know it, you'll be next."

"Well, to be honest," she said, a little bitterly at the thought of it, "I'm pretty poor too. Maybe I'm already on the verge of extinction."

She had never yet managed to work with a team in Zhengyuan Law. Aside from her meager basic salary, she subsisted on whatever commission she could generate, but as she spent most of her time in the community, all the cases she received were priced low. She really was very, very poor...

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"To my knowledge, the lawyers we have in every community operate on a rotation. Why is it always you here?"

"Good question." Fu Zheng's question was Ning Wan's great frustration. "Community lawyers are all poor and busy. The busier they are, the poorer they get, and the poorer they get, the busier they are. In the beginning, the firm told me that it was to be a rotation. I was to staff the center for only two days a week, but the people who were supposed to come the other three days never came. They just send some extra gifts to the guy in charge of inspecting the community work, and they earn more money doing other cases with the time they save. They only show up here when assessment time comes up at the end of the year. And forget about the consultation records. I take it seriously and write in cases every day, but it's just a form to fill in for them. They make up the whole book in a day with fake cases, hand it over to the community inspector, and then submit it to the firm. If there aren't enough fake cases written down, then the inspector even returns it for them to bullshit a little more..."

"These are the kind of people who rotate with me," Ning Wan said helplessly. "How can I not come? If I don't work here, then who will do legal consultation for the community the remaining three days of the week? I just couldn't take it. So now I'm here five days a week."

After thinking about it a little, she pumped herself up a little bit by saying, "Well, all that said, law work is quite freelance, isn't it? Legal documents can be written anywhere. When there isn't anything going on here at the community, I can work on my other cases. Really, I'm just changing the place where I work, and that doesn't matter all that much. It's just that I haven't been able to land any big cases, so I'm always in poverty..."

She was giving Fu Zheng the inside story, but he frowned and went off on a tangent. "Who's taking turns with you those other three days?"

Ning Wan looked surprised. "After everything I just said, this is what you care about?"

"Who are they?" Fu Zheng insisted. "Their names."

Ning Wan thought about it and felt that it would be alright if he knew. "Li Yue and Hu Kang. Li Yue is responsible for two days and Hu Kang for one. They ostensibly produce results, but they're never here."

"Does their immediate superior care?"

"Not at all."

She hadn't expected Fu Zheng to push further into the intricacies of the matter, but he did. "Why not?"

"They're in a team under junior partner Shen Yuting, a woman. The two of them are both men, young, good-looking, and silver-tongued. They're very good at buttering up Shen Yuting. On top of that, they often gang up together to beat down anyone who objects. They've already taken care of the other director at the community, so old Director Ji doesn't dare say anything. Since they save a lot of time by not working here, the time they save goes toward making money for their boss. Shen Yuting knows all about it, but she turns a blind eye because why wouldn't she?"

Ning Wan paused. "Besides, Shen Yuting is quite wild herself to begin with. There have been several cases of her secretly poaching client cases."