America 1982-Chapter 133 - 42: You Get What You Pay For_2
Tommy rolled his eyes and glanced at Sophia, "Yes, I’m sure the company doesn’t have any money right now, what are these?"
"The data from all the law firms in the United States that have ever won a case you needed before," Sophia said, patting the files lightly with her hand.
Tommy was stunned for a moment before he caught on, "My dear Miss Sophia, this is what I needed four days ago, and you’re just giving it to me now?"
"So, do you have any complaints, Tommy Hawk, who owes me salary? I’m a part-timer, and I still need to complete my own studies," Sophia said, crossing her arms and looking down on Tommy, with danger twinkling behind her black-framed glasses.
"No, of course not..." Tommy took out more than forty dollar bills from his pocket and handed them to Sophia with both hands, "There’s about forty-three dollars here, it’s all yours."
Sophia subconsciously took the money, surprised, "Wow, are you sure you’re not joking? You’re actually going to pay? To be honest, I had given up all hope on that."
"8633667, call this number and order some Italian pizzas, ask the delivery guy to pick up some magazines and newspapers at the newsstand on his way, and tell him it’s for Tommy at Garage 9, he’ll know what to buy, and then, please give him this money," Tommy said earnestly, staring at Sophia, "As for me, I might as well focus on these materials."
Sophia turned her head, seemingly in search of a drink to throw on that jerk’s face, muttering, "Are you serious? You’re treating me like your secretary?"
"I guess you could use this," Jason promptly offered his baseball bat to Sophia with excitement, "The campus police just patrolled past and won’t be back for about fifteen minutes, and I just happen to have an eye discomfort, and can’t see a thing."
Sophia didn’t take the bat, but she gave Jason a sweet smile, "You’re so considerate, Jason."
"Thank you, I think so too," Jason remarked, elated by the compliment from the beauty.
The next second, Sophia turned to Tommy and said, "So, Holly was right when she said you’d worked as a gigolo? No wonder, it must be hard to charm those old ladies, huh? You’ve sacrificed so much for the company, you should be the Boss."
Jason’s expression suddenly froze.
Sophia ignored the petrified Jason and turned to Tommy, "You want me to order for you..."
"Davis Polk, are you familiar with it?" Tommy, who now wore an aura of earnestness, looked directly at Sophia and suddenly asked.
Sophia immediately had her attention captured by the name that came out of Tommy’s mouth, "I study law, how could I not be familiar with this law firm? Every law student in the United States knows of it and yearns to join them. How... do you know this name?"
"The information you were supposed to give me four days ago, I never received it, so I had to ask Eric from SSD to get me some material from the members of the white-shoe Fraternity at the law school, and that’s how I came across some information on this law firm," Tommy told Sophia, "I want to hire them to take on this little business of mine."
The Davis Polk law firm they referred to is an old-line American law firm, known as a white-shoe firm.
The term white-shoe represents firms that have been established for a long time in the industry, boast impressive achievements, enjoy high reputations, and are leaders in their professional fields, usually used to describe law firms, Wall Street financial firms, or accounting firms.
Sophia heard Tommy get down to serious matters, her expression subtly furrowed as she offered her suggestion:
"Even if Actor sells five thousand sets of software and doesn’t rush to file taxes just yet, that’s only about a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in capital. Even if you sell ten thousand sets and have three hundred thousand, are you sure that law firm would only charge you three hundred thousand to help you? What they earn from a single lawsuit for United States Steel Corporation is enough to support the firm without taking on any other cases, providing for more than seven hundred lawyers for a full three years... Tommy, don’t consider those traditional white-shoe law firms. Their fees are two to three times those of regular law firms. Why not consider some law firms founded by Stanford alumni? They might even give you a discount."
"My old man used to say that any tool that’s cheap is junk," Tommy shook his head slightly, dismissing Sophia’s proposal.
Hearing Tommy compare Stanford Law School alumni to junk, Sophia emphasized with greater force, "Hey! What about your software? It’s much cheaper than other software."
"That’s why OSS is junk, and why the newspapers call me a screw-up."
"Then you might as well go to Sidley, the top-ranking law firm in America. Why choose Davis Polk, ranked sixteenth?"
"Because I think Davis Polk might be willing to take on my business?"
"Why?"
Tommy picked up a cigarette pack, lit one, and handed a document on the desk to Sophia:
"Davis Polk has a female lawyer named Delia Case, the second female partner to emerge from the top twenty American law firms in the past decade, and the first female partner in Davis Polk’s one hundred and thirty-year history. After becoming a partner, however, she lacks a signature case to advance her further. The gimmick of gender equality and tech justice, the possibility of precedent in the verdict — I think there’s a good chance she’ll be moved. Think about it, my dear Miss Sophia, you could soon work with the idol of many female lawyers, all thanks to my efforts, as I create the opportunity for you to meet your idol up close..."
"Knock it off with that charm you use to swindle the people of Florida. Brainwashing doesn’t work on everyone, Tommy, and just to remind you once again, I majored in law," Sophia said, interrupting Tommy’s spiel as she flipped through the materials. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
Tommy, with a cigarette in hand: "So what?"
"Will I really get to meet Delia Case?" Sophia asked quickly, after speed-reading the document.
Tommy, with his charming demeanor, smiled at Sophia: "Holly is currently helping me get in touch with Davis Polk’s Northern California office. If they’re interested, they’ll contact me sooner or later, and it just so happens that I need Miss Sophia, that’s you, to come with me."
Sophia put down the materials and silently walked over to the rotary phone: "What was that damn food delivery number again?"
"8633667, thank you," said Tommy, sitting up straight to resume his busyness. Before he started, he glanced at Jason, who was still in a petrified state:
"Bro, you sure you still need a party? From what I understand, not only has Holly talked to Sophia about this, many women’s organizations at Stanford already know your reputation, and they’ve even given you an endearing title."
"What name?" Jason’s eyes moved as he looked at Tommy.
"Stanford University’s Middle-Aged Women’s Welfare Enthusiast."
