Quote

My husband used to take care of the business part of this, and after he died I found I wasn't really any good at it. I hate remembering who owes me what and bugging them if they haven't paid me.

From the law firm's perspective, billing by the hour has a certain appeal: it shifts risk from the firm to the client in case the work takes longer than expected. But from a client's perspective, it doesn't work so well. It gives lawyers an incentive to overstaff and to overresearch cases.

What goes around comes around in business, and it's better to help people out rather than bill them every time you speak to them.

I did business the same way President Lee did, and from what I read in the papers, the same way President Ma has done. But I have been charged for misuse and misappropriation. People need to learn at the most basic level that valid charges have not been brought against me.

In the beginning I just wanted to survive. For the first three years, we made zero revenue. I remember many times when I was trying to pay up, the restaurant owner would say, 'Your bill was paid.' And there would be a note saying, 'Mr. Ma, I'm your customer on the Alibaba platform. I made a lot of money, and I know you don't, so I paid the bill.'

Lawyers claim that their clients have been grossly mistreated, which is what criminal defense lawyers are paid to do.

It's really hard to run a business against somebody who is not acting as if it were in business.

As a private lawyer, I could bill $750 an hour, but I don't.

The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.