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The Oracle

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Mates' rates

updated on 30 April 2013

Dear Oracle

I have been offered a training contract that I have accepted with a firm which recently sent an advertisement to my father. He is wondering if I could ask for a "family discount" for legal advice, but, as I haven't even started yet, I think it seems a bit forward. What do you think?

The Oracle replies

We don't know if there is a standard protocol in this situation, but our instincts say that you're right and it's best not to ask!

Having not yet started your training contract, you have no real idea what the firm's position is on offering discounted advice to friends and relatives; 'family rates' could be a given, but they could just as easily be frowned upon. Plus, asking for a discount before you've even started the job seems, to us, to be on the wrong side of cheeky!

Our advice? Wait until you've had a chance to get a sense of the informal and formal processes and protocols of the firm before you start making requests for preferential treatment. Tell your Dad that his bargain basement legal advice will have to wait!

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