It Pays to be a Lawyer

With their reputation as money-grabbing and manipulative, who'd want to be a lawyer? A recent case involving a certain Dr. Jürgen Graefe illustrates that the profession does indeed have its perks.

Lawyers can apparently help the elderly -- and then take early retirement on the profits made in the process.

A costly typo

It all began with a small typo. When a 70-year-old pensioner from St Augustin near Bonn submitted his 2001 tax return, he put down an estimate on his earnings of €11,000 before correcting it to €17,000. The figure, however, was mistakenly entered into the computer by tax staff as an income of €1,100,017,000.

He then received a tax bill for €287million.

The lawyer he hired to draw up the letter of correction promptly demanded a fee based on the amount of the reduction -- as German law allows.

"A perfectly legal right"

A German court ruled in the elderly man's favor and agreed that Dr. Graefe should be awarded € 440,000 for his work -- a bill footed by the taxman.

"The taxman follows up every little mistake, squeezing every penny out of the good citizens of Germany and showing no mercy in their demands for tax money," said a spokesman for Dr. Graefe. "Why should my client be expected to give up his perfectly legal right to have his fee paid?" he added.