This is a continuing work of fiction, all names and places are fictional, any relation to any real person or place, real or imagined, is purely accidental.
Monday Morning, Robert dressed her in a skirt and blouse outfit, and sent her to work to give her notice. Two weeks and tell them about the new job and her responsibilities. Robert hadn't canceled the driver so Sherri rode to work driven by the same young man with new comic books.
She arrived out front and got out of the car, and bumped into Lisa who was headed in. "Hi Sherri, have a driver to get you to and from places now?" asked an obviously envious Lisa.
"Robert got it for me while my back was out, and didn't cancel it in time for today. He forgot about it honestly, I'll be driving tomorrow." Sherri said.
Lisa nodded and sighed "Must be nice."
"It is, and I have some news, let me talk to Carl, and we can talk." Sherri said.
She knocked on Carl's open door and stepped into his office. She moved gracefully on her 3 inch heels and Robert had said it was time to start training on 4 inches soon.
Sherri covered the small talk and weekend courtesy and then said "I have some news which may be difficult for the Firm. I have been offered, and accepted the position as Robert's Corporate Attorney, and at a first glance, I can see he needs lots of legal advice. Apparently, he never incorporated himself, and merely owns all of his businesses outright, they are all linked, which means liability wise, he is very exposed. I haven't yet gotten everything organized, but when I do, I will know what advice to give. Right now, it's the obvious choices. Incorporation overseas, which means a legal office here, probably the firm, to handle the US operations. Incorporation stateside, which means a legal office, again the firm, to handle the corporate taxes and regulations, or a Trust, which would mean the firm was empowered to act as a Trustee in overseeing much of his business." she said dangling the big carrot she had no intention of actually giving them.
Carl nearly licked his lips. Any route she advised meant the firm would have a good future with stable earnings from this client. The trust, well that was a pipe dream he suspected, but it was a tempting offer. "I certainly understand your desires here, and although we are going to be very sorry to see you leave us, I completely understand your desire to advance and this is a great opportunity for you." Carl privately thought that this was proof that she had slept her way to the top, but that was fine, it didn't make sense to sleep your way to the bottom.
Sherri talked generally for a while longer, smiling the whole time. As Robert had said, they would bend over backwards to get the client, and honestly, there wasn't a huge difference in what they would really be doing and what any other law firm could do. She was fucking them, instead of them fucking her, him, or both.
Sherri wasn't down the hall much when she heard Carl moving down the hallway in the other direction, to the Old Man she thought. He can't want to tell Franklin the news.
He was late, Franklin was on the phone with his good friend Robert discussing the same situation. Franklin waved Carl to a chair and continued on the phone. He finished up and promised to make a golf date with Robert in the near future.
"I guess the news beat me here sir." said Carl.
"Yes, and it's both good and bad. Although I think the good outweighs the bad news in this particular instance. Sherri is a good attorney, but there are others we can easily recruit and train up just as well in no time. The new client is a Godsend. I have done some checking and he is worth at least $300 million and that is going to grow tremendously. His security company is in discussions with a Casino in Las Vegas, and some amusement park in Atlanta. Six flags over the sky or something. Anyway, if he picks up those contracts, he is going to be a national company, and need tons of legal work to get it all done." Franklin too saw the advantage of a happy client, and a long term paying client.
"I was thinking as I talked to him, but didn't mention it. Sherri has some vacation left doesn't she?" asked Franklin.
"I believe so, at least the two weeks she has left" said Carl seeing where this was going.
"Find out what she has in the works, and tell her to take the remaining two weeks off, we have to all work together to protect this valuable client." said Franklin
Carl nodded his understanding. "Tell her we are concerned about the liability issue, and want to give her the time to get started right now, so we can help protect Mr. Mason from any problems."
"That's right, we are anxious to assist in protecting Mr. Mason and reducing his liability issues. Use that phrase, or something like it, you know what to do." said Franklin.
Sherri was working on a file, a boring file she admitted, but it was her client and her responsibility and thus worth her very best effort. She had explained to Lisa that she was leaving and taking a new job.
She looked up at a slight knock on the door and saw Carl in the doorway. "Hi Carl, is there something I can help you with?" she asked.
"Sherri, I just talked to Mr. Whitman, and he was shocked to learn about Roberts liability. He is more concerned than you are, and with reason I think. We are very concerned that this may blow up before he gets proper liability protections." Carl said.
"I know, I suggested that Robert bring everything down today and get us started on it, but he said it would be fine for a few more weeks, while I finish here, and then when I get started there to get up to speed." she told Carl.
"Mr. Whitman said 'we are anxious to assist Mr. Mason in protecting his assets' and instructed me to give you your vacation time you have saved up, you have over two weeks left by the way, I stopped by personnel on the way here, and allow you to get started on this very important client right away." Carl told her.
"Carl, I have things here that are half finished. It would take a couple days just to get them to the point where I could pass them off, I won't betray these clients for Robert any more than I will betray Robert for them." she said firmly. "Please tell Mr. Whitman that I will finish these files first, they are our clients, and deserve our very best effort, and I won't just leave them. After that, say Wednesday, I will take that vacation, and get started on Robert's work."
Carl couldn't very well argue, she was right, the other clients would want their answers too, and even though Mr. Mason, soon to be Mr. Mason inc. was a big client, he wasn't the only one, and they had responsibilities to them all. Mr. Whitman would be impressed by her dedication, but disappointed that the first files might not come in for a couple weeks from Sherri the corporate attorney. He agreed and said if there was anything she needed, please let him know, and please plan on taking vacation starting Thursday.
Sherri smiled as he left, Robert was right, as was so often the case, OK, always the case. They weren't going to be ugly, they were going to fall all over themselves to get her in a favorable mood in selecting the choice that paid them the most money. Sherri was leaning towards stateside incorporation, with a heavy liability limiting clause, and strict isolation of each business. The foreign stuff was good, but probably too much effort for the size of Robert's interest. It meant a caretaker, which meant a lawyer in the Cayman Islands, and a Law Firm here to handle domestic. Too much overhead she thought, and not worth the international headache unless the company was about twice the size it was now.
She then returned to work wondering if Robert would let her wear a collar while she did her corporate attorney thing, possibly under his desk. She had that wicked smile on her face again, and Lisa saw it, and suspected the reason.
