Over the last decade, the popularity of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines has soared in the United States. Seattle’s downtown, popular with young urban professionals eager to eat healthier fare, is no exception. A casual Lebanese eatery, Beqaa Café, located there has taken off so promisingly that the owners, Adel and Zalfa Mahshi, opened a second restaurant in the district.

They managed to stay open even during the COVID-19 pandemic for takeout and delivery because their patrons couldn’t get enough of the always-fresh wholesome dishes.

Assume that you are the business manager for Beqaa Café’s owners. They were approached by an independent vendor who wants to use the Beqaa Café name and the delicious secret recipes to distribute frozen Lebanese dishes through grocery and convenience stores. As business manager, you worked with a law firm Hempelmann, Kanji, Rosato & Sturm, LLP. This firm was to draw up contracts regarding the use of Beqaa Café’s name and quality standards for the product. When you received the bill from Jayson Hempelmann, you were flabbergasted. It itemized 38 hours of attorney preparation, at $400 per hour, and 55 hours of paralegal assistance, at $100 per hour. The bill also showed $415 for telephone calls, which might be accurate because Mr. Hempelmann had to talk with the owners, who were vacationing in Beirut at the time. You seriously doubt, however, that an experienced attorney would require 38 hours to draw up the contracts in question. When you began checking, you discovered that excellent legal advice could be obtained for $200 an hour.

Your Task. 

Decide what you want to request, and then write a persuasive request to Jayson Hempelmann, Attorney at Law. The address is Hempelmann, Kanji, Rosato & Sturm, LLP, 1111 3rd Avenue, Suite 3000, Seattle, WA 98101. Include an end date and a reason for it.