KudoZ home » English » Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

middle-money law

English translation: Law for middle-income clients

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs
(or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

08:38 Apr 18, 2011

English to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

English term or phrase: middle-money law

"Still, regardless of his general lack of ability in the paternal
realm, my father was a very decent man. He worked for middle-money
law so he did not have to screw the little guy, and he studied
the books hard because he wanted to do his part correctly
and well. He made a good salary but he did not flaunt it. He’d
been raised in Chicago proper by a Lithuanian Jewish mother
who had grown up in poverty..."

the text is taken from a recent american novel, narrated by a girl. the father is a lawyer, but there's no other reference to the work he does. i searched for the term "middle money" but couldn't find any meaningful explanations, so can you please help what it really means, and if there's a specific branch of law in this field? (this is not a technical text, as mentioned above. so what i need is a general definition of the term, which may be quite simple)

vitaminBcomplex KudoZ activity Questions: 210 (none open) (1 without valid answers) (6 closed without grading) Answers: 0
Local time: 04:12

English translation:Law for middle-income clients

Explanation:
The middle-money is about the clients' resources, rather than (directly at least) the lawyer's income. These would be clients who could afford legal costs, perhaps with some difficulty, but would need to severely restrict them. In an American context, this probably has a slightly different practical meaning depending upon the time the book is set in relative to cuts in UK Legal Aid because in the UK, if the case was eligible for legal aid, paradoxically, middle-income clients might be able to afford less in the way of fees than a client on Legal Aid.