To not do work that I would charge a client a lot of money for free for a friend

[CambridgeBlue]

Someone I know (let's call him Alan) has asked me to do some work for him for which I would normally charge several hundred pounds. I could do it quickly and easily as a favour but I don't see why I should especially as another person in our circle (Dave) is in the same business as me and Alan often puts work his way.

I am happy to do the odd favour for friends and sometimes it has led to paid work, other times I've just been happy to help. But helping Alan definitely won't gain me anything as he refers any work he gets in this line to Dave. I think he just wants a freebie and possibly thinks I'll be flattered to have been asked - I'm not!

AIBU to think he's taking the piss and if I'm not, how do I politely tell him where to go without making things awkward in our group of mates?

What are your clerks up to, babybarrister?

This free half hour with a lawyer seems to be a fiction perpetrated on the internet (on here it seems to have miraculously extended to an hour). If offered, its more of an introductory assessment so a potential client can be advised whether its worth the firm's taking on the case or not, and so the client can decide whether they want to pay for advice or legal work. Its not actually advice itself...that would require a terms of business letter to be issued, creating a contract.

So I saw Alan last night and I may have misjudged him (he is a nice bloke, just cheeky). He sidled up to me when nobody else was around and said in a really worried way 'did I piss you off this morning?' meaning when he had texted me. My snarky replies obviously had the desired effect! I just brushed it off, said he'd caught me at a busy moment, but I don't think he'll be pestering for freebies again - it was funny seeing him trying to talk to me without his wife noticing - he obviously hadn't told her he'd texted, probably because she would have told him to back off!

That worked well then. Glad it ended without you looking like the bad guy, him knowing that he was being cheeky you not being expected to do the work. Result all round.

It's cheeky to ask someone that, though. Just glad you didn't let him steamroll you into it. Time is money. Friends understand that.