Wanting to protect herself, Jennifer Walzer got a lawyer to review a sublease for the new offices for her business.

The budget, as she understood it, was $2,500. The actual bill eventually added up to almost $6,000, although the firm agreed to knock $500 off after a discussion that she describes as hostile and flabbergasting in a post on the You're the Boss blog in the New York Times.

At one point, she writes, she objected to a charge for a lawyer's reply to a courtesy e-mail she mail she sent letting him know she would review his comments when she returned to the office. The $60 response (0.2 hours at $300): “I hope everything is O.K. Take your time.”

The entire experience, Walzer writes, left her with one still-unanswered question: "How does anyone treat people like this and still manage to stay in business?"