I'm no legal expert. I make it a point to pick up the phone and call my lawyer if and when ever I'm thinking about any kind of new arrangement with another person or company. By new, of course, I mean anything out of the ordinary. Anything at all.

A story I heard this weekend illustrates just how loosely you should define "anything new" when it comes to arrangements.

The daughter of a gentleman for whom I did some work many years ago is about to find herself homeless.