What’s more basic for any sensible contractor than putting in writing a clear description of the job he has bid for? Landscapers, roofers and carpenters all do it. If you priced a job based on planting eight shrubs and working on the back yard only, why take a chance the homeowner will claim you promised 16 shrubs and work on the side yard, too?
For lawyers, there is both an ethical mandate to define the “scope of the representation” at the outset of a case and a far greater risk than a few additional shrubs if the client has a different (and broader) understanding of what the lawyer was supposed to handle.
