She lost four clients in the spring.

None of them said why.

That is the thing about a business like hers: nobody fires you with a reason.

Two of them simply did not renew, one moved to a national firm, and one — the regional bank, which had been eleven per cent of her revenue for five years — told her they were “taking the annual meeting in-house,” which they did not.

The nullity petition was public.

Her name was on it.