Can a lawyer quit in middle of family law case if he's been paid $7,400. & taken 2 mo. payments?
Simple issue. Ex on drugs. Filed for restraining order to restrict his contact with baby till he proved he was clean. Did mediation and the mediator also stated she felt my child should only have proffessionally supervised visitation until he could prove a minimum of 90 days clean with hair test. Sounds pretty black & white, right? 5 court appearances later, with Ex making random false accusations about me, avoiding the drug test, and drug assessment requested by the judge, providing not a shred of evidence to validate his accusations and drags case on for 11 months. With each appearance my attorney charged over 0.00 and not once did he simply stand up and say……..Judge, the respondants accusations are not relevant and he hasn’t provided the clean test. He just let it drag on, till the well ran dry. Now, 2 wks b4 trial, he bails, saying he has other cases that will pay him and he doesn’t want to waste any more time on mine. He refuses to even verbally advise me. Can he do that???
5 Responses
joker_32605
17 Feb 2010
mufasa1023
17 Feb 2010
advise the attorney that if he doesn’t appear at the trial that not only are you going to grieve him, but that you will inform the judge that he bailed on you at the last minute and didn’t give you a chance to find a new attorney
then find a new attorney
wendy c
17 Feb 2010
You might check the Calif Bar website on ethics, for the reasons when a lawyer can withdraw. My daughter/ husband hired one, and she was raring to go.. until his family made more outrageous allegations, and I truly think she flat got spooked, realizing it was going to be a harder issue than she thought. Unfortunately, son in law has a bad sense of entitlement ("a few days late on the payment won’t matter"). It mattered, and she dropped them. What was required was a hearing, since the court had to approve her withdrawal and her reasons for doing it, since they were in the middle of a filing. Unfortunately for my daughter, the fact that the payments were not up to date, was the black and white. It took 3 minutes to wipe my son in law on the floor, with their valid records. Of course, they had no money for a new lawyer.
In reality.. I think for some lawyers.. they really care less about the actual merit of the case, but HOW FAST they can get it worked through.
Find out what the standards are.. and if you can prove you were current on the fees.. then you may have a chance for him to be ordered to not withdraw.
jelesais2000
17 Feb 2010
He can and he did. You need to file a complaint with your state bar association. Get transcripts from each court appearance and the billing. Keep a copy, file a copy with your complaint. Be sure to send it return receipt requested. Keep that too. After it’s been delivered, call about once a week to see how and if your complaint is being handled. Ask to speak to the person who signed for it. Get them to tell you where it went. In other words, follow through. If you make a big enough pain of yourself, you might get a refund of some of your fees paid, and you may even be advised on what to do next, gratis. Of course, there’s a chance nothing will come of it.
Annie
17 Feb 2010
You need to get new lawyer and some good legal advice, maybe you can sue your x lawyer.
Sounds like you would have been better off representing yourself. Contact your state’s Bar Association and file a complaint. He will have to answer to them. You might be able to get your money back. Next time don’t keep an incompetent lawyer, dump him when you see he is incompetent. Petition the judge to require the drug tests and explain that you are in fear for your baby’s safety.