How to or would you file an ethics complaint?

[kmich91262]

As I recently posted, I fired my attorney that I started with to do a custody modification. The custody modification is due to my ex not getting S8 to school and has ramped up continously the past couple of school years with this school year him being kicked out. The NJ has had the crisis center called to her place twice, once in January and the last time in May of this year with the final time resulting in S8 being sent to the hospital, released to me, and NJ calling the school that day and having S8 kicked out for the rest of the school year.

Long story short, hired the attorney in January and about two weeks later was sent notification that she would be gone about two weeks in February and 2-3 weeks starting in March (ending in April). Would have been nice to know she was taking vacation so soon before hiring her.

Another thing that I questioned my attorney on (documented by e-mail) was her slowness or lack of responding to phone calls or e-mails. She would either respond sometimes as late as a month after responding to her e-mails or she wouldn't respond at all.

Then to top it off the day I fired her, is the day she posted the majority of her bill. The only two things she filed with the court was that she was the attorney of record and the notice of absence yet she gave me about 246 pages of records the day I fired her (with the majority of it being what I gave her). And to top it off, she never notified me (whether by phone or other correspondence) that she used up all $5k of the retainage and the day I fired her she expected me to pay her an additional $3k of charges which I didn't authorize.

I'm thinking about filing an ethics complaint against this scheister (IMO) attorney. I'm thinking about using the lack of response as one thing. Any other ideas?

[Trevor]

File a complaint with the local bar association. I had a lawyer that did the same thing but I was in the throes of divorce so I was focused elsewhere but several of his former clients complained and the bar forced him to reimburse all fees for several people and stripped his license for a year.

[hoosier_dad]

Sounds like a good small claims court case. There's been a few on Judge Judy that had similar details, nothing done but huge bills and they've been ripped apart.

[kmich91262]

The logical step is to file a bar complaint. I know this attorney will attempt to collect. My new attorney is even dismayed how somebody can create that much paperwork but yet only file two items with the Courts (one being the attorney of record and the other being the notice of absence).

Would it be a stretch to argue (if she does ask for the money) that to do work past the retained amount she should have contacted me first for authorization?

[hoosier_dad]

Would it be a stretch to argue (if she does ask for the money) that to do work past the retained amount she should have contacted me first for authorization?

IMO you won't have success with that argument, and it is probably covered in the contract you signed when you gave her your retainer. But your obvious defense is that the majority of your retainer should have still been available since minimal work had been done.

Did you get an itemized bill? Legitimate work should surround items like filings, meetings etc. I'm betting you weren't given one, and if forced to provide one it will show a lot of wheel spinning with nothing produced.

[Fatheroffour]

She may attempt to collect.

You should sue her for substandard/shoddy representation and give her truthful but scathing reviews on every possible attorney and business review site Google can turn up. Negative publicity affects the bottom line.

Of course, attorneys are notoriously bad businessmen, so it may or may not do any good.

[kmich91262]

Yes, she did give me a statement which apparently she produced the day I fired her. Walked into her office and fired her on the spot. Claims she didn't have it ready nor normally has it done in less than a day but I refused to leave without my file an itemized statement. The itemized billing shows work done which seems to correspond with some of the records she provided with the file.

How the heck can somebody simply do work without getting approval from a client first when it goes over the retainage? I don't think it would be much of an issue if it was a couple of hundred dollars but we are talking the low thousands. So for example if I take my truck to a repair shop to do work and it appears to be going over the stated amount, most places I've been at have you sign a statement that they won't do any work over the quoted amount unless authorized by you. I'll have to see if my parents kept a copy of the contract but it would seem to me that the attorney won't have a leg to stand on. Unless the contact stated otherwise, and even then I don't see how it could be valid, I don't see how it would benefit a client to basically sign their rights away without knowing they are going over the retained amount. Maybe I'm all washed up on this,

[massdaddio]

I've had a few lousy lawyers that I had to fire. One guy used $5k of my retainer and there was one piece of paper in the file he gave me! He had billing for all kinds of meetings and phone calls, most which I would guess took 5 minutes and he charged for an hour or two. He really convinced me that many lawyers are scum. I did report him to the bar and some ethics committees, but nothing came of it (lawyers policing lawyers, really??). Another bad lawyer I had tried to come after me for thousands of dollars she billed and I just ignored her letters and phone calls. Eventually she gave up and went away. I'm sure they write it off as bad debt and they've already made a profit with all the overbilling they do. I doubt she'll come after you.