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Several months ago, I obtained a lawyer (on contingency fee basis) to represent
me in a slander/false arrest case against a retailer. Out of the blue, he
sends a letter stating that he will no longer represent me. Can this jerk do
this? Isn't this unethical and immoral? I'm sure if I had dropped him, he'd sue
me for breach of contract!
I tried to contact him to ask why, but he won't return any of my calls. Do I
have any recourse? I'm worried that all these months wasted has jeopardized my
case.
Please help!
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Waitumminsir! wrote:
Several months ago, I obtained a lawyer (on contingency fee basis) to
represent me in a slander/false arrest case against a retailer. Out of
the blue, he sends a letter stating that he will no longer represent me.
Can this jerk do this? Isn't this unethical and immoral? I'm sure if I
had dropped him, he'd sue me for breach of contract!
I tried to contact him to ask why, but he won't return any of my calls.
Do I have any recourse? I'm worried that all these months wasted has
jeopardized my case.
Please help!
Hire another lawyer or plan on representing yourself.
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Hire another lawyer or plan on representing yourself.
Hello, thanks for your response....
How do I go about representing myself? Any how-to websites would be helpful.
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Nolo press: How to Represent Yourself in COurt.
There are few ethical attorneys any longer. File a complaint
against him with the State Bar Assn.
on 05 Dec 2003, waitumminsir@aol.com (Waitumminsir) wrote in
news:20031206010204.14191.00000303@mb-m28.aol.com:
Hire another lawyer or plan on representing yourself.
Hello, thanks for your response....
How do I go about representing myself? Any how-to websites would
be helpful.
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On 06 Dec 2003 03:46:14 GMT, waitumminsir@aol.com (Waitumminsir)
wrote:
Several months ago, I obtained a lawyer (on contingency fee basis) to represent
me in a slander/false arrest case against a retailer. Out of the blue, he
sends a letter stating that he will no longer represent me. Can this jerk do
this?
Most states require contingent fee agreements to be in writing. If
you check the fee agreement, you may find that it specifically allows
the lawyer (or client) to terminate the agreement as long as certain
conditions are met.
Isn't this unethical and immoral?
No, regardless of whether or not the contingent fee agreement allows
the lawyer to terminate the agreement, it is neither illegal nor
unethical for the lawyer to terminate the representation *IF* he gives
you sufficient time to get another lawyer and does not prejudice your
case by his withdrawal.
I'm sure if I had dropped him, he'd sue
me for breach of contract!
Only if you in fact breached the contract. As I mentioned above, the
contingent fee agreement might have given you the right to terminate
the contract yourself.
I tried to contact him to ask why, but he won't return any of my calls. Do I
have any recourse? I'm worried that all these months wasted has jeopardized my
case.
Best recourse is to find another lawyer ASAP and arrange for the
relevant records (i.e, "your file") to be transferred to the new
lawyer.
However, you have to consider the possibility that the reason the
lawyer did not want to continue representing you is that your case
turned out to have very little merit or very little value.
**Dan Evans
**I post information, not advice.
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Most states require contingent fee agreements to be in writing. If
you check the fee agreement, you may find that it specifically allows
the lawyer (or client) to terminate the agreement as long as certain
conditions are met.
Yes, it was in writing, but he did not give me a copy so I don't recall the
specifics.
No, regardless of whether or not the contingent fee agreement allows
the lawyer to terminate the agreement, it is neither illegal nor
unethical for the lawyer to terminate the representation *IF* he gives
you sufficient time to get another lawyer and does not prejudice your
case by his withdrawal.
He didn't even have the courtesy to call me. Just sent a "no longer interested"
letter with no reason or rhyme.
Only if you in fact breached the contract. As I mentioned above, the
contingent fee agreement might have given you the right to terminate
the contract yourself.
my
Best recourse is to find another lawyer ASAP and arrange for the
relevant records (i.e, "your file") to be transferred to the new
lawyer.
Well, it took about a week and countless calls to find the first lawyer. It
seems like most just want auto accident/worker's comp cases, where all the
money seems to be.
However, you have to consider the possibility that the reason the
lawyer did not want to continue representing you is that your case
turned out to have very little merit or very little value.
Then why did he take the case? And why did he keep assuring me that this was a
strong case all these months? He's a jerk and when I win, I'll send a copy of
the settlement so he can cry about it.
**Dan Evans
**I post information, not advice.
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Michael_Choy wrote:
Nolo press: How to Represent Yourself in COurt.
There are few ethical attorneys any longer. File a complaint
against him with the State Bar Assn.
A complaint for what, exactly? ...you blithering imbecile.
on 05 Dec 2003, waitumminsir@aol.com (Waitumminsir) wrote in
news:20031206010204.14191.00000303@mb-m28.aol.com:
Hire another lawyer or plan on representing yourself.
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"=> Vox Populi " <vox@popu.li> wrote
A complaint for what, exactly?
For the record, ma'am.
A complaint is not going to do much in any case. Out of the approximately
3500 complaints to the Grievance Committee in about 2001 (last time I
checked), only about 15 lawyers were disciplined.
What a grievance *does* do is start to identify bad lawyers, and sooner or
later, it'll come up against them. I saw a lawyer grieved, and the
discipline came from his firm (he lost his job), and now he's practicing law
out of his sister's office and his hip pocket. Before, he was with one of
the more prestigious firms in Denver.
Another lawyer was disbarred because the numbers of grievances became so
egregious as to initiate an investigation. If the grievances hadn't been
there, nothing would ever have happened.
Get the Code of Professional Responsibility and read it- you can get
commentary over the internet as to ethical violations and such. Get the form
from the Grievance Committee of the Supreme Court, or the Attorney
Regulatory Committee or whatever it's called in your State. Read the laws
that govern sanctions and tailor your complaint to meet them. It's actually
not hard at all; three or four hours to familiarize yourself, time to write
the complaint; easy stuff.
It's a particular vulnerability for lawyers, and if you've got a beef with
one, no need to fail to involve the Grievance Committee. I work with a
lawyer that spent over $200K to get out from under a grievance- scared him
to death.
Chas
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Chas wrote:
"=> Vox Populi " <vox@popu.li> wrote
For the record, ma'am.
Who's "ma'am" ...?
A complaint is not going to do much in any case. Out of the
approximately 3500 complaints to the Grievance Committee in about
2001 (last time I checked), only about 15 lawyers were disciplined.
Funny, I seem to have had better luck ... much better luck.
Of the 4 separate grievances filed CO Disciplinary Counsel,
3 were taken up and fully investigated and prosecuted by them.
The resulting sanctions against the errant lawyers were:
1 private censure
1 public censure w/ remedial "ethics classes"
1 disbarment
The one case they didn't take up was against a corrupt lawyer who
also happened to be an assistant prosecutor, so not a huge surprise
they didn't pursue him, politics and all.
So, my batting average is .750 ... not bad for an "amateur" eh?
What a grievance *does* do is start to identify bad lawyers, and
sooner or later, it'll come up against them.
Yep ... even if not acted upon, their file gets tainted, making it slightly
easier for the next victim to get results.
I saw a lawyer grieved,
and the discipline came from his firm (he lost his job), and now he's
practicing law out of his sister's office and his hip pocket.
What was the sanction?
Before,
he was with one of the more prestigious firms in Denver.
Another lawyer was disbarred because the numbers of grievances became
so egregious as to initiate an investigation. If the grievances
hadn't been there, nothing would ever have happened.
Get the Code of Professional Responsibility and read it- you can get
commentary over the internet as to ethical violations and such. Get
the form from the Grievance Committee of the Supreme Court, or the
Attorney Regulatory Committee or whatever it's called in your State.
Read the laws that govern sanctions and tailor your complaint to meet
them. It's actually not hard at all; three or four hours to
familiarize yourself, time to write the complaint; easy stuff.
It's a particular vulnerability for lawyers, and if you've got a beef
with one, no need to fail to involve the Grievance Committee. I work
with a lawyer that spent over $200K to get out from under a
grievance- scared him to death.
That's more than the Council would have, or could have, sanctioned him ...
Chas
--
"Naturally, the common people don't want war;
neither in Russia nor in England nor in America,
nor for that matter in Germany.
That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders
of the country who determine the policy and
it is always a simple matter to drag the people
along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist
dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist
dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can
always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.
That is easy. All you have to do is tell them
they are being attacked and denounce the
pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing
the country to danger. It works the same way
in any country."
- Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichsmarshall
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Chas wrote:
"=> Vox Populi " <vox@popu.li> wrote
Congrats.
It's funny that they disbanded the Grievance committee, locked the
records in the Bar Assoc. Bldg at 18th and Grant and reformed as the
Attorney Regulatory counsel- mostly they do fee disputes from what
I've heard.
They may have changed it, my batting streak was back in 1996-97
Hat's off to you.
I saw a lawyer grieved,
and the discipline came from his firm (he lost his job), and now
he's practicing law out of his sister's office and his hip pocket.
It was sealed.
Yep, one of those "private" admonitions ...can't let the public know
that the lawyer actually acted unethically, even just a little bit so ...
He lied in some submissions in Federal Court and got caught- and it
wasn't minimal stuff, he lied his ass off.
The case touched a lot of
people, and his clients are quite influential, so they just dropped
him and he's doing business off his cell phone and a rubber stamped
business card.
Doing better than may last lawyer ... who's now a fugitive from justice
living overseas.
Nah; they were going for his bar card. He did a funny thing- I can't
say what or you'd know who he is.
Actually the only think you are prohibited from stating is whether or not
a grievance was filed, and what if/any was the outcome of that grievance
if it's sanction was sealed.
You CAN always state the pattern of fact, including the name of
the lawyer, without mentioning the grievance, if any, e.g.
"I would never do business with lawyer xxx because he told the following
lies xxxx in case xxxx which were unethical and contrary to the cannon of
ethics,
and I'm prohibited from law from stating whether or not a grievance action was
brought against lawyer xxx and what the outcome of any action may have been ..."
Anyway, they preferred charges and
grieved him to the Committee. He beat the charges (they were in fact
bogus) and he beat the grievance, but he had one of the premier
lawyers in town represent him;
Who be that ?
chums from lawschool, but it was still
very expensive.
" They'd rather eat their children than
part with money ... and they are very fond of their children"
Chas
PS: you're still wrong about your supposed god/creator creature ....
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