Attorneys

[Zippo]

Why is it that attorneys are the most unconscionable and apprehensible things known to man. Without going into too much detail I almost had my arse thrown in jail because my now former attorney showed up in court today after wracking up roughly 10k in charges, not informing me of court appearances (family court regarding child support and visitation for my daughter), and not telling the judge til today's court appearance that they were not going to represent me anymore because I'm paying them in monthly increments and not in a lump sum (that they seem to think I can whip up outta my butt) like THEY wanted.


Hmmm I've had it with attorneys and all their BS games.

[Uproar]

Never trust an attorney (let alone an attorney wanna-be). They are all too used to believing the end justifies the means.

[Zippo]

When the first words out of the judges mouth is "before I send you to jail" it is never a good thing. I was seriously about to walk over to my ex's side of the courtroom where my now former attorney was sitting at and smack the attorney right upside her smug little head.

[UnderwearModel]

That is what I want to know.

I say we sue all attorneys for their egregious court cases that raise my rates in every thing I do and consume.

I need car insurance. My insurance company says "Sorry, California has a lot of bad drivers that do not have insurance and you need to pay for them and their court cases."

I need to buy medicine. "Sorry, but the dumb person that took 80000000 pills because the bottle did not tell her she could not do that has sued the company and we have to raise prices."

I go to McDonalds for coffee. "Sorry, we brew coffee with hot water and some dumb woman in New Mexico or Arizona, puts the HOT coffee mug between her legs. And she spills it."

I go to the playground to play with my kids, nothing is there. "Sorry we had to take the playground equipment down because that dumb lazy woman over there cannot watch her children that fell off and hurt themselves."

"Sorry got to raise rates to protect the dumbies from themselves and to pay their lawyers."

I want to be able to sue that dumb woman who spilled coffee.
I want to sue the woman in Chicago that sued because she could not and would not watch her kids, because she is lazy.
I want to sue the bad drivers, because they are raising my rates. I am being traumatized by my high rates.

Your lawyer should be sued. I would take them to small claims court, provided you have excellent paperwork on them.

[unionyes]

Every jurisdiction has some sort of governing body that regulates the behavior of its legal profession.

If what you are saying is true, you have a case for legal malpractice that would stand up in any jurisdiction in North America. Not informing someone of a court appearance is unconscionable. To inform someone at the actual court hearing that they are not going to represent you anymore due to a payment issue is unethical. I hope that the judge granted you a continuance so you could get a real lawyer.

If I were you, I would lodge a complaint with the professional body. Even though the professional body is composed of lawyers, it is my experience that without exception every Law Society or Professional Body is vicious. They will have no problem eating their own. Some do it because they are actually interested in maintaining a decent public image or faith in the profession, others simply because they are so rife with political infighting, but at the end of the day the result for you will be the same.

Of course, my experience also tells me that there are two sides to every story.

[Zippo]

That is what I want to know.

I say we sue all attorneys for their egregious court cases that raise my rates in every thing I do and consume.

I need car insurance. My insurance company says "Sorry, California has a lot of bad drivers that do not have insurance and you need to pay for them and their court cases."

I need to buy medicine. "Sorry, but the dumb person that took 80000000 pills because the bottle did not tell her she could not do that has sued the company and we have to raise prices."

I go to McDonalds for coffee. "Sorry, we brew coffee with hot water and some dumb woman in New Mexico or Arizona, puts the HOT coffee mug between her legs. And she spills it."

I go to the playground to play with my kids, nothing is there. "Sorry we had to take the playground equipment down because that dumb lazy woman over there cannot watch her children that fell off and hurt themselves."

"Sorry got to raise rates to protect the dumbies from themselves and to pay their lawyers."

I want to be able to sue that dumb woman who spilled coffee.
I want to sue the woman in Chicago that sued because she could not and would not watch her kids, because she is lazy.
I want to sue the bad drivers, because they are raising my rates. I am being traumatized by my high rates.

Your lawyer should be sued. I would take them to small claims court, provided you have excellent paperwork on them.

Well im in the process as we speak of writing up a nice long laundry list letter to the Illinois Bar Association in regards to there unconscionable handling of my case.

[Sillk]

If you absolutely feel wronged, and make sure you are in no way at fault, contact your state's BAR association. You should be able to find out why things were happening and if your attourney was at fault, HE could be in some real trouble.

[Zippo]

Every jurisdiction has some sort of governing body that regulates the behavior of its legal profession.

If what you are saying is true, you have a case for legal malpractice that would stand up in any jurisdiction in North America. Not informing someone of a court appearance is unconscionable. To inform someone at the actual court hearing that they are not going to represent you anymore due to a payment issue is unethical. I hope that the judge granted you a continuance so you could get a real lawyer.

If I were you, I would lodge a complaint with the professional body. Even though the professional body is composed of lawyers, it is my experience that without exception every Law Society or Professional Body is vicious. They will have no problem eating their own. Some do it because they are actually interested in maintaining a decent public image or faith in the profession, others simply because they are so rife with political infighting, but at the end of the day the result for you will be the same.

Of course, my experience also tells me that there are two sides to every story.

well sure you are technically only hearing my side of the story and if they had the chance to tell theirs on here we would probably get a much different side of the story but to leave a client hanging like that because they aren't getting paid off fast enough (mind you I am paying them. Just in several hundred dollar increments each month) is irreperable.

[Hafeal]

I would advise you not to write the ISBA. It will get you nowhere. You need to write to the ARDC (Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee).

I would just caution you to say that every litigant has a responsibility to know what is happening in their case. If you feel you are not being informed you have a duty and responsibility to get the information from your attorney or to go to the courthouse to review the file. If you have ignored correspondence from your attorney, you have not returned their phone calls, have not appeared at court or made an effort to know the dates, then things will not reflect well on you.

If your attorney truly did not keep you informed with return calls, e-mails, correspondence then you may have a legitimate complaint.

Family law is the most emotional area and people tend to hear what they want to hear. If the Judge truly thought your position had merit, they have the authority right then and there to address your issues.

Getting mad in court and screaming, yelling, making faces, even subconsciously, will be reflected in your demeanor and responded to in kind by the Judge.

There are bad apples in every profession, lawyers included, but at least it is a profession where accountability is to be had and you have your right to pursue the same.

[Lerincho]

Danny DeVito summed it up best in Other People's Money. "Lawyers are like nuclear weapons. They have theirs, I have mine. Only problem is, once you use them, they <explictive deleted> everything up."

[Yajerman01]

If your attorney has agreed in good faith to plead your case in exchange for monthly payments, he is ethically bound to assist you in the court proceeding he agreed to. Failure to advise his client of a court hearing and notice of what the event is for is immoral and in part unethical. He cannot dismiss himself without first filing court papers (i.e. a motion for substitution of attorney) to do so and must give some grounds to be dismissed as your attorney.

Personally it I feel that his actions were unethical but please do not make all attorneys out as bastages. Some, if not most are honroable to their profession. I have found though that some of the loweliest attorneys out there usually work in criminal and family law. There I said it. lol

[Hafeal]

I would respectfully suggest that you become informed about the matters on which you comment before you launch into some staunch diatribe about the evils of decisions like spilled coffee. Read the cases. Check out the rationale rather than just listening to the 20 second blurb on television.

If people had the SAME passion for innocents killed or imprisoned wrongfully, our country would be a better place. Instead we are more worried about money someone else had to pay or receive.

As for the "they raised my rates because of that case" mentality - please - try to be a better critical thinker rather than gullible lemming for effective marketing. It's always nice to blame someone else (especially lawyers) for why you or your company want to make more money - especially when your insurance companies, for example, managed to invest their funds in various risky financial instruments which, it turns out, have some really awful downsides.

SO guess what will happen to your rates now? But let's just blame the lawyers.

That is what I want to know.

I say we sue all attorneys for their egregious court cases that raise my rates in every thing I do and consume.

I need car insurance. My insurance company says "Sorry, California has a lot of bad drivers that do not have insurance and you need to pay for them and their court cases."

I need to buy medicine. "Sorry, but the dumb person that took 80000000 pills because the bottle did not tell her she could not do that has sued the company and we have to raise prices."

I go to McDonalds for coffee. "Sorry, we brew coffee with hot water and some dumb woman in New Mexico or Arizona, puts the HOT coffee mug between her legs. And she spills it."

I go to the playground to play with my kids, nothing is there. "Sorry we had to take the playground equipment down because that dumb lazy woman over there cannot watch her children that fell off and hurt themselves."

"Sorry got to raise rates to protect the dumbies from themselves and to pay their lawyers."

I want to be able to sue that dumb woman who spilled coffee.
I want to sue the woman in Chicago that sued because she could not and would not watch her kids, because she is lazy.
I want to sue the bad drivers, because they are raising my rates. I am being traumatized by my high rates.

Your lawyer should be sued. I would take them to small claims court, provided you have excellent paperwork on them.

[Zippo]

I would advise you not to write the ISBA. It will get you nowhere. You need to write to the ARDC (Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee).

I would just caution you to say that every litigant has a responsibility to know what is happening in their case. If you feel you are not being informed you have a duty and responsibility to get the information from your attorney or to go to the courthouse to review the file. If you have ignored correspondence from your attorney, you have not returned their phone calls, have not appeared at court or made an effort to know the dates, then things will not reflect well on you.

If your attorney truly did not keep you informed with return calls, e-mails, correspondence then you may have a legitimate complaint.

Family law is the most emotional area and people tend to hear what they want to hear. If the Judge truly thought your position had merit, they have the authority right then and there to address your issues.

Getting mad in court and screaming, yelling, making faces, even subconsciously, will be reflected in your demeanor and responded to in kind by the Judge.

There are bad apples in every profession, lawyers included, but at least it is a profession where accountability is to be had and you have your right to pursue the same.

Well it was to the point where my attorney would call me after walking out of court and tell me oh yeah you had court today. just to give you an idea

[barecm]

Like everything in life, there are good lawyers and bad lawyers. I always check to see what law school and undergraduate school they went to BEFORE hiring them. If they went to some schlep school or non accredited school, rolling admissions type ect...I generally pass. Not a foolproof system, but not a bad one either. Some states do not require bar exam applicants to have graduated from a 'real' school so depending on your state, you can have a "home schooled" lawyer.

[Bindox]

You should have known the lawyer was lying. You can always tell when a lawyer lies, it's when his mouth is moving.

/bad joke section of thread

[Zippo]

You should have known the lawyer was lying. You can always tell when a lawyer lies, it's when his mouth it moving.

/bad joke section of thread

bad joke or not it made me laugh and thats been really hard to do today.

[unionyes]

bad joke or not it made me laugh and thats been really hard to do today.

In that vein..

What's the difference between a lawyer and a trampoline?

You take your boots off before jumping on a trampoline.

[Hokiewa]

Well it was to the point where my attorney would call me after walking out of court and tell me oh yeah you had court today. just to give you an idea

While I certainly don't know the state you reside in, in the state of Virginia all defendants who are on the docket, regardless of charge, suit, claim etc.... are notified personally, i.e. not through their attorney.

Regardless, investigate at your whim, I'd be careful what you wish for though.

[Zippo]

In that vein..

What's the difference between a lawyer and a trampoline?

You take your boots off before jumping on a trampoline.

hehehe well i have to thank you guys for cheering me up a bit. if there was one thing I knew I could count on would be the people on the forums. Even if its just a little bit I'll take anything I can get right now.

[EKKM]

“You’re a cheat!” shouted the client to his lawyer. “You’re a scoundrel! You’ve kept me hanging for months and got rich on my case alone!”

“That’s gratitude,” said the offended lawyer. “And right after I named my new yacht after you.”