LilGirl
New Member
OK so here is the deal...
I hired a lawyer to represent me through my settlement conference in my divorce. The lawyer agreed to a price, which I paid half of up front and he stated he would mail me a retainer agreement to sign and return to him. Unfortunately, after sending him several reminders, he never did send me the retainer agreement.
The settlement conference was rather simple and consisted of only three appearances. The first appearance my lawyer was at least an hour late, which forced us to wait. That day he filed an appearance and adjournment, that was it. The second appearance was to discuss a settlement, which was agreed to, however, my lawyer stated we could not finalize anything that day and would have to return in one month. This was followed by a few more adjournments, then the final conference in which our settlement was placed on record and the divorce was finalized.
Throughout this time I had sent my lawyer four reminders about the retainer agreement, which still to this day was never sent to me. On our last day of court he gave me an invoice, which was not in the amount we previously agreed to. Unfortunately I was not aware of this fact until afterward.
I did contact this lawyer numerous times regarding my issues with his invoice, but I was met with nothing but threats. He first threatened to re-bill making the amount higher. Then he claimed he was going to file a lien against my settlement funds, however he never did. He also threatened me with various law suits from suing for "defamation of character" to taking me to circuit court rather than small claims. His reasoning for this was because it would tie up my funds even longer, which seems to be his main concern aside from getting his money.
On a side note, I would also like to add that this lawyer was extremely rude to me throughout this entire time. When I first hired him he was somewhat pleasant, however, he made me feel uncomfortable on several occasions due to his flirting. He also had a habit of making rude comments concerning the way I looked, the way I spoke and upon asking him a question about my judgment, he commented about my having ADD due to the fact that I overlooked something in my fifteen page judgment. Also, a vast majority of his comments were in front of a third person and this same person was present when his legal fees were discussed in the beginning. I also have all his 'threats' printed off as they were sent via email as I stopped taking his phone calls sometime ago due to his being so incredibly rude.
There is a lot more I could add as I've found out he has lied about numerous things in these past few weeks, however, I am more concerned about the fees and his behavior at this time because it has my settlement funds tied up, which I desperately need to pay overdue bills.
So here are my questions...
First, can this lawyer legally take whatever amount he wants from my settlement? If so, is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening?
Second, would his behavior with the rude comments and threats be considered a violation of ethics?
Lastly, is there anything I can do about this whole situation as I've also recently found out that he has done this to someone else during the same time frame he was pulling this BS on me?
I am filing a grievance against this lawyer, but any input would be greatly appreciated because I really need to know what to do and if this would be considered a violation of ethics.
Thanks in advance to those who reply!
LilGirl
I hired a lawyer to represent me through my settlement conference in my divorce. The lawyer agreed to a price, which I paid half of up front and he stated he would mail me a retainer agreement to sign and return to him. Unfortunately, after sending him several reminders, he never did send me the retainer agreement.
The settlement conference was rather simple and consisted of only three appearances. The first appearance my lawyer was at least an hour late, which forced us to wait. That day he filed an appearance and adjournment, that was it. The second appearance was to discuss a settlement, which was agreed to, however, my lawyer stated we could not finalize anything that day and would have to return in one month. This was followed by a few more adjournments, then the final conference in which our settlement was placed on record and the divorce was finalized.
Throughout this time I had sent my lawyer four reminders about the retainer agreement, which still to this day was never sent to me. On our last day of court he gave me an invoice, which was not in the amount we previously agreed to. Unfortunately I was not aware of this fact until afterward.
I did contact this lawyer numerous times regarding my issues with his invoice, but I was met with nothing but threats. He first threatened to re-bill making the amount higher. Then he claimed he was going to file a lien against my settlement funds, however he never did. He also threatened me with various law suits from suing for "defamation of character" to taking me to circuit court rather than small claims. His reasoning for this was because it would tie up my funds even longer, which seems to be his main concern aside from getting his money.
On a side note, I would also like to add that this lawyer was extremely rude to me throughout this entire time. When I first hired him he was somewhat pleasant, however, he made me feel uncomfortable on several occasions due to his flirting. He also had a habit of making rude comments concerning the way I looked, the way I spoke and upon asking him a question about my judgment, he commented about my having ADD due to the fact that I overlooked something in my fifteen page judgment. Also, a vast majority of his comments were in front of a third person and this same person was present when his legal fees were discussed in the beginning. I also have all his 'threats' printed off as they were sent via email as I stopped taking his phone calls sometime ago due to his being so incredibly rude.
There is a lot more I could add as I've found out he has lied about numerous things in these past few weeks, however, I am more concerned about the fees and his behavior at this time because it has my settlement funds tied up, which I desperately need to pay overdue bills.
So here are my questions...
First, can this lawyer legally take whatever amount he wants from my settlement? If so, is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening?
Second, would his behavior with the rude comments and threats be considered a violation of ethics?
Lastly, is there anything I can do about this whole situation as I've also recently found out that he has done this to someone else during the same time frame he was pulling this BS on me?
I am filing a grievance against this lawyer, but any input would be greatly appreciated because I really need to know what to do and if this would be considered a violation of ethics.
Thanks in advance to those who reply!
LilGirl