BetHorses!
03-26-2012, 10:41 AM
In September 2010 I retained an attorney in New York to go for custody of my daughter. The retainer was $15,000 and he billed $400 hr. This was my 2nd attorney. First lawyer did a terrible job with my divorce agreement and failed to protect my rights with certain aspects as I later found out.
This 2nd attorney, started running the bill down without filing any paperwork at all. i.e reviewing emails and not responding to the questions within them $80....phone conversations $120 etc.....After 4 months, I emailed him and asked him directly when petitions will be filed and the response was "next week"....Then another matter came up where my kid told me a relative hit her. The lawyer told to me file a complaint w that other local family court as well in order to "bolster" his custody case. Long story short, two months go by and the preliminary hearing for the other case is called and he fails to show up even though I have a confirmation in writing from him 2 days prior that he will be there. I immediately fired him for this and the fact he still did not file custody petitions.
Then I demanded a final accounting and refund. TWO months go by and I finally get the accounting where it shows I still have about a $7,500 credit which was INSANE BUT no refund check. He even charged $800 for the court appearance where he nor anyone on his staff showed up.
Bottom line...after another year and someone advising me to take him to fee arbitraton, I finally won an award of about 70% of my original retainer. And the only reason I won was he did not send regular invoices. So they reverted back to an invoice from February. All the other bogus charges on his final accounting which include about six months of ridiculous charges were tossed. Took about six weeks and several stalling tactics (he mailed the check and it never came) for him to pay it but I received my money at last.
Its just absolutely amazing that an attorney can basically borrow money from you and do nothing whatsoever on a case, hold your credit for a year+ then pay back 70% of it 1.5 yrs later only after I initated action. And had I received regular invoices he probably would have kept 50% of my retainer. All without going to court once. Simply amazing..
I know the bar has a grievance comittee but he'll just get a slap on the wrist which is all confidential anyway. Spoke to a couple of legal malpractice guys and they both said my case is over cause I chose fee arbitration as opposed to suing him with damages included. Is this true? Money aside, no price on the fact that I lost any chance at getting my daughter (even though I acknowledge it was very slim to none)
The family courts are so stacked against the fathers, words just can't explain it you just need to experience it yourself. Hopefully none of you will. I do not wish that on my worst enemies..
This 2nd attorney, started running the bill down without filing any paperwork at all. i.e reviewing emails and not responding to the questions within them $80....phone conversations $120 etc.....After 4 months, I emailed him and asked him directly when petitions will be filed and the response was "next week"....Then another matter came up where my kid told me a relative hit her. The lawyer told to me file a complaint w that other local family court as well in order to "bolster" his custody case. Long story short, two months go by and the preliminary hearing for the other case is called and he fails to show up even though I have a confirmation in writing from him 2 days prior that he will be there. I immediately fired him for this and the fact he still did not file custody petitions.
Then I demanded a final accounting and refund. TWO months go by and I finally get the accounting where it shows I still have about a $7,500 credit which was INSANE BUT no refund check. He even charged $800 for the court appearance where he nor anyone on his staff showed up.
Bottom line...after another year and someone advising me to take him to fee arbitraton, I finally won an award of about 70% of my original retainer. And the only reason I won was he did not send regular invoices. So they reverted back to an invoice from February. All the other bogus charges on his final accounting which include about six months of ridiculous charges were tossed. Took about six weeks and several stalling tactics (he mailed the check and it never came) for him to pay it but I received my money at last.
Its just absolutely amazing that an attorney can basically borrow money from you and do nothing whatsoever on a case, hold your credit for a year+ then pay back 70% of it 1.5 yrs later only after I initated action. And had I received regular invoices he probably would have kept 50% of my retainer. All without going to court once. Simply amazing..
I know the bar has a grievance comittee but he'll just get a slap on the wrist which is all confidential anyway. Spoke to a couple of legal malpractice guys and they both said my case is over cause I chose fee arbitration as opposed to suing him with damages included. Is this true? Money aside, no price on the fact that I lost any chance at getting my daughter (even though I acknowledge it was very slim to none)
The family courts are so stacked against the fathers, words just can't explain it you just need to experience it yourself. Hopefully none of you will. I do not wish that on my worst enemies..