Ok AG let's not make assumptions here. You don't assume that I yelled at or harrassed the sect. and I won't assume that all lawyers are blood sucking scum.
Me 45 WAW 46 Married 23yrs D22 S18 D12 W moved out 1/12/07 Divorce Final 2/06/08
Fender, you have me rolling on the floor at that one.
IMHO, and from first-hand experience, the first job a lawyer sees fit to do with a matrimonial case is to squander the entire retainer amount without having done a thing, and then ask for more money.
Sure you have a right to ask - but when you do, THEY LIKE IT BECAUSE THEY GET TO CHARGE YOU MORE MONEY! It's a catch 22.
When my $5,000 deposit was gone before we'd even set foot in court and I asked where the heck it went, my L came up with the most ridiculous statement I have ever seen. She clained she and X's L had a lunch "appt" that I never knew about. I asked what they discussed and she said she'd have to research it. But she'd charge ME for the research.
Lawyers. I'm glad to be done with all of that. It's so frustrating.
Ok so my son is pre law,,,, BUT not to be a D lawyer!!! ( and hes really a great kid, I swear!!) hes actually just a senior and Political Science major, so ....hes not in the lawyer catagory yet! but i just got him a Halloween card " Where do vampires learn to suck blood?"
" law school" LOL he'll love it.
and I really liked my L- he fought hard for me, now ex L was a major scumbag!!!
Last edited by KarenMarieS; 10/24/0710:19 PM.
Be Happy for this Moment, This Moment is your Life
Fender, I've had to correct my A's work several times and it pisses me off. He's supposedly the "best" D lawyer in town and I'm correcting his work??? DUH!!! He should've paid me. I felt like I paid him $5k for nada since X and I agreed on the settlement and came up with it ourselves. Basically, he spent an hour in court and charged me 5K for it!!!
She never got one thing right. After two tries with the agreement, and none of it right, I learned her software to write the agreement myself, wrote it, and was out about $7,500 when all was said and done. She spent about 30 minutes in court. What a rip off.
But I have to admit, she did do one thing for me. She had a rep for being the best in town and it scared my X into not fighting and settling, so that way, we didn't give everything we'd worked for all our lives to the L's. That's what it end up coming down to.
Karen, my neice is in law school, but she's not going to be an M L either. If you end up being a lawyer, you have to develop a thick skin I guess. There are good and bad ones, just like any other profession. I do think the majority of bad ones are divorce lawyers. Or maybe those are the ones we hear about most with all the divorcing going on.
I won't assume that all lawyers are blood sucking scum.
90% of attorneys are blood sucking scum. Most D attorney hear caching when a client walks in the door that wants to go to war against their spouse and is seeking justice over settlement.
I also think billing for postage and copies is beyond stupid when you have a three figure hourly billing rate. Now that I am on my own, I no longer bill for that - I consider those costs to be built into my billing rate.
However secretaries and assistants have very little influence over these policies. And in some cases working for blood sucking scum is stressful enough w/o the added stress of angry clients.
The attorney has returned you call. Ask him/her to cut or reduce the postage and copy costs or to justify the copy and postage costs. Also request that he/she contain them in the future. You can also amend your retainer letter to say something like you will not pay for copy and/or postage that exceeds X dollars unless they receive your approval prior to incurring such costs.
Happy, I agree that my X was willing to settle so quickly and generously because he knew I had the best (not sure who's opinion that was, definitely NOT mine)!!!!
Sure you have a right to ask - but when you do, THEY LIKE IT BECAUSE THEY GET TO CHARGE YOU MORE MONEY! It's a catch 22.
It is unethical for an attorney to bill you for time spent on reviewing bills or discussing the bill with the client.
If your attorney charged you for time spent on billing questions, you can report him/her to the state disciplinary commission. That is grounds for disbarrment in some states. That usually deters even the slimiest of attorneys from billing that time to clients.
That's nice to know AG, but now that it's been a few years and I have no idea where those invoices are (I probably burned them!), there's not much I can do about it now. Besides, that's over thank goodness.
She was supposedly the best, but I have serious doubts about that.
She actually had the audacity to ask my opinion about some property she was thinking about buying. I knew that if I gave her any value opinion, even verbally, even a range, that equates to an appraisal and I would have been subject to discipline, so I did not give it to her. I told her I couldn't say without doing some research. But I think she held that against me.
Too bad, she was expecting to make lots more than $7,500 from me. And she did not. So I did win.
Thanks for the info AG. Also thanks to everyone else that posted.
To clairify, I wasn't rude to the secretary, I only asked her a question about the bill. I wasn't aware that she couldn't answer questions about the bill. I wish she would have said that up front instead of running to mommy and crying about it.
Secondly, I didn't care for the tone the L took with me on the voicemail. Her tone was more like a mother scolding a child rather than a professional talking to her client.
I don't take that kind of direction very well.
Coffee is hot and math class went rather well last night. There are only 7 students remaining in the class and when I talked to the head office they pretty much begged me not to drop. So I talked to the professor and he agreed to slow down a bit as long as I ask questions as often as I need to. He also offered to be 30 mins early for classes for one on one tudoring. So I figure it is now or never.
Me 45 WAW 46 Married 23yrs D22 S18 D12 W moved out 1/12/07 Divorce Final 2/06/08
