change of lawyer, settlement conference stage

[puravida]

i had changed my lawyers a while back and have gotten to the point where i am considering changing back to my other lawyer, i have lost confidence in the ability of the new one, the issue is i am only a couple days away from the settlement conference,
i am sure she will not help me out any at the settlement conference or clearly defend my position as at the brief she sat back and i had to defend myself and prove my position. i even had to show her as she was agreeing with them untill i explained to her what they were doing and showed her.
what can i do?

[Leviathan]

i had changed my lawyers a while back and have gotten to the point where i am considering changing back to my other lawyer, i have lost confidence in the ability of the new one, the issue is i am only a couple days away from the settlement conference,
i am sure she will not help me out any at the settlement conference or clearly defend my position as at the brief she sat back and i had to defend myself and prove my position. i even had to show her as she was agreeing with them untill i explained to her what they were doing and showed her.
what can i do?

Ok so why'd you get rid of the original??...you really want to start lawyer shopping again??..

[caranna]

i even had to show her as she was agreeing with them untill i explained to her what they were doing and showed her.
what can i do?

It's too late to return to your previous lawyer when the SC is only a day or 2 away. Sounds like your new lawyer doesn't know many details. Make a detailed list of all your concerns and needs. Make sure she reads it before the conference and that you both can find some time to talk beforehand.

[innocentbystander]

Don't panic. We have been through Settlement Conf on our own and it is in essence a quite informal affair. As long as your lawyer has prepared a good Conf Brief outlining your situation there is not much more that is going to happen. We thought, too, that the judge would make a decision and that the whole thing is very crucial. Not going to happen. All that happens is that the judge wants to see if the two parties have reached a settlement. In our case he had read the Briefs I think quite carefully and he followed very much our line of arguing but all he could do was warning the other side that it might be not beneficial for them if they keep pursuing the case to trial. Even though he agreed with us, he couldn't force a decision.
What happens in a Settlement Conference is more or less of not much use for later on (motions or trial) because you are not allowed to use it. So chill, let it run its course, change or change not lawyers later.

And IMHO I think it's very tough for a lawyer to defend you if you haven't given him minute details in writing of everything that might be relevant (not sure if you did or not so please no offence if you did provide everything). Don't forget: they don't know anything about you other than what you tell them! Plus if you don't have much money they will be reluctant to invest much of their time because they are afraid that they won't get paid.
I have seen it in my BFs case: His first lawyer (when BF still had money) did a decent job but because my BF is not the most organized or logical thiking person he did not provide the necessary material so the lawyer could bring forth some relevant points. The second lawyer didn't even want to represent him. He just went with BF to the Questioning, sat there without use and charged an arm and a leg.

Since then I had to "take over" and since I'm very organized and like to put together lists, charts and whatnot to prove my points and have exhibits/evidence (emails, letters) ready for everything I say - BINGO. Suddenly we have a foot to stand on. If it will be enough I don't know yet but I know that we have done our best possible.
Good luck to you!

[puravida]

thanks inocentbystander, you dont have a single sister that is organized and likes to build charts too do you!? lol. we made it through the case conference and i did most the talking on my side, defending and explaining my posisition, did a decent job i think.