Lawyer issues (my own lawyer)

[FirstTimer]

So we are nearing our April 19th court date. Here in Alberta we have filing deadlines, as the respondent I have to file by tomorrow my response affidavit.

Here's the conundrum. My lawyer asked for my affidavit Feb 16th so she could do questioning ahead of this April 19th deadline. I did not give her my affidavit till March 2nd (I apologized to her) to which she said it was too weeks late and we might not have enough time for questioning.

Since March 2nd, I've sent her two emails asking her if she's read my affidavit, what's our strategy, and if we are still doing questioning. Finally, I sent her one on Monday saying we have 3 days away from our filing deadline, and asked an update on our case.

Her response back was essentially, because I gave it to her March 2nd, she knew she was going to be busy the past 2 weeks so essentially it's my fault as she has no time and she's busy.

I replied back that okay, I'll drop the questioning but what is happening with our affidavit, and answer my questions regarding our strategy.

Her response back was I will start doing your affidavit as of yesterday. You will get it, you make your corrections, we review and then you come in and sign it.

Feeling the lack of clear communication, I sent her an email this morning telling her I'm taking the day off, will be ready to hear anything from her and made it clear to her that in no blunt terms, we are all busy, I am busy i manage many projects and it's about prioritization of deadlines.

Feeling frustrated, I mentioned that this court case is about my son, you're his advocate I hired and I am also paying you to represent me, and that we need to have good communication as our deadline is literally a day away, and again what are your thoughts about her affidavit and mine or do you have questions as you've been sitting on it for 3 weeks now. (I am guessing here lack of silence on it is she hasn't read the affidavit yet). I know I am taking the risk of pissing her off but at the same time, do nothing and my case won't be taken seriously by her. Am i stupid for doing this?

We are end of the business day today and tomorrow is the deadline and I haven't heard back from her. BTW, I hired her cause she has a very alpha personality and lacks bedside manners but is known to get the job done.

However, I'm finding out very clearly that she is spread out thinly and even though she is good, I take it that doing my affidavit the day before deadline is not a sign that she takes this case seriously.

If worst case scenario, she just does lip service for my affidavit and changes nothing, should I still keep her to represent me? My gut feeling is saying uhhh if she can't prioritize your case now, how is she going to do yours.

Or do I keep pushing her but then risk her saying that she wants out. She's said it once before when i was late with my affidavit and in no blunt terms she has more than enough work.

I want her to represent but at the same token, I feel like she is treating my case low on the totem pole.

THoughts?

Is this bad service for a lawyer to prepare an affidavit response the day before for a special chambers meeting?

Is this normal to have to fight for air time with your own lawyer. It seems the past two lawyers I've had, it's me getting attention of my own lawyer is half the battle.

[arabian]

G E T R I D O F H E R and find yourself a real lawyer.

She sounds like a total idiot... totally unprepared.

You can reschedule special chambers without looking too bad if you file a Notice of Change of Solicitors right away.

I'd be pissed. I've been to Special Chambers many times and never did my lawyer once find a need for "questioning." My lawyer was well prepared and armed with corroborated facts is all.

You, on the other hand, have to get your shit together and realize that lawyers do have other clients. You should get a lawyer that you can communicate with via email. This way you can send things back and forth without need to take time out of your work day to go to lawyer's office. What a concept eh? I only went to my lawyer's office to sign affidavits which we had collaborated on via email. Longest I think I ever had to spend in lawyer's office was day I retained him.

Find someone young and hungry and anxious to make a name for himself. Stay away from the princesses - ex had a few of them and it was a cake walk for my side.

That's my 2 cents.

You have an appointment to meet with your lawyer tomorrow correct? 1 hour should be more than sufficient time to wrap up your affidavit unless it is a total disaster. In the future, assuming you will keep this lawyer, you should make and keep appointments. This might keep you on-track with deadlines so you can better manage your lawyer.

[FirstTimer]

We always communicate email. It's just been the last 2 weeks of radio silence hence my terse letter to you.

I'm going to see how it goes tomorrow. I still haven't received anything from her in terms of the affidavit.

In preparation of the affidavit, should there not be back and forth between her and I on the information in it? and what she needs etc? Not just come in and sign blindly.

G E T R I D O F H E R and find yourself a real lawyer.

You, on the other hand, have to get your shit together and realize that lawyers do have other clients. You should get a lawyer that you can communicate with via email. This way you can send things back and forth without need to take time out of your work day to go to lawyer's office.

You have an appointment to meet with your lawyer tomorrow correct? 1 hour should be more than sufficient time to wrap up your affidavit unless it is a total disaster. In the future, assuming you will keep this lawyer, you should make and keep appointments. This might keep you on-track with deadlines so you can better manage your lawyer.

[arabian]

You know you have to set up an agreed upon routine of communication with your lawyer from the get-go IMO. If your lawyer hasn't responded to your inquiry you call call call call call... ask to speak to the assistant.

An affidavit is YOUR statement. Your lawyer isn't expected to write it, rather make suggestions on what to include and not include in her professional legal opinion. I see that you are quite capable of writing legibly (by your posts). Are you perhaps going through a bit of anxiety or do you need your lawyer to hold your hand more than she is able to do at this time? (just asking!)

I abhor lawyers that feel the need to make things bigger and grander than the situation calls for. I believe that submissions should be brief, corroborated by evidence and to the point. Out of curiosity, how long is this "affidavit" of yours anyhow?

[arabian]

Pretty much everything in your affidavit should be corroborated by evidence.

Chambers judge will be scanning your affidavit and looking for attachments which support the things that you state. Nothing more.

[standing on the sidelines]

So we are nearing our April 19th court date. Here in Alberta we have filing deadlines, as the respondent I have to file by tomorrow my response affidavit.

Here's the conundrum. My lawyer asked for my affidavit Feb 16th so she could do questioning ahead of this April 19th deadline. I did not give her my affidavit till March 2nd (I apologized to her) to which she said it was too weeks late and we might not have enough time for questioning.

Since March 2nd, I've sent her two emails asking her if she's read my affidavit, what's our strategy, and if we are still doing questioning. Finally, I sent her one on Monday saying we have 3 days away from our filing deadline, and asked an update on our case.

Her response back was essentially, because I gave it to her March 2nd, she knew she was going to be busy the past 2 weeks so essentially it's my fault as she has no time and she's busy.

I replied back that okay, I'll drop the questioning but what is happening with our affidavit, and answer my questions regarding our strategy.

Her response back was I will start doing your affidavit as of yesterday. You will get it, you make your corrections, we review and then you come in and sign it.

Feeling the lack of clear communication, I sent her an email this morning telling her I'm taking the day off, will be ready to hear anything from her and made it clear to her that in no blunt terms, we are all busy, I am busy i manage many projects and it's about prioritization of deadlines.

Feeling frustrated, I mentioned that this court case is about my son, you're his advocate I hired and I am also paying you to represent me, and that we need to have good communication as our deadline is literally a day away, and again what are your thoughts about her affidavit and mine or do you have questions as you've been sitting on it for 3 weeks now. (I am guessing here lack of silence on it is she hasn't read the affidavit yet). I know I am taking the risk of pissing her off but at the same time, do nothing and my case won't be taken seriously by her. Am i stupid for doing this?

We are end of the business day today and tomorrow is the deadline and I haven't heard back from her. BTW, I hired her cause she has a very alpha personality and lacks bedside manners but is known to get the job done.

However, I'm finding out very clearly that she is spread out thinly and even though she is good, I take it that doing my affidavit the day before deadline is not a sign that she takes this case seriously.

If worst case scenario, she just does lip service for my affidavit and changes nothing, should I still keep her to represent me? My gut feeling is saying uhhh if she can't prioritize your case now, how is she going to do yours.

Or do I keep pushing her but then risk her saying that she wants out. She's said it once before when i was late with my affidavit and in no blunt terms she has more than enough work.

I want her to represent but at the same token, I feel like she is treating my case low on the totem pole.

THoughts?

Is this bad service for a lawyer to prepare an affidavit response the day before for a special chambers meeting?

Is this normal to have to fight for air time with your own lawyer. It seems the past two lawyers I've had, it's me getting attention of my own lawyer is half the battle.

you talk about deadlines etc and berate her for not prioritizing deadlines when the issue started when you missed a deadline set by her. You are not her only client and if others are able to meet deadlines, why should they be bumped because you cant?

[FirstTimer]

I had that exact conversation with her. I missed the deadline and we didn't get to do questioning. I learned my lesson, and I moved on.

If you read my email again, I let that go. I take accountability for missing that first date and so we have no questioning. It still doesn't excuse the fact that she doesn't communicate with me the past two weeks or she is preparing my affidivat the day of the filing.

She's been sitting on my affidavit for 3 weeks without doing anything and tonight she emailed me and said we meet tomorrow at 1:30 PM.

In her own words, she said she would draft what I wrote, review with me and then meet with me tomorrow. What the f*k is that? Seriously? She's the professional and she's not doing me any favors, I'm the one that's paying for her services. I did not demand she do the questioning, i let it go. However, she has to have some professional conduct in at least answering my questions.

This tit for tat is immature and is not for adults. So should I email her back today again and say hey remember you talked about communication last time but now you're ignoring me. You talked about deadlines but you can't even be prepared to take adequate time to make an actual deadline? How is that productive?

Please enlighten me. The reality is she is my advocate. If she has issues communicate with me not go radio silence. Who's the professional here that is bound by an oath? Not asking for moon here.

you talk about deadlines etc and berate her for not prioritizing deadlines when the issue started when you missed a deadline set by her. You are not her only client and if others are able to meet deadlines, why should they be bumped because you cant?

[Berner_Faith]

I agree with Standings. Just because YOU let it go doesn't mean she all the sudden has time. I am sure the reason she asked for your affidavit early was so she had time, knowing full well the weeks before your deadline she was busy. This is your doing, not hers. She has other clients and you are basically saying so what I missed the deadline, I moved on who cares about your other clients


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[FirstTimer]

Okay I don't think you fully understand. Agreed facts was if we do early in advance we can do questioning if not she would have my affidivat ready and not do questioning. In her own words, she said it MIGHT be a good idea. So using logic here, she would then start on my affidavit without questioning. 3 weeks later of emails with no response and i get crickets. She then says nothing. Trust my lawyer is pretty quick when she wants to assign blame. She has no problem telling someone they dropped the ball.

My questions last night was what should I do, and I'm going to push her and use Arabians advice of getting this lady working and have agreed meeting times.

People need to get over the tit for tat. Grow up please.

[Berner_Faith]

You need to understand you are not your lawyers only client and I am pretty sure with the way you are conducting yourself she is not going out of her way for you. It's not tit for tat, she has other clients that she works for as well, if they made appointments before you they come first.

You messed up and are trying to scold your lawyer. You should probably find a new one because I doubt she is going to be willing to hurry up with your case. If she isn't missing deadlines she is doing her job. You need to set up appointments through her office not just expect her to email you back right away


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[standing on the sidelines]

You need to understand you are not your lawyers only client and I am pretty sure with the way you are conducting yourself she is not going out of her way for you. It's not tit for tat, she has other clients that she works for as well, if they made appointments before you they come first.

You messed up and are trying to scold your lawyer. You should probably find a new one because I doubt she is going to be willing to hurry up with your case. If she isn't missing deadlines she is doing her job. You need to set up appointments through her office not just expect her to email you back right away


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agreed. The lawyer has appointments and probably factored in time to look at the paperwork within a certain frame of time. The OP doesn't get it though. The lawyer didn't miss a deadline the OP did and why should the lawyer let that throw her whole timeline off with her other clients? if she has lots of clients she has her day/week/month planned in advance with appointments court etc not to mention time for her own personal life.

[stripes]

I think you probably screwed the pooch with this lawyer when you were three weeks late providing her with your affidavit. From her point of view, you're now the client who does things whenever he feels like it but then expects her to drop everything to attend to his wishes. Getting your affidavit done the day before the deadline isn't ideal, but when you were late with your materials, you sent her the message that you're not really taking this process seriously.

I think your options now are to either apologize grovellingly for being three weeks late (not just "let's put this behind us", but "I am very sorry I didn't carry through with my part of the preparation and thus created this situation"); or find a new lawyer. If your current lawyer thinks you're not serious, she's not going to prioritize your case going forward, which will not work out well for you.