posted 07-31-2006 09:59 PM            

I knew this court date was coming up 2 mos ago. It is regarding a restraining order, and custody. 2 seperate issues, but on the same day. I knew the judge wouldnt do much at least not permanently with the custody, until down the road. However, in regards to the restrain. order, that was the day that he would make it permanent or not. (I was the one who filed the restrain. order against ex..)
long story short, I was referred to an attorney by an acquaintance. I knew he had some 25 yrs of experience, so I decided to trust this lady's judgement in that he is a really good lawyer and helped her.
I met with him several times over the past couple months, and gave him the papers which he read over. Shortly before the hearing, he told me that he would mention first thing to the judge, that my ex had broken the court order (I wrote down dates/times..). The next day I went to court, and we had to wait about 20 minutes before we were all called up before the judge. My attorney didn't mention like he said he planned to do first thing, that my ex had broken the order. The judge asked my ex if he agreed to order, his attorney said no, and judge sent us all outside to come up with something if we could. I sat down, and let my attorney talk to other atty, assuming he would be fighting for me. When I looked over though they were in earshot, and i could hear some of their talk. My ex's attorney was saying that she wouldnt agree to the standard restrain order, and called the incidents my ex did 'nuts' (I mean she said that what I wrote down was nuts, however, all I did was write down what he had done t o warrant the order). She then went on to call me nuts several times and was derogatory to me. My attorney didn't defend me, and he wasn't arguing for why the restrain. order was needed. I expected that he would have argued assertively on my behalf and stood up for why I need the order, but he just kind of seemed to be trying to get some consensus with other attorney.
He came up to me and all of a sudden it was like out of the blue, the game plan changed, and he was saying that 'well, these orders are kind of hard to get....we could be in there all day....and I can't guarnatee the result..." and he recommended I drop the issue of the restrain order. He seemed to not feel any conviction of WHY the order was needed, and I decided that he wouldnt be effective in arguing to defend it, since he seemed to feel it was a waste of time.

After the hearing, which didnt last long, my attorney didnt really seem to be on the same page with me- i wouldve expected him to be my advocate and strongly defend me. It makes me now very uncomfortable bc he seemed to not believe there is much to my case, or much to the fact of what my ex has done to our daughter.

I already paid him the full deposit, since he came highly recommended, and wouldnt be able to get back more than maybe half of it-- not enough to hire a new, good lawyer.

I don't really even see the point of talking to him, although i will, but it seems to me that his total lack of passion or conviction in defending me, and not just that,....but at 8:10 he was saying one thing, then he changed and did something totally opposite, not even mentioning to the judge that my ex had broken the order. I felt so betrayed....but also confused, bc it's hard to reconcile how he acted, with what I had heard of him. I am not sure if he has some grand plan in mind....but in my gut, I feel that even if he has a plan, I haven't been able to come up w/ any reason why he wouldnt have at least told the judge' hey, your honor, he broke the court order....". I had spent half a day in court getting the temporary restrain ordre to begin with, in order to protect our daughter,....then at the last minute, my very own attorney, for no reason, just fizzled out and said 'well, what the heck le'ts not waste our time..."

The next hearings will be about custody, and I am veyr very concerned, if he did that with this, what is to say that at the next hearing eh won't defend me? It almost made me wonder if there was some kind of thing with the other attorney that made it hard for him?
I am completely confused. I gave him all the papers,and did waht I was supposed to do,....
I almost feel like it would be better to drop him, and represent myself, at least fora while...but the other attorney is so aggressive, and I don't know all the legal jargon and laws...I would at least definately speak up, and not just drop the ball though.

I will have to talk to him,...I'm not sure how to say what I need to say w/o making him defensive. However, again, even if I talk to him, I kind of feel in my heart, he can't be the right one to do this. When I met with him right before the hearing he was saying how good the restrain order was, and how it was good that i had the dates written down when he broke it,....then in the middle of the hearing he decides to not say anything, or even argue to the other attorney?