Title: I feel like my lawyer is helping the other side (IL)
Question:I don't make these accusations lightly, so I want to flesh out what things my lawyer has done that make me untrusting of his motives and methods.


I won't go into the specifics of the law suit but here is some background:

We are suing our partner for just over 2 million. The case is over 7 years old and the law suit started nearly 3 years ago. The store was sold and, although the property is owned on the deed by both partners, only the defendant has been receiving rent - denying us our share. There are many more terrible offenses, including stealing, fraud, and witness harassment that are more important to the case but not important to explaining why I've lost trust in my lawyer.


Here are some of the reasons:


He is CONSTANTLY procrastinating until the very last day (and even the morning of) until I literally have to push him and/or do the work for him to get a motion on the table or to make progress in the case. I literally woke up 4:00 AM the morning of the trial to have out exhibit list in binders in the proper order because he was "too sleepy" at 6:00 PM the night before and never got it done beforehand. I was literally still scrambling to get the list in order in four binders while in the benches before the trail was supposed to start, having been delayed because he forgot the bylaws in the office and had to go get them.


Since day one our attorney promised to have the rent that was being paid to the defendant frozen into an escrow account until the case is over - it has been 3 years with little to no effort in passing this obvious motion with both partners being on the property deed.


He literally waited until the last week to ask for a deposition of the defendant - THEN waited until the night before said deposition to start calling court reporters (all of which were busy). The deposition failed because of this.


During the failed deposition he went to a separate room with the defendant's attorney and agreed to do "a voluntary" if the defendant's attorney agreed to "accept service" should a motion to continue be denied.


The motion to continue was denied by the judge - but the judge expressed that he was very upset because NONE of the attorneys wrote him a litigation brief. And none of them were "conducting litigation in the way it is supposed to be conducted."


I denied the voluntary because I had enough of this case, but in a back room with the judge and attorney they somehow agreed to a continuance.


The continuance is for four more months and my attorney has not made the motions he agreed he would make the next day which included freezing the rent in escrow, having the defendant pay the outstanding real estate taxes from the rent before the business is lost in delinquent taxes, and issuing a subpoena to the bank for essential records.

It is impossible to get a hold of the attorney because he NEVER answers his phone and doesn't want to talk until he wants to start asking for money.


I'm out of my mind doing our attorney's job for him alongside my day job and still getting nowhere.


I'd like to ask you all here, am I a paranoid asshole? How much of this is reasonable and, if so, how badly do I need a new attorney? Can I change my attorney now? What process do I need to go through? Aside from word of mouth or taking a gamble on the bar are there ways to find honest attorneys? I fully understand that he may be an exception rather than the norm, but he is the only lawyer I've really dealt with and it is a painful experience.


Thank you for reading all the way through - I'm stressed out because I've tried to make this case so easy, and it seems so simple with the amount of condemning paperwork I've provided, but I feel my lawyer is working against me rather than with me.
Answer #1: Sounds like a procrastinator, which is common among lawyers, unfortunately. I have no idea about the rest. But if you don’t trust your lawyer, you are best off looking for a new one. That said, lawyers aren’t given to engaging in malfeasance related to helping the opposing side. It takes a lot of time and money and the risk of being disbarred would be great.Answer #2: While it sounds like you have a very bad lawyer, nothing here suggests he is helping the other side. His communication skills appear to be abysmal, as well as his dedication to your case. 

I wouldn't go as far as to say you're paranoid, you have some extremely legitimate concerns about how he conducts his practice, its just not quite as bad as you fear. 

That said, I would strongly recommend finding a new attorney. You are free to do that at any time, but do review the agreement (retainer or contingency arrangement) you signed with your lawyer to see if there's some specific procedure for terminating. NOTE: Find the new lawyer FIRST, you don't want to be unrepresented in a case of this value. 

Most attorneys are honest, the harder part is finding one who's good at his/her job really. Speaking to your state bar association would be a good way to get recommendations to competent lawyers who work in the area you need.Answer #3: It sounds like he has poor communication and time management skills. You have some legitimate concerns about how he's running his practice, and it sounds like you've lost faith in his abilities as counsel. This is a big problem, because by this point  you must be **at least** $30,000-50,000 in from the sounds of it (and likely more).

The amount set out in the claim is more-or-less irrelevant - the only thing that matters is your estimated range of recovery. It's a wish list intended to provide a "cap" for recovery. Not every "soft tissue" lower back injury would be worth $2m+.

If this is being billed contingency, it sounds like a crap file to take on contingency (high maintenance, fact-dependent, private defendant - basically investment and low return). This may have explain the way your file is being managed.

You need to shop your file around to some new lawyers and see if you can get a second opinion.
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