my missouri lawyer overcharged me and didnt do much to help. what can i do?

Hither are some strategies designed to get results from a less than helpful lawyer.

It is frustrating when you are dissatisfied with your lawyer or her work -- peculiarly if yous don't know what to do nigh information technology. Here are some strategies for dealing with common bug that arise during legal representation.

The Lawyer Won't Communicate

This distressingly mutual problem doesn't have an piece of cake solution. A lawyer who doesn't render phone calls or communicate with you for an extended menses of time may exist guilty of abandoning you -- a violation of attorneys' ethical obligations. But that'due south for a bar association to decide (if you register a complaint), and it won't do you much good in the short term.

If your lawyer doesn't seem to be working on your case, sending a polite simply firm letter laying out your concerns should get your lawyer's attention. Don't threaten to file a malpractice lawsuit or complain to the bar association; such threats will probably make your lawyer angry and defensive, not attentive.

If your lawyer does not respond, or subsequent meetings or conversations are non fruitful, consider suggesting mediation to work out your communication issues if you lot still want this lawyer to represent you. A bad deskside manner doesn't hateful that the lawyer isn't an excellent lawyer, and it tin be difficult to find a new one in the eye of a case.

If you lot conclude that you simply tin't piece of work with your lawyer anymore, fire your lawyer and find someone new. You may too want to have a second lawyer evaluate your offset lawyer'south actions and advise you about paying (or refusing to pay) whatsoever bill you receive, filing a complaint with your state lawyer subject area bureau, or suing the lawyer for malpractice.

The Lawyer Is Quack or Totally Incompetent

If your lawyer has actually stolen from yous or acted with gross incompetence, the regime in accuse of disciplining lawyers in your state should bear witness some interest.

File a Complaint With Your Country's Lawyer Discipline Agency

Every state has an agency responsible for licensing and disciplining lawyers. In about states, information technology's the bar association; in others, the state supreme courtroom. The agency is almost likely to take action if your lawyer has failed to pay y'all money that you won in a settlement or lawsuit, made some egregious error such as declining to prove up in court, didn't do legal work you paid for, committed a law-breaking, or has a drug or booze abuse problem.

Unfortunately, these state agencies are famous for moving at a wearisome pace, non pursuing complaints vigorously, and communicating poorly with people who file complaints. Still, information technology is important to report a legal skunk. Many agencies wait until they have several similar complaints about a particular attorney before taking action.

Getting Compensated

State bar associations are primarily concerned with punishing lawyers (though rarely severely), non compensating clients. But all states except Maine, New Mexico, and Tennessee exercise take funds from which they may reimburse clients whose attorneys stole from them.

If You lot're Concerned Well-nigh the Lawyer's Work

It's oftentimes hard for a customer to know whether or non a lawyer is doing a good job. Only if you think your lawyer's ability leaves something to exist desired, investigate -- before information technology's likewise tardily.

Communicate

If your lawyer doesn't seem to be working on your case, talk to your lawyer and explain your concerns.

Get Your File

If you tin't find out what has (and has not) been done, you need to become hold of your file. You can read it in your lawyer'south office or ask your lawyer to send you copies of everything -- all correspondence and everything filed with the court or recorded with a government agency.

If you've already ended your relationship with the lawyer, you need your file pronto to make sure all deadlines are met, mistakes are repaired, and the matter keeps moving. If the lawyer is unresponsive and the matter involves a lawsuit, go to the courthouse and look at your case file, which contains all the papers that take actually been filed with the court.

If you've hired a new lawyer, enquire her for help in getting your file. Likewise, ask your country bar association for assist. If that doesn't work, as a last resort you may need to sue your lawyer in pocket-sized claims courtroom, asking the court for money to compensate you for what you've spent on redoing work in the file or trying to get the file.

Enquiry

If you're not satisfied with your lawyer'due south strategy decisions or with the arguments the lawyer has been making on your behalf, you may even want to go to the law library and do some reading to educate yourself about your legal problem.

Get a Second Opinion

If you've got serious doubts about how your case is existence handled, see a second attorney. Second opinions are relatively inexpensive -- an hour or two of a lawyer'southward time spent talking to you plus any time spent reviewing papers. And they are often very valuable in helping you decide whether to stay with your current lawyer or change to someone better suited to the task.

The more you lot tin tell and show the 2d lawyer nearly your case, the better advice you lot will go virtually whether your case is being handled correctly and what might be done differently. Go on in listen, though, that no two lawyers handle a case in exactly the aforementioned way, and that a second opinion is usually a cursory review, not a comprehensive assay.

Fire Your Lawyer

It's your accented right to burn down your lawyer at whatsoever time for whatsoever reason. Give it serious consideration if you're convinced the lawyer is doing a bad job or if your relationship with the lawyer has become intolerable.

Simply dumping a bad lawyer can be expensive. If you hire a new lawyer, y'all'll accept to pay him or her to become up to speed on your example. If the first lawyer hasn't done much, this shouldn't cost a lot. Just if you lot accept a trial scheduled for 3 weeks from now, your new lawyer volition have a monumental and time-consuming job.

Sue for Malpractice

If you lost coin considering of the mode your lawyer handled your instance, consider suing for malpractice. Know, however, that it is non an easy task. Y'all must prove two things:

• your lawyer messed up and

• you would accept won your case otherwise.

It's not enough to testify that your lawyer made a mistake -- you must prove that the mistake caused you financial loss that you would not have suffered if your lawyer had handled your case properly in the first place.

If y'all want to sue for legal malpractice, exercise it equally quickly as possible. A common defense raised by attorneys sued for malpractice is that the client waited too long to sue. And considering this area of the constabulary can be surprisingly complicated and confusing, there's often enough of room for argument.

Legal malpractice cases are expensive to pursue, so do some investigating before you lot dive in. There's no point in suing if the lawyer doesn't have either malpractice insurance or valuable assets from which to pay you lot if you lot win.

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Source: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/problems-with-lawyer-tips-strategies-29925.html

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