It is perfectly fine, and should be expected, that a lawyer will seek payment of a judgment from all sources. The lawyer represents the creditor's interests - why would they limit their efforts to what the debtor believe are appropriate?

It's fine, it's normal, and you should expect it. And the lawyer has a duty to his client to do it. Not meeting that duty could subject him to a malpractice claim or disciplinary action.

The fact that you are being garnisheed means that you lost a suit in which a court determined you failed to pay money you owed, and the court gave him the right to collect from you by every legal means. Either you pay the debt in full, reach a settlement (and they have no obligation to negotiate), or go bankrupt, or you should continue to expect aggressive collection.

You do not give enough information. Was a second judgment filed? Did the first judgment expire and it was revived?

If you owed a debt and the creditor sued, a judgment would be entered. The judgment acts as a lien on real or personal property, subject to the statutory exemptions allowed by law. This judgment can be executed by the creditor filing a writ of execution called a fieri fascia (or fi fa). The judgment creditor can also garnish your wages up to a maximum of 25% of your disposable pay after deductions for things like state/federal taxes and other required deductions.

The judgment is only good (meaning it can be executed upon) on land for a period of time and must then be renewed.

Which comes back to your original question. As I don't know what you mean by a new lien, you may want to repost added details in order for the attorneys here to try to assist you. My gut sense is that the attorney has acted properly. The attorney represents its clien, the creditor, and owes no special consideration or duties to you.

However, this all begs the question of why you have allowed this to get this far. You would have received collection letters and a copy of the lawsuit. What did you do? Why have you allowed judgment to be entered? Have you tried to resolve the debt to prevent garnishment or other execution (like a levy on your bank account)? More importantly, how much is owed now and do you have the means to resolve this debt?

If not, have you looked into filing bankruptcy? If bankruptcy is not an option, what about settlement of the debt? If this is a credit card debt, most creditors will settle on average for between 50% and 80% of the debt on average. However, it depends on the creditor and who the law firm is. Some are easier to deal with than others.

I also don't understand what you mean by a "payoff" amount. This is not like a mortgage. A judgment earns interest at the statutory rate. If your pay is being garnished, then it will be the amount of the judgment, plus court costs, plus attorney fees (if allowed - check the complaint) plus any pre-judgment interest allowed, plus post judgment interest. Once the garnishment amounts kicked in it would be whatever the judgment was at that time, minus your payments plus interest. It is up to you to keep records. Check at the courthouse to find the amount owed and subtract out the payments made by you to give yourself a ballpark figure.