Legal Question in Legal Malpractice in California

Attorney Behavior

In 2002 an individual investigated by the US Attorneys office in San Diego. An attorney was retained to represent him in this matter. The defense attorney has been unprofessional, uncommunicative and downright unresponsive. The defendant would repeatedly call the attorney to inquire about the status of the negotiations with the US Attorneys office, but the voice mail messages and e-mail messages elicited no response. Only when some deadline was looming would the defendant receive a call from the attorney and then have a day or two to make important decisions. Or would be notified about a mandatory court date less that 12 hours before the required appearance time even though the attorney knew about court date for weeks and had received many requests for status update.

Motions have been promised to be filed, but the attorney did not get them completed and filed and the opportunity to file them passed. On one occasion that the attorney did not show up in court and forced the defendant to represent himself and present the content of a motion.

So my question is what recourse against this attorney is available beyond just filing an complaint with the California State Bar?


Asked on 2/14/03, 3:32 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Joel Selik www.SelikLaw.com

Re: Attorney Behavior

You can file a fee dispute matter with the County Bar Association.

Joel Selik

www.SelikLaw.com

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Answered on 2/18/03, 4:37 pm


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