Originally Posted by TDinATL

Hi Everyone,

Hopefully someone can give me some input here, I don't know anyone personally that has much experience in this area.

I'm going through a divorce and am very, very displeased with my lawyer. I made a poor judgment call in hiring a personal acquaintance to be my lawyer as he agreed to let me make payments on the fees instead of needing to pay all up front. As a side note, my wife hired someone known to be one of the more aggressive (or better, depending on your viewpoint) divorce attorneys in the area.

That said... my lawyer has let deadlines pass on the case and then got annoyed with me when I was upset and questioned it. He responds to my questions if and when he feels like it - sometimes not at all. My wife's attorney will send correspondence and then it takes us weeks to respond. There have been several "miscommunications" between my wife and I - I thought a lot of it was her but am beginning to wonder how much is fueled by bad communication between lawyers.

I did go for a 2nd opinion from another lawyer, he's highly regarded in this area and was referred to me through the Christian Legal Society. He told me that it looked as though my case didn't have enough at stake to justify paying another retainer plus additional fees to get my lawyer paid-in-full, even though it seemed I may have good reason to seek other counsel.

My wife is looking for what I consider to be a lot of money (she had an affair with my friend that he admitted to after we'd already separated, I hear that alone should be grounds for no alimony) and I'm concerned my lawyer is not representing my best interest. I've addressed with him in a polite way - just telling him that I need more feedback and a better flow of communication - and he gets an attitude with me and says I'm not his only client and he'll respond in plenty of time. I get the definite impression that if I get more firm with him he'll simply not put much effort into my case at all.

So... (ramble, ramble) I've paid several thousand dollars to attorneys in the last few months and I'm now paying temporary alimony. I ain't rich (yet!) so I don't really have the funds to do much. My question - What CAN I do? I feel stuck here and am worried it's going to cost me for years to come.

If anyone can offer me 2-cents I'd appreciate it. If we have some lawyers that would be kind enough to do a little pro bono consult that would be fantastic.

Thanks in advance.