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1. Confronting Your Attorney
As soon as you sense a problem, you should call your lawyer and convey your belief that something is wrong with your relationship or with the work being done. Insist on a face-to-face meeting. Be direct. Be honest. Be open to an explanation or suggestion about working things out. If you would feel better, take a friend or relative as a witness to the conversation. But keep in mind that taking a friend or relative to a meeting with an attorney must be handled carefully. The conversation you have with the lawyer will not be privileged if a third person is present. Your problems with the attorney may not require a discussion about the merits of the matter being handled. But if they do, you will have to decide whether your friend or relative must leave the room when your discussion with your attorney involves issues you want to remain privileged.
It is important to follow up the meeting with a letter setting out the decisions you have made together to correct the problem. Communicate your expectations that the problem must be solved immediately. Creating a paper trail is important. Confirming decisions, documenting your efforts to contact a lawyer who will not return phone calls, reflecting promises and commitments, are all important. Lawyers by training understand that paper records are hard to dispute, so you can get more attention and respect if you are careful to use a written record in working your relationship into a more desirable state. But be absolutely honest; don't exaggerate.
What to write is very important. You may be in a situation where stakes are high and your emotions are on edge. If the effort to resolve the problem with the lawyer us not successful, later, judges and jurors may read what you have written. Thus every letter has twin aims: (i) to give your attorney the understanding of your intention to proceed thoughtfully and carefully to change the situation, and (ii) to present yourself as reasonable to strangers who may read your letter in the future.
Some simple guidelines: (i) keep letters respectful and polite in tone (ii) avoid accusations (iii) stick to facts (iv) say what you need to say based on the purpose of the letter and say no more. If you're angry when you write the letter, put a first draft of the letter aside and wait until you've cooled down. Remember, if your relationship breaks down, your lawyer will describe you as a kook or uninformed or worse.
Your paper trail must above all show that you are a reasonable person expecting reasonable and fair conduct from your attorney.
If you are paying your attorney on an hourly basis, you will have a lot more influence than if your attorney is taking his fee as a percentage of the recovery, or if you have already paid a flat fee. If your confrontation makes no difference, and the problem continues, you should seek another remedy.
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