Too many of us do not know their
attorney’s agendas. Some of us are too busy, and turn our lives over to these
attorneys. We must do background checks with the State Bar Association before
we select an attorney. You must put your faith and trust in God, not mankind;
mankind will let you down 96% of the time. Figure out what your odds are on
this one. We must find an attorney that will take the time needed to inform you
of their strategy and goals for your situation. Don’t take things at face value
because your attorney or counsel might have 100 to 300 clients. We must be
prepared to interact.
According to the American Bar
Association there were 1,116,967 licensed attorneys in June 2006. The number
rose to 1,143,358 by the end of 2007. The number of lawyers for each state in
those years can be found on “Lawyers by state” on the ABA website. The average
age of an attorney in 1991 was 41 and 45 in 2000. These numbers continue to
rise.
A
seasoned attorney has what we call “tunnel vision” or on “auto pilot”, because
they have been doing this for so many years. They don’t want to shake things
up, or stir the pot. These are the ones that usually state; I have been
practicing law for over 30 years and don’t tell me what the law is, or I have
been practicing for years don’t tell me how to do my job. Then you advise these attorneys to remember
who is paying the bill or whose ass is on the line? What you may need is a new
attorney, fresh out of law school. Many new attorneys are tenacious and driven
to prove themselves. This is your family on the line, take control and be
thorough, your future may rely on it.
Also, go to Universities which have
law clinics or law libraries, you may find a law student who can assist you in
doing research. Get on the Internet and locate groups that will help you either
do research or help you find an attorney with the appropriate experience and
can assist you in circumventing this process. When hiring an attorney you may
not know if they are a seasoned attorney or a new counsel. Ask them for their
references. Maybe they have a conflict of interest with your case? Prior to
hiring them on as your counsel, make sure you ask the attorney if he has a
conflict with the case. Ask the attorney if they have had any business,
personal, financial, or contractual relationships with any other interested
party in the case. This could be a conflict of interest, or create bias, or
create an impropriety within your cause of action or case.
This brings me to my next topic. If
you get a court appointed attorney, the court sometimes dictates what they can
or cannot do, even before you get to court. The court will give the attorney
instructions on how far they can proceed, and when to withdraw from counsel if
the client begins to figure all this out prior to even going to trial. For
those who do not understand this it is called ex parte communications,
or without your knowledge. This is illegal in a court of law, but it happens
regularly and without a second thought. When you speak to your attorney do not
let him control where he wants to proceed in your case, unless you both agree
that this is the right way to proceed with this case. It is very simple, keep
researching your case and assist your attorney, but work with them and assist them.
This is your case. Finally, do not let them dictate your case for you without
your consent or agreement. Remember they work for you not the other way around.
Make sure you contact your State Bar
Association and see if your attorney or counsel has any prior or current
sanctions, where they were sanctioned either by the court or the ethics board
for inappropriate actions within a case. This may detour you from the same
pattern of practice, with other clients or actions, in which your attorney may
be seasoned or used to committing. It will assist you in finding out what kind
of attorney is handling your case, or if your attorney is honest or not. By
following these simple concepts, you will help detour any attorney who will
complicate a case on purpose just for billable hours or profits. Let’s be clear,
all attorneys complicate the situation, for the benefit of money. Secondly,
these attorney’s work for you, you are the boss! Third, technology has made it
easier to find an attorney.
Also you can use the Internet to
locate case law. Go to findlaw.com and
check for laws at your fingertips, or your state statutes annotated under your state
@statelegislature.com. You need to make
your attorney aware of the fact that you’re not just another client. What makes
you special is that you are doing your own paralegal research and saving your
attorney time to prepare. This also saves you money and they will respect you
because of your efforts. Your attorney will see you as someone who understands
the law, not as another lost sheep or moneymaker.
Do not spill your guts to your
attorney. They have an obligation to notify the other counsel either prior to
preliminary or during discovery. Think before you act, it may save you. Just
for the record, most cases are either resolved or complicated prior to the
hearing in either, plea’s or continuances, because your attorney has contacted
the opposing counsel and resolves or complicates your case, by “ex-parte
communications” with the court or opposing counsel. Prior to court, do as much
of your own legal research as possible, don’t be lazy and expect your attorney
to do everything. You may find something your attorney missed because he has
numerous clients, and may not have the time to research your case specific
issues. Get to know your attorney personally so you know how they feel on your
topics or issues. Also, get a game plan or a strategy for your case prior to
going to the hearings or court. Do not get blindsided by not having knowledge
of where your attorney is heading, which could lead to the element of surprise
at court.
Ask your attorney if they have a
concrete direction so you understand his stance on your case. Some of the
questions you might ask are: Is there a possibility that the court gives
directives, what they can or cannot do with your case or cause of action? How
will they represent you as a client in this case? There are many agendas to
watch for in your case. It’s really
simple, either their plan is to complicate your case for billable hours, or
they are lazy and they don’t want to take the time to either do the research,
interview witnesses, subpoena agencies, case workers and their subcontractors,
law enforcement officers, doctors, experts, therapists, or any other personnel
or employee that would help your case or show a cause of action. Welcome to
Attorney Agenda 101, the easy way to make money as a public appointed attorney,
(a public defender, better known as a public pretender) where they do
only the basics and wish for the best.
Do your homework, or get with your
counsel. If you do not understand where your counsel is going, just simply ask
for their plan or strategy. Understand why your counsel is requesting you to follow
his instructions or directives, and what is the desired outcome of these
instructions.
Do not let your attorney get on the
phone to the opposing party or counsel, and direct your case in any way,
without your knowledge. Email your attorney instructions and requests so you
can keep a record of your communications with your counsel, and email it back
to yourself. This way if by chance, you have to terminate your counsel because
they did not follow your instructions; you have the proof, not hearsay
testimony on your case. This also includes a follow up letter, with the date
and time, to any and all meetings and telephone conversations to document what
has transpired, so you will have a record. It will help remind you 2 or 3 years
later when you need to be specific in your time line of events. Also keep a
copy for your own records of any letters, emails, or communications you may
have. Just tell your attorney that this is your way to document things. It will
also assist your attorney with a time line of your case.
Some of the little tricks seasoned
attorneys attempt to pull are very obvious. Your job is to watch how your
attorney responds when you ask them to put together a plan or strategy prior to
a case. You want them to notify you prior to hearings of any and all
communications they may conduct with all parties involved with your case. Ask
them to send a copy of any and all pleadings or responses. This should occur
prior to your attorney filing orders with the court. Require them to do a face
to face meeting prior to any court hearings or meetings, so you can discuss the
plan of action.
Make it clear to your attorney that
you do not want any surprises in this case. Make sure your attorney responds to
any and all pleadings that the opposing counsel may either file or respond to.
This may protect your right to oppose their specific claims. Otherwise, you may
waive your right to make any arguments, and they can obtain a default judgment
and claim it is an agreed stipulated fact, due to your failure to respond or
object to an issue or claim that was presented. Make sure your attorney files
your responses within reasonable time. There are time limitations the court
requires on pleadings and responses, and if you miss these time limitations or
deadlines, you waive your right or may have to request either a continuance or
a motion to file a pleading or response out of time. The court usually does not
like this unless there is a sufficient reason that satisfies the court for your
attorney’s tardiness on your pleadings or responses.
If your attorney is not following
your directives and cannot give you just cause or reasoning, and you make the
decision to dismiss or fire your counsel or attorney, the court requires you to
file a motion to dismiss your counsel. The law also states that every
dispositive motion has to be accompanied with an affidavit in support of the
dismissal. The affidavit is what you attach to your emails or letters to show
or confirm that your attorney refused to do what you requested. Therefore this
is no longer just allegations, as the court would make the claim, and this
becomes a clear fact, pursuant to your Supreme Court Rules Discipline of
Attorney’s, and your evidence.
You have to feel comfortable with
your attorney or counsel. You also have rights to know if they are selling you
down the river. Make sure you and your attorney or counsels are on the same page
prior to going to trial or a hearing. Make sure you know all the facts and
arguments that will be discussed during the trial or hearing. Do not get hit
with surprises at trial or hearings that you are unaware of. Know that you and
your counsel have the same strategy or agendas, before you enter the courtroom.
They will pull every dirty trick to win a case, believe me, I have been there.
The problem with attorneys is, they
keep forgetting who the servant is and who the master is. They forget they work
for you! Their butts aren’t on the line, yours is! The only thing an attorney
is for you - is a mouthpiece. We know that some attorneys lie, cheat, commit
perjury, almost anything it takes to win a case. They will absolutely
complicate a good case just to take your money. They can also place a case in
an impossible hole that you may never dig out of; no matter how much money you
spend.
We have a legal system that is not
bound by rules of conduct, unlike us, who are (I know they have cut down forests
to show and tell us they are honorable and righteous people but the proof is
right there!). We have found out it is the good old boy system. Those attorneys
who are well known can get away with their mistakes, while others are
sanctioned. The bar association picks and chooses who they want to sanction. We
have attorneys who will lie, cheat, backdate, falsify documentation, and do
things that are unbelievable. I have seen and witnessed these things that you
swear would never happen in a court of law, then you begin to see the reality
of the situation.
I have personally witnessed attorneys
take peoples money and then not do their job to protect their client’s best
interest. This is ineffective counsel, for which they can be sued, or you can
write a formal complaint to the Disciplinary Administrator for them to
investigate. You as a client, can also monitor your own attorney and keep them
from playing let’s make a deal, or even better yet, selling you down the river.
It is important to know where you stand with the attorney you hire. It is also
important that your attorney does not take you for a stupid individual, or a
sucker for cash. If your attorney understands that you can do the legal
research and assist them, they will treat you more as a client than as an
idiot. If you are doing a motion pro se [by yourself], keep all the research on
a disk so your attorney can review the document later. This will help you if
you proceed to a higher court and you have to go back and argue an issue that
you did before and you need better clarification or assistance.
I
cannot tell you enough to be prepared, to keep on your attorney, to stay ahead
in your research. This will teach you the legal knowledge, and how to craft
your own legal documents, as attorney’s do. The courts and the lawyers will
have better respect for you. I have followed the rules in each court. I have
pissed off attorneys and judges, but it couldn’t have happened to a nicer group
of individuals. They will attempt to take shortcuts, but be prepared to catch
the shortcuts and file your objections on those shortcuts, and your attorney
will know better than to do it again. When they tell you that knowledge is
power, they are correct, especially in a court of law. To know is to grow in prosperity.
Also, do not be bashful; teach others the same knowledge, because you have to
share the knowledge with others who need the help. Do not let the chain stop
with you, pass it on. Attorneys and courts do not want you or others to
understand, make others understand the same. The feeling you get for helping
others is unbelievable. Explain the system to others, as we have done in this
book, so that they can see the reality of the situation. Do not let others get
sucked into the legal system without assistance, because now, you are your
brother’s keeper, and this burden is placed upon you to carry the torch of
life, liberty, and the pursuit of equality and justice.
Educate those unfamiliar with the
illegal system, so called our justice system, to protect those caught up in it
and the pain and suffering they have gone through, so that these political
idiots cannot profit anymore off of those who are suffering. I don’t see
attorneys out here aiding others in their efforts, unless they make a profit,
or they want to get your name in a law journal and change laws for publicity.
Yes, I know they will tell me they handle charity cases and do it pro bono.
You’re a lawyer for God’s sake; you either collect in the end or get paid by
the court for this, but, don’t feed me this line that you are going to take on
the whole legal system, when you are trained and conditioned by the bar
association, to protect the so called legal interest, which the rest of us know
is a game. You are not going to convince me that you are in it for the
principles of interest rather than the money. You would be either a broke
attorney, or a sanctioned attorney, by your so called colleagues for putting
this in your legal documentation. Or protecting your client’s best interest
just to “CYA”. Tell me I am wrong? I can show you otherwise.
Now, I am almost sure there will be
opposition to my book from the lawyers, but the average American has a right to
know these things, and I have a right to give the Americans some insight to
these ideas and experiences. The Legal game is a façade to deceive you into
believing that we can obtain justice in our communities and state. People do
not fool yourselves, this only applies to the rich or if you know the game, for
the average american it takes a long time to figure this all out. Unless you
are like us, or you get caught up in a situation, you can’t begin to realize how
the legal system only works for those who are licensed to practice law, or are
currently rich and can afford a good attorney to buy them justice. O.J.
anybody?
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