Attorney’s Suck

I received an E-mail from my old attorney last night, which I would call a “cover your ass” letter.
She maintained her sole focus in the matter was to maintain a staunch loyalty to me and she represented me to the best of her ability. Said she has done very well for me to date, despite my frustration with her delay in responding to my “very frequent and constantly changing voicemail and e-mail messages.” She felt her advice to me was totally unappreciated and not in concurrence with how I wished to proceed. she said frankly she is worried about me. “Your confused and irrational behavior has only gotten worse. I hope you will go in for a check-up You seem to be acting against your own self interest. Please talk with your family- maybe your sister- about whether they have noticed or not.”
OMG!! i was so pissed last night, so I replied to her E-mail.
I basically told her that any confusion and irrational behavior she felt she saw on my behalf was because of 4 months of trying to get her to act on this divorce with no return phone calls. I also said She may have thought she was acting on my behalf, but stalling the divorce according to how she thought it should be handled was not up to her. I gave her specific instructions I did not want this drawn out, and she took it upon herself to determine how quickly this should have been done.
I emphasized that repeated phone calls and E-mails by me were done to throw out possible settlements for me to consider, and an attempt to illicit return calls from her for feedback and none of them were returned.
In regard to her suggestion I talk to my family about my “irrational” behavior, I told her they were the ones that continually encouraged me to call and E-mail her until I got a response, and they thought her ethics and way of conducting business were very unprofessional.
She was very angry with me that I thought she would represent Steve. I told her my concern was that he would try and retain her now that I was seeking other counsel.
Her main focus was on the “Conflict of Interest” document that Steve and I signed, and she maintained that it was only for purpose of drawing up our estate planning. I reminded her it said divorce and separation in the document with no mention of estate planning, and she never told me that. (That was definitely covering her ass).
She ended the E-mail with no hard feelings, and whatever she can do to be of assistance to me in this or other matters. Said, “I wish you love, and many blessings,” and continued to make me out as a nut case by saying, “You need to engage in whatever will help you attain peace of mind. You must find your center in order to operate from a place of strength and well-being.”
Ya, I found my center alright – hiring another attorney who has been in contact with me daily and filed the petition for divorce the day after my first meeting with him.
I ended my E-mail to her by saying that perhaps, because we have been friends and she has handled other cases for me, perhaps she should take a look at the fact that maybe she was not able to maintain objectivity in what she felt was looking out for my best interests. I went on to tell her it was not her place to not return phone calls and stall this divorce out just so I might get a better settlement, and I made it quite clear to her that I needed to move on with the divorce quickly for my own emotional well-being, and again, it was not her place to make the determination of when the petition would be filed. I also told her I had lived 3 yrs. of emotional abuse, lieing, and manipulation from Steve and made that very clear to her, as well.
So, that’s my story for the day. My attorney talked with her yesterday, and I am sure she made me out as a “nut case.” All he told me was she appeared quite upset. I E-mailed my attorney her nasty E-mail to me and my reply, which should show anyone with an ounce of sense she was not ethical in doing her job.
Screw her – she knows the only reason I fired her was because she was not doing her job!! Anyway, it was all quite upsetting. This too shall pass.