Formalities to complete after firing the attorney

[mesara]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I live in Lake City. My attorney is leaking the case to his friends and I decided to fire him and represent myself until I find a reasonable attorney in my civil dispute. I have questions on the formalities that should be completed after firing the attorney and request your feedback to make sure I am correct or missing anything.


(Q1). I will send a letter to the plaintiff saying that I represent myself from now onwards. The beginning/top of the letter contains the case number, case details, etc (in the same way my attorney prepared for sending responses to discovery requests) followed by the actual content indicating that I am representing myself and provide my contact details and ask them to send all communications to this address. I also indicate my email in the contact and ask them to treat all my email communications as my printed and sign communications. I sign at the end of the letter.

After that I include a certificate of service (in the similar format my attorney was sending responses to discovery requests).

Is this enough?

Do my signatures (in the letter or in the certificate of service) be notarized?


(Q2). I think I need to file a copy of this letter to the Court. To the court, can I send the same copy of the letter that I sent to the Plaintiff or do I need to prepare a letter specifically addressing the court?

Can I send the letter by FedEx to the court? I knew the court’s physical address but do I need to include the Judge’s name (or my case number) on top of the address (on the FedEx envelope): I wish to make sure my letter reaches the right person at the court.

(Q3). In case I need to include the Judge’s name on the envelope then I have one more question: Until now, more than one judge sent some orders in the past in my case. Whose name should I include on the FedEx envelope?

Is there any way to submit my documents (this letter or any future ones) electronically to the Court?


(Q4). Apart from the Court and the Plaintiff, do I need to inform anyone else indicating self representation?

(Q5). Once these are done, can I directly communicate with the Plaintiff?

Thanks in advance.
Mesara

 

[FlyingRon]

You'd be better off finding a different attorney and have him cover the subsitution of counsel. Almost everything you're suggesting to do is WRONG and will get you in trouble.

First off, you don't WRITE judges. That's called ex parte communication and is strictly forbidden. What you need to do here is make a motion to withdraw/substitute counsel. That is made with reference to the case (plaintiff v. defendant and whatever numbers your court use) and sent to the COURT (not a judge, the COURT). It must also be served on the other parties (via their attorney if they have one as well as your own attorney).

Similarly, if the other party is represented, you don't communicate with them except through their attorney. Even then, depending on what sort of communication you are envisioning, it may be ill advised to do so outside of a court setting.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

... I decided to fire him and represent myself until I find a reasonable attorney in my civil dispute. I have questions on the formalities that should be completed after firing the attorney ... Mesara

First, I agree with what FlyingRon wrote. You would do well to hire another attorney to handle this. Your questions indicate that you are not well-versed enough in civil procedure right now to handle your civil dispute on your own and, because you have a case in progress, you probably do not have enough time to learn what you need to learn in order to represent yourself adequately.

That said, here is a link to Florida's Rules of Civil Procedure, with what you need to know:
http://phonl.com/fl_laws/rules/frcp/

In addition to filing a motion to substitute counsel as FlyingRon noted, you will probably also want to file a motion for continuance, to allow time to either find a new attorney or to give your new attorney time to review your case file.

The motion to substitute counsel must be approved by the court in order to remove your attorney from the case. Until the motion is approved, the court clerk will continue to send court notifications to your first attorney.

From the link provided above, you can, among other Rules to review, look at Rule 1.100 Motions and Rule 1.460 Continuances.

If your contract with your first attorney does not have a "nonrefundable retainer" clause and there is money remaining from the retainer, you will want to have refunded to you any unearned fees. You should get a detailed accounting of his costs. If you owe your first attorney money for services he has already rendered that go above and beyond the retainer amount, you will need to pay these fees, probably before the attorney releases your case files to you or turns them over to your new attorney.

Depending on who your attorney has discussed your case with, and why, you might consider filing a grievance with the State Bar if it seems clear the attorney violated client/attorney confidentiality.

Again, you will be best served by hiring another attorney to handle this for you. Good luck with your civil action.

 

[mesara]

greatly appreciated Quincy!

 

[quincy]

We appreciate the appreciation, mesara. Thanks. And good luck in court.