what are some signs that attorney is not doing his job andjust wasting time and your

[DOGGE]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA
I'm curious how can I tell if an attorney we hired for example is actually doing what we paid him for and not just waiting it out and hoping that we just forget that we paid him etc...

my coworker paid the lawyer almost 2 years ago and he said its a good case...(property damage)

but the lawyer keeps telling him to give him another month and another month and get back to you in few weeks.

he has no results sent no papers or emails so far to show that he had any progress on the case.


and what is the right way to ask for a refund from an attorney

obviously he knows the law a lot better than you so threatening him with legally probably not gonna get you anywhere and he said he asked him few times in lst 3 months to get a refund and close the case but got another. give me few weeks response...

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA
I'm curious how can I tell if an attorney we hired for example is actually doing what we paid him for and not just waiting it out and hoping that we just forget that we paid him etc...

my coworker paid the lawyer almost 2 years ago and he said its a good case...(property damage)

but the lawyer keeps telling him to give him another month and another month and get back to you in few weeks.

he has no results sent no papers or emails so far to show that he had any progress on the case.


and what is the right way to ask for a refund from an attorney

obviously he knows the law a lot better than you so threatening him with legally probably not gonna get you anywhere and he said he asked him few times in lst 3 months to get a refund and close the case but got another. give me few weeks response...

Attorneys generally do not wait around hoping their clients will forget them.

If your coworker wants to know how his case is going, he should schedule an appointment to sit down with his attorney for a discussion of his case. The coworker will be paying for the attorney's time so he should write out in advance all questions he has and then stick to the list of questions. Any deviation, to discuss the weather or the kids, equates to more dollars in the pocket of the attorney.

If your coworker is so unhappy with his attorney that he wants to fire the attorney, he should let the attorney know this by letter. The coworker should ask for a detailed accounting of all work that has been done up to that point and what is owed for the services already rendered on his behalf. The coworker should settle the account, ask to have the case files forwarded to his new attorney (or the new attorney can do this) or, if he intends to go pro se, he can ask to have the case files forwarded to him.

The last part of your post is confused but, if I understand it, you are right that it is generally not a good idea to threaten an attorney with a random legal action.

 

[DOGGE]

he sent few emails to the attorney and they communicate mostly through txt message and phone.

and he haven't got anything yet. attorney keeps telling him he will send some papers or email info but so far he said he haven't got anything that the attorney promised

I mean doesn't a client have a right to ask for the money back if he was promised something and its not even close.
he said he will refund the money minus whatever been done already but now my coworker is past the statue of limitations and if the lawyer haven't even started the case he cant do anything...if I understand correctly.

 

[quincy]

he sent few emails to the attorney and they communicate mostly through txt message and phone.

and he haven't got anything yet. attorney keeps telling him he will send some papers or email info but so far he said he haven't got anything that the attorney promised

I mean doesn't a client have a right to ask for the money back if he was promised something and its not even close.
he said he will refund the money minus whatever been done already but now my coworker is past the statue of limitations and if the lawyer haven't even started the case he cant do anything...if I understand correctly.

I don't know what your coworker's situation is, or what has or has not been done by his attorney, but your coworker could probably benefit by scheduling an appointment with his attorney to discuss the status of the case - this before dismissing the attorney. He might not walk away from the meeting as disillusioned as he apparently is now.

It is often that clients think that their attorneys are moving too slow and doing nothing with their case. This is rarely true. It is true that most attorneys are working on more than one case at a time. It is also true that there can be an awful lot of waiting that goes on which is entirely out of the control of the attorney.

Here is a link to the Washington Bar Association's Rules of Professional Conduct, so your coworker can better tell if his attorney is crossing any lines (based on what you have said so far, it doesn't sound like it): http://www.wsba.org/~/media/Files/Resources_Services/Ethics/RPC booklet.ashx

Good luck to your coworker.

 

[latigo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA
I'm curious how can I tell if an attorney we hired for example is actually doing what we paid him for and not just waiting it out and hoping that we just forget that we paid him etc...

my coworker paid the lawyer almost 2 years ago and he said its a good case...(property damage)

but the lawyer keeps telling him to give him another month and another month and get back to you in few weeks.

he has no results sent no papers or emails so far to show that he had any progress on the case.


and what is the right way to ask for a refund from an attorney

obviously he knows the law a lot better than you so threatening him with legally probably not gonna get you anywhere and he said he asked him few times in lst 3 months to get a refund and close the case but got another. give me few weeks response...

"What are some signs that attorney is not doing his job and just wasting time?"

All of the above!

 

[LdiJ]

he sent few emails to the attorney and they communicate mostly through txt message and phone.

and he haven't got anything yet. attorney keeps telling him he will send some papers or email info but so far he said he haven't got anything that the attorney promised

I mean doesn't a client have a right to ask for the money back if he was promised something and its not even close.
he said he will refund the money minus whatever been done already but now my coworker is past the statue of limitations and if the lawyer haven't even started the case he cant do anything...if I understand correctly.

If the statute of limitation has truly expired then its time for your coworker to make a formal complaint to the state bar association.

 

[quincy]

...if I understand correctly.

It is hard to know exactly what is going on because this is DOGGE's coworker who is having issues with his attorney, not DOGGE. It is possible that what the coworker is saying to DOGGE is not really what is happening with the coworker's attorney or the case.

It would be nice if DOGGE's coworker could post for himself.

 

[DOGGE]

hes not very internet friendly lol
he doesn't even have a facebook account...
whatever I said is what he said pretty much

it was more of a bitching moment because he doesn't know what to do to continue to wait or file a report etc.so he asked me for advice which I couldn't help him with since I didn't know much either but I said I can look online but didn't find much

the papers were filed before the statute of limitations expired but now he cant restart it since its already past the time

 

[quincy]

hes not very internet friendly lol
he doesn't even have a facebook account...
whatever I said is what he said pretty much

it was more of a bitching moment because he doesn't know what to do to continue to wait or file a report etc.so he asked me for advice which I couldn't help him with since I didn't know much either but I said I can look online but didn't find much

the papers were filed before the statute of limitations expired but now he cant restart it since its already past the time

The attorney filed the case before the statute of limitations expired. Was the case dismissed without prejudice? It is potentially possible to appeal a dismissal if the statute of limitations determined the outcome of the action by essentially making it a dismissal with prejudice, this depending on facts and specifics.

If in fact your coworker hired an attorney and the attorney failed to file the legal action within the time allowed, however, the coworker should file a complaint with the Washington State Bar: http://www.wsba.org/licensing-and-lawyer-conduct/discipline/file-a-complaint-against-a-lawyer

It is too bad that your coworker did not look into this matter (or have you look into this) earlier. He could have fired the first attorney and hired another.