What is the name of your state?MN
Currently I have discrimination, harrassemt, and retaliation charges against my former employer filed with the MHRA and they are going to go ahead and take it to an investigation. It is a complicated case involving the above mentioned actions against me and then when that wasn't enough, they moved on to my husband (a co-worker), ordered a contracted employee to physically assault me (yes there is proof and witnesses), and finally my former employer used his position (school district superintendent) to harrass my children (we moved them to another distict). This has been going on for nearly 10 months. My attorney has tried to negotiate mutually agreeable seperation, but to no avail. Finally this fall we filed charges with the MHRA. At that time, my attorney said that his help in filing the paperwork would be a about $3000. Instead it has been $22,000. ($32,000 total). A great deal of the billing is for work his law student has done at $100 per hour and for in-house conferences between my attorney (a senior attorney in the firm) and one of the partners. When they are both together I am paying both attorneys fees mine ($200) and the partner ($400). I don't want to challenge any of the charges, I spend every moment of every day dealing with this fight with my former employer and I don't want to fight with anyone else, but I am going to be bankrupt if the charges keep up at this rate. I know that good attorneys don't come cheap, and I don't mind paying for the best, but I'm not exactly convinced that he has always made the best decisions for me. I selected this firm on the recommendation of my realestate attorney who said that they were the best in the state. However, I have since learned that they are known for pushing settlements and shying from actual taking it to court. I have a big stack of wonderful letters that my attorney has written, but every single time, the other attorney calls the bluff and my attorney seems to do an about face.
I have a good strong case. I have done nothing wrong. I don't fear this going to court if need be, and I realize that if it does this will get very very expensive, but if I have spent $32,000 and are just now at the MDHR investigation....
Is it normal to spend this much? Am I wrong to think that my attorney is little more aggressive about his billing than he is about his representation? Would you recommend looking for another attorney? If I start looking for an another attorney how do I go about it? Does my current attorney have to turn over his file to me if I request it?
Currently I have discrimination, harrassemt, and retaliation charges against my former employer filed with the MHRA and they are going to go ahead and take it to an investigation. It is a complicated case involving the above mentioned actions against me and then when that wasn't enough, they moved on to my husband (a co-worker), ordered a contracted employee to physically assault me (yes there is proof and witnesses), and finally my former employer used his position (school district superintendent) to harrass my children (we moved them to another distict). This has been going on for nearly 10 months. My attorney has tried to negotiate mutually agreeable seperation, but to no avail. Finally this fall we filed charges with the MHRA. At that time, my attorney said that his help in filing the paperwork would be a about $3000. Instead it has been $22,000. ($32,000 total). A great deal of the billing is for work his law student has done at $100 per hour and for in-house conferences between my attorney (a senior attorney in the firm) and one of the partners. When they are both together I am paying both attorneys fees mine ($200) and the partner ($400). I don't want to challenge any of the charges, I spend every moment of every day dealing with this fight with my former employer and I don't want to fight with anyone else, but I am going to be bankrupt if the charges keep up at this rate. I know that good attorneys don't come cheap, and I don't mind paying for the best, but I'm not exactly convinced that he has always made the best decisions for me. I selected this firm on the recommendation of my realestate attorney who said that they were the best in the state. However, I have since learned that they are known for pushing settlements and shying from actual taking it to court. I have a big stack of wonderful letters that my attorney has written, but every single time, the other attorney calls the bluff and my attorney seems to do an about face.
I have a good strong case. I have done nothing wrong. I don't fear this going to court if need be, and I realize that if it does this will get very very expensive, but if I have spent $32,000 and are just now at the MDHR investigation....
Is it normal to spend this much? Am I wrong to think that my attorney is little more aggressive about his billing than he is about his representation? Would you recommend looking for another attorney? If I start looking for an another attorney how do I go about it? Does my current attorney have to turn over his file to me if I request it?