Lawyer Unresponsive

[rthomass]

I engaged a lawyer from tbe firm of Lieberman & Mark of Washington DC to represent me before the United States Court of Veterans Claims. She did get the court to remand the case back to the AMC and BVA and now it sets at the Local VARO, Louisville, Kentucky. I have researched and feel that I am the one doing all the work in perfecting my claim. She refuses to take my calls and as far as I can ascetain she has never contacted the VARO Appeals Management Team. I want to terminate her but my wife thinks if I do so it would set us up for a lawsuit. I have read the agreement between this lawyer and myself and feel that since she is reiticent in her duties she has breached the contract.

I do not recommend this firm to any Veteran.

[ruby]

Be careful in what you do or say that is negative, they can go after you- make sure you have the evidence to support your statements.

While you may feel that you are doing all the work, it could be that what your doing isn't necessary to win your claim. It could be lots of reason that are valid on her part.--Just being devils advocate.

If you don't have documentation of what you said and you SLANDER thier names and caused them to lose potential clients then they could sue you and get all your back pay.

You need to look at your state laws and see what is considered slander.

Evidence is everytime you call them you log it in a book, with the time they took to respond or no response, when you get off the phone document your conversation--if you live in a one party state then you can record your phone calls without them knowing it. DO NOT RECORD UNLESS YOU ARE A ONE PARTY STATE-with that said, if you record and your in a 2 party state don't tell anyone. It is a felon in some states. You can get around this, but why go through that, just keep your mouth shut.

In Federal courts recordings are legal even if its a 2 party state. In other words the fed gov considers all states as one party.

Do everything in writing, always be polite, stick to the facts only. Always CMRR. The turn around time in most legal communities is 14 days( it might be 30 days, I forgot) then its considered not in a timely manner.

I would send them a letter with your questions and document your attempts to reach them without success and that you ARE CONCERNED THEY MAY HAVE MISSED OR WILL MISS A DEADLINE.

DO NOT FILE A COMPLAINT with anyone at this time--Many reasons for this---In order for a complaint to be really valid you need lots of documentation--based on your thread you don't have that at this time.

You have to know what the laws are in your state to file a complaint that takes research on what the Boards require, they do make it difficult.

You can look them up on the internet for your state- google - your state bars association. The rules and regs are there.

Not trying to scare anyone but be warned, you can't say things in a public arena that can harm someones reputation or character.

While it would be stupid for them to go after someone,they could. If you can back up what you say its not slander.

The best way to get them is to start with putting all communication in writing. If they screw up and miss a deadline, sue them for malpractice, again this requires evidence which you will have with your written communications.

While I am not an attorney, been there done that. I only know Florida laws, but some laws are similiar in every state.

[john999]

Many lawyers will say that they can do anything and even beat Perry Mason when, in fact, they know nothing about that certain issue. They figure they can just look it up in their law books and win it. They are greedy for the money. About the only way I know to find good ones is by word of mouth.

[vaf]

We had a very bad experience with this firm, as well. We were not high maintenance clients, however, we ran into the same problem with not having calls returned after the initial agreement was signed. At that point, my husband's appeal had been denied at the Board level and we had appealed to the Court. Before the Court did anything (remember, a win at the Court level is a remand, not necessarily a decision granting or denying your claim), we notified the VARO, the Board and the Court that we were firing the attorney due to a total lack of communication with us as their client. After we faxed them(with transmission confirmation) that we were terminating the agreement, the attorney e-mailed us. She claimed to have never gotten any of our messages, blaming her administrative assistant and the receptionist, etc. She added that she would mail us a formal letter acknowledging the termination of the contract -- we never heard from her again, in any form.

We then forwarded a copy of the fax we sent, as well as the e-mail she sent, explained to the VARO, the Board and the Court that we never received the termination acknowledgement she promised to send, and also told them that she was not due a penny in payment. We then hired another attorney, with whom we are very pleased.

Edited January 21, 2008 by vaf

[rthomass]

vaf: I have to agree with you. I believe the firm is amber of the CAVC Bar. Are you aware of anyone who has complained to the US Court Of Appeals for Veterans Claims Bar? My remanded appeal is back at the local Veterans Administration Regional Office with the Appeals Management Team. I feel I have done all the research and prepared all if not most of the documents to prove my case. Hate to terminate this late but damn I really do want to. did you encounter the weird procedure they use such as one is the contact and the other member of the firm is the litigator befor the Court?

Randall

Nakhon Phanom Thailand Aug 69 to Aug 70

Agent Orange Contact

[vaf]

No, the contact was the same person as the litigator -- the attorney we had the problem with was a principal with the firm. No, we didn't complain formally. I didn't want to address that distraction with everything else going on with the VA.

We don't use a VSO, so I had my hands full with the challenges at hand. I didn't want another one.

My gut reaction tells me that even though you did most of the work to this time, you would have a hard time proving that. It's one thing to accumulate the evidence that the attorney needs to frame your case, it's another for the attorney to argue case law and present the argument, using that evidence. I'm not saying you didn't do what you say you did, I'm just saying the water is muddy enough to confuse that particular issue. You may not be able to objectively prove anything.

I believe it's better to cut your losses, fire the attorney, find another more reputable one (who shouldn't have any problem getting up to speed on your case), and move on from there. You should probably determine you can find a reputable attorney willing to take the case before you fire this one, though. I think either way, the attorney will get paid for anything that's been done to date. Just my opinion.

Edited January 21, 2008 by vaf

[Berta]

"Are you aware of anyone who has complained to the US Court Of Appeals for Veterans Claims Bar?"

The Court has disbarred some attorneys n the past and even the BVA has been instrumental in sanctioning a few.

You could access 38 USC 14.633 -it is here under the search feature-

and read it to determine if you should file a complaint with the General Counsel.

I used this reg to file a complaint against my former POA and the VA GC lawyer who is handling it told me he had not ever seen one from a VA claimant before-regarding their POA- he usually sees complaints against lawyers who rep vets, however-few and far between- as many vets do not let the GC know when they have problems with POAS and lawyers who rep them.

The reg covers all vet reps and all lawyers who handle their claims-

If any of us have a legit complaint against reps or attorneys-and then do nothing about it- it only means the rep or atty can go and mess up another vet's claim.

There is no complaint form and my complaint is 25 pages long with 35 pieces of documented evidence.

Cant post it here as a template- but the regulation

Termination of Accreditation-vet reps and lawyers-

here under search feature-

clearly shows how to present a formal complaint to the Office of General Counsel if you fall into the regs guidelines-

Also dont forget anybody- you can fight any attorney fee for any CAVC cases by formally NODding the VA's fee agreement decision.

An attorney fee agreement for Court cases involves 5 or 6 specific requirements that the attorney must follow-

if you NOD the fee, the attorney doesnt get paid until the NOD is resolved.