Thoughts on maybe dismissing my attorney, feedback appreciated

[Axilleas]

Hello everyone,

I've been somewhat more vocal these last couple weeks as everything seems to be coming to fruition, or elaborately xxxxxx...Unfortunately, i dont knwo enough about the va to offer any advice so here i am coming to take...hahaa

Seriously though, I knew the fee associated with legal representation. I was also well aware I'd be lucky if the attorney actually worked a quarter of what he was being compensated and was willing to sacrifice the pawn and kill a king back then. However, while for the better part of 5 years he's been able to offload responsibility to the VA for lack of response - the more research of my own i do, the less it appears he's even done than most of the shittier lawyers i've seen complained about. One of the biggest things that kills me is he should always be the more informed party between me and him about this type of stuff...And, i'd say he's uninformed or clueless more than 50% of the time he gives me reason for one thing or another.

I had caught my first felony at the end of 2016 for heroin possesion. I didnt talk to him much up till around spring time this year because it wasn't my top priority and i had to do a few months of county jail...Anyway, i initially  contacted upon release to see how everything was going. And he's more or less despondent. When i ask if my drug addiction/legal trouble could be used to strengthen my cause he told me no...on the contrary, felons aren't normally well received with favorable reviews - and that drug addicts are even less likely to get anything because the board "would hate to give someone so irresponsible a hunk of tax-payer money to buy drugs with." I was obviously crushed, and had yet to come to understand my lawyer often speaks without reason or knowledge. He then reassured me not to worry, he wouldn't drop me as a client since ive been with him for quite some time but that "he doesnt know of an attorney that would represent me" given those factors. Just to highlight the nature of my relationship with him.

I told him tdiu is really just not a goal of mine anymore since i had filled a decade ago and my conditions had only worsened and that P&T was really the only end game for me. When i asked if if the drug addiction could be used to highlight the 8 years out of the corps i was clean and sober until i snapped he said "if we get you in front of a board - you might find a judge that willing to hear it that way." Where does this guy actually come in if he can't even use a little courtroom rhetoric to help advocate my case? I personally filed the NOD by spending 20 hours in the law library chasing each component listed for denial to rebute, although that was prior to having him...and really come to think of it don't know one real contribution he's made to this effort.

Now, i wish i saved the post where one guy was complaining, thinking about changing lawyers for like 6th time and a hadit member and attorney just ripped him in half as a pariah on hard working people...naturally, the last part caught my eye and this guy went on about how lawyers for claims generally go out of their pocket for private doctors, and experts that can support this or that, and that for clients with little hopes of making any substantial money often run at a deficit. He is an attorney, and i've never met an honest or charitable one - so maybe they're more realistically doing whatever best helps facilitate their investment. If my attorney did just that, made sure he saw a return on his "investment" which i guess is very little, i'd be more than happy with that. But, I'm really just struggling a reason to keep him employed with me. I'm not a bad guy, or one who goes back on his word...And even if i find he's been pretty much dead weight i've carried wont cherish giving him his pink slip.

I dont know guys...I'm allegedly in the works(aren't we all") for a six figure award...bringing my side kick there roughly $30,000 give or take some. What would you guys do here? How could i approach exactly what contribution he's made thus far. Or perhaps tell him fee or no fee he's in it for the long haul, and if he cant lawyer up a way to solidify my P&T then *Insert some legal ramification" and if not applicable, and i have no way to entice his hardest effort than i likely have to walk...

Thank you all, and I'm praying the forum member esquire who i mentioned comes across this. I need a counterweight here.

[Axilleas]

Thank you everyone for all the support and help!! Marines don't quit, and when up against the ropes in another "mans land" where we dont speak the language or understand motives, all i could do is arm myself to the teeth with information. Unfortunately, my morality is really kind of all over the place with certain perceived injustices and since i haven't outed myself in any way, lets say i've already snooped around this fellas computer and for a married man ...he's certainly got a lot to think about losing over 20k$.

Do you guys think living as an expatriate while on disability would carry over any sort of the same standards? I mean as long as you dont advertise it right? Ive see a few vets on here win their claim and the next day there on pattaya beach, thailand with an assumed girl at their side. Just keeping up with any potential correspondence or at worse an exam? I have a european passport from birth...Im starting to feel pretty good here...Lastly can someone explain the 5 year, 10 year, 20 year concept to me? At 20 year, aside from fraud of course, they are pretty much locked on? Does that mean i could start pulling six figures in and they cant touch it? or aside from c&p at year 19 - just to make sure i really wasn't maybe a little kidding, they just wont make me pursue any treatment/examinations? and at 5 years for tdiu, 10 years P&T TDIU? 

I will start a new thread called the "death of a lawyer" for all interested in seeing just how easy, or maybe initially heated that develops...cant say i wont toy with the kitten either. Respect and love from another hadit success story. Please private message me a treasury fund account(paypal, maybe BTC wallet?) or however you guys accept donations. You deserve it.

 

P.S. I saw that following the acceptance another claim with begin simultaneously as a "attorney payment claim" - is that how they do it? 

Edited November 1, 2018 by Axilleas
clarity

[GeekySquid]

8 hours ago, Axilleas said:

P.S. I saw that following the acceptance another claim with begin simultaneously as a "attorney payment claim" - is that how they do it?  

Typically a legal POA to a lawyer to handle a contingency case along with the services contract demands that any award goes to the Lawyer and the Lawyer then pays the client after taking their cut.

The VA does not pay the same way insurance companies or other typical contingency case pays.

These days we get a direct deposit to our personal accounts or to a conservatory account if found to be unable to handle our own finances.

The VA is unlikely to just slice off a chunk and send to a lawyer without a process that likely includes a formal claim that reiterates their right to receive that money because of a duly signed POA and services contract. Maybe  a lawyer will tell you the exact steps.

as for the 5 year rules and other limititations

https://themilitarywallet.com/can-the-va-reduce-disability-benefits/