Will this attorney be properly prepared?

Edwards Finance > Wills

Q. A person I know has a child custody case pending in a state other than the one in which she resides. She retained an attorney approximately nine months ago; local attorneys told her that the data in Martindale-Hubbell looked good. She has recently received correspondence from that attorney stating that the case is first on the docket for the week of March 25, and that the attorney will let her know whether or not they will go to trial then. The attorney has not informed my acquaintance of the law relevant to the facts in the case, as to the arguments she plans to use, of the anticipated strategies of the other parties, nor of her planned counter-strategies. She has not, it appears, yet communicated with any of the potential witnesses my acquaintance has named for her. She has not arranged for psychological testing or other evidence of the parental fitness of any of the parties. She has billed my acquaintance for reading e-mails sent to her, but has only responded to them on one occasion, when dismissal of the attorney was suggested. Several things the attorney said she intended to do at the time she was retained and at the time of the threatened dismissal have not been done. The attorney broke an appointment to speak by telephone with the attorney who had handled the case locally before jurisdiction was moved, and has made no effort to reschedule it. My acquaintance is concerned, among other things, that the attorney thinks this case will be a slam dunk, and has not acquainted herself with the many factors that have made it not so thus far. With so little time remaining, it is essential that my acquaintance be able to assess whether she will be effectively represented or not. 1) Is it usual for attorneys to avoid preparing for a case until trial is imminent? 2) Is it usual for attorneys to keep their clients in the dark about what is happening and what is expected to happen? 3) How can my acquaintance assess whether the attorney will be prepared by the projected trial date?

A.

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