Appreciate any advice. My sibling and I hired a lawyer with contested probate experience after finding out our aunt was defrauding us out of our inheritance after my father and grandmother passed away. A year and nearly $20k in, the lawyer left the law firm suddenly. The law firm didn’t notify us until several weeks after he had left and they assigned us to a very young lawyer that has no probate experience. The new lawyer also announced to opposing counsel that she was our new lawyer before they even contacted us about our actual lawyer leaving. She was late and very unprepared for our meeting and let us know this was dumped on her lap the week she returned from maternity leave after being gone for over a year. We met with their operations manager and she was upfront that they have no one with the experience our lawyer had. We invested a lot into this lawyer, who said he had a long term strategy for the case, and now we’re faced with trying to find another lawyer and get them up to speed all while it’s finally go time. We had a few consults with other probate lawyers and one was very clear it was going to be several hours for him to get up to speed on the case. We feel like we’re losing the time and financial resources we put into the case with the other lawyer. Is there any obligation the law firm has to make us whole for our lawyer quitting the firm (or getting fired, it’s not clear) and the fact that they have no one with similar experience? The rest of the lawyers seem to be divorce lawyers. Would it be fair to ask for some kind of good faith effort/refund so we can move forward with another lawyer or do clients generally have to eat the costs and time if a lawyer leaves a law firm and there’s no one else with the experience to take the case? If you’ve read this far, thank you and I’d appreciate any insight on this issue. Location: San Diego, CA.
Comments
Do you know where your lawyer went? Many times when a lawyer leaves a law firm, the lawyer takes clients with him or her. The law firm isn’t allowed to interfere with a client’s wish to follow a lawyer who’s leaving to the lawyer’s new firm. If you don’t know ask the current law firm – if they know they’re required to tell you.
If you terminate the law firm’s representation of you, the law firm is required to refund to you any retainer/pre-paid amount that has not been used yet. The law firm is not required to refund you money that has already been used to pay for legal work.
The lawyer is still your lawyer, unless/until he withdraws from your case/representation, you fire him, or he dies. I would find out where he went, reach out to him, and tell him you want him to continue as your lawyer.