Is this an attorney ethical violation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She is getting screwed over and she should fire them. Find a small practice.

Reading comprehension, dipsh!t?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are getting a partial refund, I would just move on. The kid was brand new.

I would focus on my own family in family court.

I often hear people blaming the lawyer for the outcome. It may be true. Don’t understand why they didn’t ask for a new lawyer during the process.

You clearly haven’t worked in family law. The industry gets away with shockingly bad behavior and poor standards because so much of what they do is in closed courtrooms with closed dockets. Many of them depend on clients being wrapped up in their family drama and not complaining or being able to do anything about poor service, poor prep and overbilling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll try to be succinct. This is an extended family member, not me so I’ll also leave out anything personal. This was a family court situation, which I know can be extremely messy. She hired an attorney through a law firm that was recommended. The attorney they assigned was brand spanking new, and the partner assured her that this attorney would be mentored, monitored, and supported throughout the entire trial. To say that didn’t happen would be an understatement. She was grossly, unprepared, made not one single objection, didn’t introduce most of the evidence provided to her, mismanaged her time and ran out of time leaving the other party essentially not cross-examined. I could go on and on, but I will just say that she could’ve done a better job herself. I know people say that all the time, but in this case, it really was quite true. She could’ve at least achieved the same result without spending upwards of $30,000.

OK, so now she has a new attorney trying to undo the mess that this trial attorney created, and her new attorney fully agrees that it’s a mess. But that attorney is obviously focused on moving forward. In the meantime, my family member contacted the old firm and outlined point by point with very specific examples of how things did not go the way they represented they would. Not the outcome, but the process where they essentially left this woman by herself with not 1 ounce of assistance. They were asking for a refund of some, not all, of the money they paid upfront for this misrepresentation.

As it turns out, they did get a partial refund, but in exchange, they had her sign an NDA committing to not making a Bar complaint. That felt unprofessional and dishonest to me and a quick Google search is telling me that it is an ethical violation. But that’s Google. Are there any attorneys here who could weigh in on whether or not this is an actual ethical violation by this firm??

Obviously I wasn't there, but I've been both a state and federal prosecutor and have tried more cases than I can count. There can be a big gap between what skilled courtroom advocacy looks like and what a layperson thinks skilled courtroom advocacy looks like. You mentioned not objecting, but particularly in a bench trial, there's often very little benefit to making most objections and there are good strategic reasons for not objecting. You also mentioned that she didn't introduce certain evidence, but it is very common for victims/plaintiffs to have a pile of evidence that they think is important that either legally irrelevant or inadmissible.

Your relative sounds like she expected to see her lawyer jumping up and down and banging on the table. The fact that her lawyer took a different tack doesn't mean she provided ineffective representation.