I Think I Need A New Lawyer... what's the next step?

[Duck_Borders]

Hey Everyone,

I'm actually making this post for a friend of mine who's going through a nasty divorce with what appears to be an intelligent Narcissistic Personality Disorder Mom. 

My friend and I share the same lawyer (that's how we met).  This lawyer seems to have made some major mistakes on both of our cases.  His case is further along, so it's harder for him to switch (I've already switched lawyers). 

One of the problems he's having is that it's really hard to know what was screwed up and what procedure wasn't followed etc.  Family Court is really confusing for the untrained eye. 

Another important note - his (our) lawyer seems to be making a lot of waves in our local family court system.  This lawyer has pissed off at least a couple judges.

He's got a major financial hearing coming up in 2 weeks.  Is it too late to switch lawyers?  And if not, what's the best way to go about finding a new lawyer to take over?  Another problem he has is he's out of money and he has a very complex case, so getting someone to read through all of the case is going to be very expensive.  He's concerned his first lawyer made the case so complicated so that other lawyers wouldn't want to take it on.

Any advice is very much appreciated!

Cheers,

Duck

[ForeverDad]

About all I can add is that if a new lawyer needs time to become acquainted with a case then the lawyer will file for a continuance and almost surely get one.  I don't believe a court would force a lawyer to handle a case he hadn't sufficiently reviewed.  Is he concerned about another delay in the case or is he okay with a necessary delay of a month or two?

[momtara]

Sometimes it's best not to keep putting off resolving a dysfunctional situation. See if he can stall and give a new lawyer all the info to become familiar with the case. All lawyers get busy and make mistakes (sadly!) but it sounds like with this one it's time for a change. He can post questions on avvo.com by the way and get free answers, there's a way to do it. It was helpful to me when I was considering a similar change to a more experienced family lawyer.