I'm being sued by my ex-divorce attorney for $10K in fees and defamation of character what can I do to stop these suits?

Asked in Dallas, TX - about 3 years

After more than two and a half months with no contract, bill or redo on the only thing he did on my divorce (an answer and a counterpetition), my lawyer got huffy when I asked in writing for correction of these difficiencies. He called with a lot of passion about deserving 1/3 of my share of the marital estate and threatened to withdraw if I didn't straighten up. He also included a bill to date of $10K. I fired him and didn't reinstate the $5k he had already drawn from my credit card. He is now intervening in my divorce case and leading me through hell with demands for production and depositions. In my divorce case he didn't manage to do any of this. He has promised to file a defamation case against me based on my grievance to the state bar if I don't give him over $5k by Monday.