Steven P. Green

Through the first months of his representation of me in my divorce, I regarded Steven Green as a smart, well-intentioned, capable lawyer I could trust to do his best, even if miracles were not to be expected. I tried to overlook such things as his tendency to rarely respond to my messages; his pursui...t of a cautious strategy (avoiding any mention of my wife's aggressive behavior) that left the door wide open for a barrage of mudslinging from my wife's attorney; and his being distracted with another client while in court with me. Par for the course, I told myself. Now I view him as someone who consistently misled me and failed to communicate information I should have been made promptly aware of. After our second divorce hearing, the judge issued an order concerning our parenting schedule that left one salient point obscure: where was our son to spend Sunday night? With his mother, Steven wrote to me. I then took a quick look at the order myself. No, I replied, that is unclear. Steven said I was right. This troubled me: my own lawyer had misread the order. I immediately asked Steven to file a motion for clarification, asking that in doing so he reiterate my defense. Days passed. Finally I sent him a fax outlining various concerns, including the delay in the filing of the motion. Without acknowledging receipt of the fax, he replied, briefly, by email, that he had just spoken by phone with my wife's counsel--and they agreed to file a "joint motion"--since, explained Steven, that would be more effective than were he to file one on his own. I was disappointed, but figured he knew best. Well, as I've confirmed with the court, Steven filed nothing; nor did he sign on to any joint motion. Indeed, two weeks after he brought my concerns to the attention of my wife's counsel, the latter filed a motion for relief from the order--on my wife's behalf, reiterating only her arguments. Steven received a copy of that motion but never sent it to me. In fact, I emailed him to ask if the "joint motion" had been submitted already, to which he replied, "Yes motion submitted." Nor did Steven send me a copy of the judge's decision, which came some two weeks later; and which was, predictably, in favor of my wife (i.e., I lost, for now, another night with my son)--as I was compelled to learn only on showing up at the house on Sunday in vain to pick up my son. Later he did email to say he was sorry about that, claiming that he'd mistyped my email address. In short, I'd been on edge for more than a month, waiting anxiously for a decision on a joint motion--that had never been filed. I now have a new lawyer, but have lost more than a month of time and a lot of sleep.