Cheryl Charles-Duval

My interaction with Ms. Charles-Duval, (herein Ms. CD) began during an appeal. After an order of protection, held in my favorite against a family member had been dismissed, referencing that "intent" of the family member was too ambiguous to be proven at trial, I filed an appeal. Ms. CD was appointed.... Initially I did not hear from Ms. CD for a period of time, wherein I contacted her. During this conversation Ms. CD seemed frustrated and angry. Why she appeared so wildly flustered I do not know, but it was not my problem to contend with. Ms. CD insisted that she would be acquiring every transcript possible from the family court, between me and the family member. I informed Ms. CD that such records in this particular litigation went back for nearly 6 years and almost none of them pertained to the particular case which she was handling on appeal. To paraphrase I told Ms. CD that for every 1 page that would apply to the Family Offense against my family member, there would be over 100 pages that had nothing to do with it. (In my own thoughts I questioned whether Ms. Charles-Duval was taking this unnecessary to either run up her billable hours, or to delay her filing deadlines, though I cannot answer that for sure.) At this point Ms. CD became angry, and began to berate me. Ms. CD claimed that she never believes her clients, because she's a lawyer and she knows that clients don't know what they're talking about. Whenever I attempted to speak during this conversation, Ms. CD rudely spoke over me and repeatedly raised her voice. Ms CD insisted that clients do not understand anything about the law, but that she as an attorney has been doing this for very long and does not need any opinions or suggestions from her clients pertaining to legal strategy. Over and over I asked Ms. CD to stop speaking to me in that manner. After her frustration continued to boil over she insisted that we would talk another day. I asked Ms. CD for her email because I did not want to speak with her by phone again. Ms. CD told me that she didn't "know what" her email was. Following this conversation I wrote Ms. CD a letter explaining that her behavior was absolutely unacceptable and that for her to continue as my court appointed attorney on appeal, she would need to speak with respect and keep her poorly developed manners and irrational temperament under control. I provided Ms. CD with my email address in the letter and asked that she please contact me by email upon receipt of my letter. A number of months passed where I heard nothing from Ms. CD. Luckily, in the family court I represented my self, with the aid of a wise legal advisor (Rayaaz Khan), and therefore was successful in litigating the underlying matters associated with this matter. Had the case drawn on I would have certainly motioned the court to remove Ms. Cheryl Charles-Duval and to appoint someone who had a modicum of humility, civility and respect for her clients. My interaction with Ms. Cheryl Charles-Duval, painted a picture of a woman who wholly lacked sophistication and composure. My advice to anyone who is considering hiring Ms. Charles-Duval privately, is to rethink your decision very carefully.