John Andrew Clark

I was seeking legal advice on filing custody for my child. In doing so, I was naturally looking for when and how the best time to pursue this would be. In contacting this firm, I was only allowed to talk to a paralegal who is the front person for the firm. All of my questions were filtered through th...e paralegal and I did not get any time with one of the attorneys in the firm before actually filing, though I asked for it. After filing and upon my first encounter with Mr Clark, his responses contradicted all of the answers and points given to me by the paralegal in my consultation before I filed. I would not have filed this case if I had been given these same answers during my legal consultation. My contention is that an attorney should give a potential client first hand answers and an assessment of their chances on winning a suit before the client files it. Most attorneys do this. During the suit, Mr. Clark and the opposing council and court agreed upon non attorney mediation between the parties. I was not instructed or advised on how to proceed or handle myself during the mediation. The mediation yielded an agreement between my child's mother and myself that had given me signifigantly more time with my child. I needed to check on some dates before signing the agreement making it final and legal. But since I left the mediation before I signed the agreement, her attorney negated it. Mr Clark did not advise me on this fact or how the mediation worked so I lost signifigant time with my son and settled for just an upgrade of my parental rights to the current statutes. My contention here is that it is definitely an attorney's duty and obligation to understand and advise his client on how to proceed with any court appointed legal processes that he agrees to submit his client to or the client may suffer losses from it.