Mark Christopher Lane

I hired Mark to handle a custody case for me. I needed someone who could act quickly as the courts were allowing a registered sex offender and his wife (the mother of another registered sex offender) have unchecked control over my son. Mark swooped in like a hero, said he would work with me on the ...retainer and get started on helping me progress my action. I paid him $1500 in retainer and didn't hear from him for nearly 3 months. The next time I did hear from him it was a letter telling me that he had apparently previously represented my ex & ex's new wife and wouldn't be able to represent me. I asked for a refund of my retainer and was informed that not only did they "take" my whole retainer but that I still owed them another $190. So for Mark to draft and file an appearance and motion to withdraw he charged me $1,690.00. Mind you, I am a paralegal myself and know that an appearance should only be billed at .1 and I was billed for an entire half an hour to draft a 3 sentence document. I also know that you are required to run a conflicts check and if you are prohibited from representing that prospect due to conflict you don't get to take their money. Failure on the part of the firm to identify a conflict does not mean that the client has to still pay for the little work the attorney did (in this case drafting only the appearance and withdrawal). The attorney has to eat those billables because they were prohibited from engaging with the client in the first place. Mr. Lane's actions cost me precious time that I did not have, and him keeping my money that he was not entitled to has left me without the ability to hire another attorney. So basically he took all the money I had for an attorney retainer from me and then did nothing on my case for those funds. I will be filing complaints with the Texas Bar Association as Mr. Lane's practices are in direct violation of Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. § 1.06 for failing to run a conflicts check before engaging in representation on my behalf which resulted in him receiving documentation/information in my case that he wouldn't not have been entitled to if he was representing my ex; Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. § 1.04 for unconscionable and illegal fees in that he charged me for his mistake AND he overbilled me for the two basic tasks that were done; and the Texas Office of the Attorney General for violation of Texas BUS & COM § 17.46 for false, misleading, or deceptive trade practices. It should also be noted that Mr. Lane wasn't even the one to identify the conflict, Opposing Counsel had to tell him that he had previously represented my ex. He didn't even remember that my ex was a client, or maybe he did and was just looking to make a quick buck off of me. For anyone else who comes here because they believe Mr. Lane has allegedly perpetrated a fraud against them, know this...If you believe you have been the victim of fraud at the hands of an attorney, Texas is one of the few states where the AG office will investigate, charge, adjudicate, and hold accountable attorneys who engage in fraudulent, misleading, and/or deceptive business practices. So be sure you file your complaints with them as well, the BAR will only issue a private or public admonishment if they feel the attorney's actions rise to that level, but the AG office will publicly litigate them and if the Courts find that the attorney was in the wrong, they will make them pay.