James D. Roark

I certainly disagree with this former client’s rendition of the matter, even aside from the rude remarks. I was never retained to draft a motion for enforcement. The client prepared her own motion, filed it (pro se), then brought it to me telling me it had been served on the opposing party and a court date was set. I was retained to appear on that date and argue *her* motion. So when I appeared, I learned that the motion she gave me was one that she filed AFTER the one she had served on the other party. As a result, the court did not hear it. Another complication in that case was that the court had ruled on a modification action 4 or 5 months previously and the client (pro se again) had been ordered to prepare the order. She had not done so. I suggested she include a clause for attorney’s fees if she was going to file the same motion for enforcement again to have served. She agreed, but was still not willing to retain me to redraft the motion. The court eventually struck most of the language in the motion for enforcement as not specific enough to enforce. The case was not dismissed, but would be if a more proper motion was not submitted. I spent almost an hour explaining why this document did not fly despite her having obtained the form from “reliable sources”. The court set another date for the final modification order to be submitted. She retained me to prepare that document. We also agreed on a retainer fee for me to re-write the motion for enforcement to be done after the final order had been prepared and entered. I submitted a separate digital invoice for each and the retainer for preparing the final order was paid. The client rejected several drafts of the proposed final order, insisting on language not contained in the court’s ruling. I apparently was not helping her husband’s grievance filed against her opposing counsel (I was asked to assist with that, also, but declined) by sticking to the court’s ruling . Then she told me her “other attorney” had told her that my first draft was what was needed and so to file that one (I guess that attorney knew what 2+2 was). At this point, I cancelled my invoice for the retainer to re-write the motion for enforcement. I still prepared and filed the proposed order as I was hired to do. The client retained other counsel to appear for its entry and my draft was what was eventually entered. Thus, I was never retained to redraft her motion for enforcement. Her other statements aren’t any more accurate, but they aren’t about anything that could be documented, including the dire predictions. I leave the rest of her statement to the reader to judge. I tried my best to satisfy the needs of this client, but most of the problems with this client’s case was due to her *pro se* representation before my involvement. The rest due to ignoring the advice of counsel in favor of her own legal “expertise”.