Mr. Rice Withdraws as Father's Attorney

After our mediation on November 4th, I tried to contact Mr. Rice on numerous occasions to ask what was going to be happening next. I called perhaps twice leaving a message with the legal secretary. I always emailed once a week to ask for an update. No reply.

I had previously expressed my dissatisfaction with the office staff not keeping me up to date on the status of the case. The legal secretary replied that they had other cases they were working on and due to the departure of one of their firm's attorney they were very busy. I made it clear that I am not saying they need to call me or meet with me. Just brief email saying things like "we are still waiting on a reply from the clerk at the court" or "we are starting to draft your motion on xxx and we expect it to be completed with Mr. Rice's review late next week". But the legal secretary just got defensive and kept saying that they can't just drop everything to reply to my questions. They said the best way to get a response was to make an appointment with Mr. Rice. Now that is totally impractical since I have work to pay for Mr. Rice and I am not going to waste his time for a simple update. So I then told them that if they just have too many cases and if my case is less of a priority for them just let me know so I can go else where. They of course assured me that that was not the case.

So by the time December rolled around with no word from Mr. Rice or his legal secretaries, I was at the end of my patience. I had not received the written summary of the mediation that they promised, nor a notice of the follow up mediation appointment. I wondered if I was supposed to contact Mr. Gordon the mediator about it. Also couple months ago I had asked if we should request a social investigation for the case and how I want to have Stacy answer questions through interrogatories. I had not heard whether Mr. Rice thought it was a good idea, bad idea, or he thought it didn't matter. I had to conclude that Mr. Rice just didn't have time to bother with my case and I would probably be better off retaining another lawyer.

I let my intentions known to Mr. Rice and I started interviewing new lawyers. In mid December, I received notice through Mr. Rice's office that the trial date for my case has been set for January. I called Mr. Rice's office to ask what this meant. They said that they had applied for a court date and this is the court's response. When I went to pick up my files from Mr. Rice's office, they also gave me copies of the other motions and such that Mr. Rice had already filed with the court prior to his dismissal as my attorney.

In hindsight firing my lawyer at that particular time was a mistake and it hurt any chance I had at trial. Without representation, Judge Frank Marriott had no patience for me and did not give my side any consideration whatsoever. Although the Judge granted Stacy a continuance 6months ago to get an attorney after she already had 20 days to think about it, He refused my same request for a continuance to obtain a new attorney. Mr. Fox, Stacy's attorney, jumped at the chance and said he was prepared to go to trial next week, the judge agreed. So I was thrown into trial without an attorney and with out any of the materials I needed to successfully pursue my case.

I regret how things turned out. I wish I could do things over and obtain a better outcome for my kids. I could blame others for the kids' current situation. Surely Mr. Rice could have inspired me to have more confidence in him; legal secretary could have done her job by keeping me in the loop. Mr. Fox could have been sympathetic for me, and the Judge could have sided with me. Sure it would be nice for the kids if I had gotten those breaks, but in the end I only have myself to blame. All I know is that as I look back at each decision I made, each step I took, I know that none were made carelessly or half heartedly. I tried my hardest at each point to guide the outcome into what I believed to be the best outcome for the kids. And in the end, it just wasn't enough.