Firing Attorney with fixed fee , how??

[Jorcruzina 15]

Hi you guys,

at the very beginning of my petition me and my husband decided to seek the help of an immigration attorney due to a red flag in my petition.

We had a couple of consultations and decided to go with our current attorney since she claimed to have consular processing experience and she graduated cum laude from a vey good law school. That all came with a big price tag of 3,6k, roughly 3,8k when you calculate additional little costs that weren't mentioned in the consultation like scanning, copying and sending mail via fedex.

All in all she did a ok job, we did not receive any RFE's from USCIS and E-mails are- to this day- answered very quickly with a detailed response.

We did not have any problems since we hit the NVC stage.

She prepared the whole IV package sent it out, it's been sitting at the NVC for 7 weeks till we got a Checklist... she forgot to add the police certificate.

I got very mad and sent her the police certificate right away since it has been in my possession since august- i knew it was eventually needed. She did not apologize in her E-mail response, no, she asked me for a translation which is apparently needed at the NVC. Now i heard before that it is not necessary to translate anything if the visa is being processed at the US Embassy of your origin and there is no certificate in any other language. In my case Germany.

Then i asked her about the Checklist- it still had my old last name on there.. she said WE (what does that even mean.. SHE needs to handle stuff like that, i paid her for that.) need to get that taken care off before the interview. Then she also said if i wish to have this sent via electronic processing to say so, she will sent it out.

I just got off the Phone with the NVC. Nice man told me that: I do NOT need a translation, we CANNOT change from hard copy mail to electronic processing while the case is already in process- meaning she needs to sent out the police certificate via hard mail and the name change should have been done by submitting a copy of my new passport with my new name WAY LONG AGO.

At this point i have had it. Not only did she provide faulty information, she would've made us wait even longer if she actually submitted that stuff via electronic processing to find out we can't even do that!!!!!

I want to talk to my hubs as soon as he wakes and talk to her about firing her.

How is it handled with the fixed fee? She did not earn all her money at all.

I know there has to be a written statement, does anybody have recommendations??

Thanks and sorry about ranting

[Penguin_ie 5,997]

It would depend on the red flag you have; most really good lawyers such as Mark Ellis and Liz Cannon specialise in one type of immigration issue. For example, are you expecting to need a waiver?

[Californiansunset 336]

Hi you guys,

at the very beginning of my petition me and my husband decided to seek the help of an immigration attorney due to a red flag in my petition.

We had a couple of consultations and decided to go with our current attorney since she claimed to have consular processing experience and she graduated cum laude from a vey good law school. That all came with a big price tag of 3,6k, roughly 3,8k when you calculate additional little costs that weren't mentioned in the consultation like scanning, copying and sending mail via fedex.

All in all she did a ok job, we did not receive any RFE's from USCIS and E-mails are- to this day- answered very quickly with a detailed response.

We did not have any problems since we hit the NVC stage.

She prepared the whole IV package sent it out, it's been sitting at the NVC for 7 weeks till we got a Checklist... she forgot to add the police certificate.

I got very mad and sent her the police certificate right away since it has been in my possession since august- i knew it was eventually needed. She did not apologize in her E-mail response, no, she asked me for a translation which is apparently needed at the NVC. Now i heard before that it is not necessary to translate anything if the visa is being processed at the US Embassy of your origin and there is no certificate in any other language. In my case Germany.

Then i asked her about the Checklist- it still had my old last name on there.. she said WE (what does that even mean.. SHE needs to handle stuff like that, i paid her for that.) need to get that taken care off before the interview. Then she also said if i wish to have this sent via electronic processing to say so, she will sent it out.

I just got off the Phone with the NVC. Nice man told me that: I do NOT need a translation, we CANNOT change from hard copy mail to electronic processing while the case is already in process- meaning she needs to sent out the police certificate via hard mail and the name change should have been done by submitting a copy of my new passport with my new name WAY LONG AGO.

At this point i have had it. Not only did she provide faulty information, she would've made us wait even longer if she actually submitted that stuff via electronic processing to find out we can't even do that!!!!!

I want to talk to my hubs as soon as he wakes and talk to her about firing her.

How is it handled with the fixed fee? She did not earn all her money at all.

I know there has to be a written statement, does anybody have recommendations??

Thanks and sorry about ranting

It's tough. The only way to find out whether you can fire her and pay the rest of the money is if you look at the contract you signed what is agreed in there. I've also had a red flag (according to the lawyer) which turned out to be none at all and still paid a good amount. I'm from Germany as well so usually it's an easy process for us so I decided to do every thing on my own except for the lawyer handling all documents surrounding my supposedly red flag. In addition I insisted that everything he does goes through me so that I keep the overview on what needs to be done (and also because I'm a control-freak when it comes to stuff like that).

Just for the future when it comes to lawyers: You can still insist on doing the main documents on your own and just have the lawyer handling parts of it. If he insists that he wants to do all by himself move on to the next lawyer who is willing to just handle the part where you need his advices and his expertise.

Edited December 8, 2016 by Californiansunset

[LionessDeon 2,060]

Send the written statement telling her you no longer need her services and would like a refund of the unused portion of her fee. See what she says and work out an acceptable refund amount. She did do some work and will want payment for that.

I don't know what your red flag is, but that fee is very high. Lizz Cannon gives free consults. Get her advise before hiring anyone in the future. She is very good and a highly respected immigration attorney.

[JFH 12,191]

People sometimes think they have red flags but they turn out to be nothing serious. I was physically sick before the interview, convinced we would be denied because my husband has a felony and we met while I was still legally married (although separated) and I have an MA from a good university and he didn't even finish high school. I was approved without any major issues. I was questioned a few times about my husband's past but it turned out to be not the barrier that I thought it would be. There wasn't even a mention of the fact that I was still legally married when we met, nor any questions about our difference in education (I did read a review from a Mexican applicant who was denied and this was one of the reasons given so I started to panic).

I have read some of your posts, OP, and I don't think what you perceive to be a red flag is something that would need a lawyer. In your case, I believe, the issue is that you have been married twice before, both to Americans, and have been petitioned once before. I think that's how I understood it. However, those marriages were a long time ago and were legally terminated. And you returned to Germany after the second marriage ended and abandoned your residency in the US - hardly the recipe for someone who is determined to get into the USA at all costs.

As to how you fire your attorney, you will need to look into the contract that you have. I would think that you have a case for some form of refund as the work she has provided has not been accurate and has caused you delays. It's no different from disputing an invoice from a mechanic who doesn't repair your car properly. You will need to investigate your consumer rights in your home country.

Someone else can advise how you kick the lawyer out of your case with NVC and continue alone. If that's even possible?

[Jorcruzina 15]

No waivers needed. I never overstayed, never committed any crimes, always paid my bills and never drove drunk

My attorney waived my previous marriages off like it was no big deal. I made the red flag myself, no-one ever said it would cause an issue. Through this forum i also know that the consular officer has the saying in my visa approval- lawyer or not. She can't do anything about it. I also spoke to a lawyer on just answer.com, he said that this should not be a basis for denial. I did terminate both marriages legally and i did abandoned my green card legally by leaving the states without an overstay.

I did read through the Engagement Agreement, here a small section :

' Please note that this legal fee will not be deposited into the client trust account, as it is earned upon receipt. If the employment of *** is terminated by your or by me at any time, you are entitled to a refund of the fixed fee, or a portion thereof, that has been unearned. Any legal work performed on the immigration matter referenced above up to that point will be billed at my hourly rate of *** an hour. In addition, any costs and fees incurred on your behalf will also be deducted from the amount of the fixed fee. '

Basically this means i could fire her right now and she must pay us back a portion of the fixed amount that we paid her at the very beginning, right?

In my last E-mail i asked her this:

From the day the NVC receives the police certificate it can take up to 8 weeks -according to the Supervisor i talked on the phone with- to process the request and close my case. My question to you is, how did it happen that you forgot to tell me about the police certificate in the first place?

This mistake and failure to provide the certificate makes this already unbearable process even longer because of a mistake that could have been avoided in the first place by carefully following the very first checklist NVC provided.

I want to see what she has to say to this. If she apologizes or if she keeps being such a unemotional human being not committing to her mistake.

I also want to see if she bills me for the mail she now has to sent out because of her mistake. She charges us 30 cents for each copy and scan she makes.