Professional ethics

What can I do about a lawyer who has been paid a large retainer, begun using it for a case, stopped at mid case?

Without me knowing about it until I asked for an update. First, I was told the lawyer would get back to me, never did. When I would call the office, secretaries would take messages, lawyer never returned them. I began being more specific about the case to the secretaries, until I was practically reading the draft to the secretaries, and then one secretary began looking through documents, found my case and then finally (after many months of supposed needed time to look for documents) gave the excuse the retainer had been lost/ couldn't find it. Then lawyer wanted to have in person meeting with me to discuss the missing retainer/ case and for 3 months it has been cancelled/ rescheduled by the secretary due to schedule. I know the lawyer is being evasive. What can I do?

Nathan’s Answer

You are unable to contact the attorney? Perhaps hiring another attorney for a small fee to follow up would be wise since this will quickly change the landscape in your favor. Once this new attorney establishes contact, you can decide whether to continue with the old lawyer, or hire a new lawyer for your case. If you cannot or do not want to hire another attorney to make demands you can ask for an accounting yourself, but if this has been futile, my opinion is to seek counsel who can help you find out exactly what's going on.