Disposable people - How Virginia's lost its integrity

It appears that attorneys sanctioned by the Virginia State Bar discriminate against their clients. This is based upon our attempts to address our problems by retaining members of this institution. The total number retained so far has been nine and nine have demonstrated questionable "strategy". The response from the Bar has been that the client censor the member through the courts, this requires that one retain another member. Another response has been that one has a bad case, this was accepted till we looked at the records, reviewed what was not used and who was not contacted.

Here is the reason that I state that members of the Virginia State Bar discriminate against economically challenged individuals. My girlfriend grew up in foster homes, her mother had tried to kill her. She got pregnant at a young age and married the one responsible, this individual was abusive and then chose to turn into a woman. My girlfriend left and tried to obtain employment, the husband stalked and assaulted her, threatening social services, residence and coworkers. The husband was "born again" and retained a Christian attorney. Five years pass, my girlfriend was bankrupt and was walking, her only transportation, this time a neighbors dog bit her. An attorney takes her case on contingency as a probono client, five years pass and he deserts all his clients. She was not a client of choice. What follows is a list of our experiences with Virginia representation:

• My girlfriend retained a firm to address an issue. The attorney showed up in court, sent us an invoice indicating that a balance remained. Two weeks pass and he mailed a letter informing us that he was leaving the firm and an invoice requesting more money. I sent the money with a letter requesting clarification of the new invoice because the amounts did not add up, the new invoice stated that I had only paid half, the amount did not match what the other invoice stated remained/used and it did not state the reason for the increase. The attorney allegedly showed up for a court hearing stating that my girlfriend did not need to go, but has yet to send the results or address the billing, it has been three months.
• Subscribed to "Pre-Paid Legal Service", supposedly they would provide an attorney on 24 hour notice, they could not refer an attorney with a month's notice actually several months because they disregarded the request to proactively address the issue before it occurred.
• Girlfriend had a breakdown, she was given a medication that caused a severe reaction, she was unmonitored and the institution refused to reschedule. A CVS pharmacist calls the police. Girlfriend was arrested for prescription fraud and released from the police station to hitchhike ten miles home in an impaired state. The attorney retained never contacted the therapists, doctors or obtain the CVS video to prove or disprove the alleged "prescription fraud" - girlfriend does not remember whether she altered the prescription or not. Solution "plead guilty".
• I was shopping in the CVS store, waiting for my girlfriend prescription when I was approached by a police officer. He demanded my id, I asked why, it was then that I learned that I do not have that right. The police report did not represent the events of that morning on the report. The attorney explained that the "police lie all the time" and implied that Virginia has kangaroo courts, I wanted the CVS video.
• Attorney takes on my girlfriends "dog bite" injury in 1995 as a probono client, 2000 our psychologist recommended by a prior attorney informs us that this attorney deserted. In those five years, did the attorney get an out of court settlement ? No attorney would take her case - too much time had passed. This attorney was supposed to look into what had happened with the "abuse of process" also.
• After three attorneys my girlfriend retained an attorney that kept stating that they were cleaning up prior counsels mistakes and was upset with the husbands attorney. Indicating that the husbands attorney demonstrated unethical conduct and gave us instructions to see a psychologist to support an "abuse of process" action. They forgot about the case, I had prepaid and this resulted in a dispute.
• The third attorney omitted several things, in fact dismissed all available supporting material. One time in court I observed my girlfriend hand him a document that refuted what the husbands attorney was stating, this attorney patted her hand in a condescending manner and said "no, professional courtesy". At the time we believed that this was a "professional strategy", the courts never heard the material. This attorney chose the following "strategies":
  • Never contacted social services who had been counseling my girlfriend for at least three years prior to her separation. They had a running log of events, had contacted the authorities when my girlfriend separated and had been threatened by the husband. This was a dismissal of a State authority by the attorney.
  • No police reports, witnesses or restraining orders were used. The family that provided sanctuary for my girlfriend and her child filed a restraining order against the husband.
  • Allowed the husbands attorney access to the social services records, that specifically skipped (note by judge on the quash document) the period of cohabitation, escape and the stalking and assaults that followed. The motion to quash was demanded when the counselor called my girlfriend informing her that the sheriff had a warrant/subpoena accessing the private files.
  • Walked out of a meeting where we were discussing a date of an event that would have resulted in the foundation of suit being dismissed because it was past the limit date.
  • A real estate agent trying to sell the house was upset because the attorney was allowing him to be slandered without challenge. The agent discovered that the attorney was running for political office. We discovered that the husband's attorney was active in "a nonprofit political organization whose purpose is to elect conservative candidates to the Virginia legislature."
• The first two attorneys heard the husband's attorney speak and they trembled, claiming too busy or changing practice.

In 2000 when my girlfriends "dog bite" attorney deserted I noticed that the Virginia State Bar's Nine Canon's had been superseded by "rules of professional guidelines" upon reading them I noticed that they did not address "strategy" failures, dismissing competence, diligence, zealous representation and propriety. At that time I believed that "desertion" was relevant and believed that the Bar would retain some ethical standards. That the institution would ensure that all the clients of their deserter would have assigned counsel. This would have ensured that there would not be the "appearance of professional impropriety" and "diligence" of the institution.

With the attorneys that followed the desertion our complaints to the Virginia State Bar resulted in being told that they do not address strategy. The "Professional Guidelines and Rules of Professional Conduct" dismisses performance and as a result provides no incentive. The judges and juries of Virginia cannot render a fair judgment because the representation has no incentive to represent.

What population is damaged because performance is dismissed ? It is not the rich who can go buy their law, it is the individuals like my girlfriend who try to protect themselves or escape from a bad situation only to be preyed upon by the members of this institution. The Virginia State Bar has implemented policies that allow predatory "strategies" by their members, it discriminates against the economically challenged when it fails to document such failures and client leverage is lost.

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Vanishing Attorneys of Virginia
Disposable People Blog
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One gets Ad hominem responses from the groups. They do not address dismissal, desertion and failure to perform. Legal malpractice is noticeably missing or recently added to most media. There is also the claim that most attorneys are diligent, a solution. I point to the jails, unchallenged unreasonable laws, infection at the national level and our experiences.