OK.. as I posted over at another nameless site a few days ago... we found a new lawyer for our son. He's an awesome lawyer, considered the best in our area. We know at least ten people he has represented in family court and against C.A.S> 8 fathers and 2 mothers. He won every single case for these people and these people tell us the reason they got him was because everyone they knew that used him won as well....
So last Friday we got the phone call at 9:30 am to bring in the legal aid certificate and our sons file and all evidence before noon he next day. We felt a very large weight lifted from us knowing we had such a great lawyer now.
At 1PM Friday we had court to have the case set over to a new date so the new lawyer can get his footing. We sat in the court waiting room discussing the case with the new lawyer and feeling very confident with what he is planning. While we spoke with him I notice at the end of the waiting area the lawyer we just fired glaring down at us (she's probably mad because she may have been informed of our submittal of a complaint about her illegal and incometent actions in our sons case to the Upper Canada Law Society). I just smile at her and continue speaking with our new lawyer. We get called into court and the new lawyer asks for the new date and we get it. We exit the court and my wife and son stop to talk to a friend who is there and I shake our new lawyer's hand and thank him profusly for helping us. As he turns away from me the fired lawyer walks up and places her arm on his and says "I really need to speak with you." The two walk down the hall a little ways and the fired lawyer begins speaking a mile a minute to our new lawyer and keeps nodding her head in my direction. The new lawyer then glances down toward me with a strange look on his face. My wife then taps me and says they are ready to leave.
The next day our son and I go to the new lawyers office to drop off the requested materials. When we get their his assistant tells us that all of a sudden our new lawyer can't help us. He didn't realize how busy he is and that he just doesn't have time to take our son's case..................
FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (pardon the french)

I trust I probably don't have to tell anyone what I believe happened....
I am 100% confident that the fired lawyer bad mouthed us to the new lawyer when she was talking to him at the court the day before.
I have no frikin clue if there is anything we can do about this or not.... I mean .... when we were in court and the new lawyer asked for the new date he checked his schedule right there in front of us and the judge and he was the one who chose the dates he had available..... so how all of a sudden did he get too busy AFTER setting a new date with the judge????
Could this be classified as unethical and have something done? Should we try to force him to keep our son as a client? We've already called many, many lawyers and each one has seemed gung ho to take the case until they hear who is involved and then all of a sudden they can't take the case.... We do have that recording of the fired lawyer admitting to us that the first fired lawyer black balled us so we're pretty sure that's why we can't find a decent lawyer.....
We have tons and tons of evidence that should easily win our son his case... I have already done most of the heavy lifting in the case such as research, document typing, etc.... But we can't find a frikin lawyer to help us.... All we want is someone who will fight for our son's rights and ensure that he is treated fairly and the court does what is in the best interest of our grandson... is that being unreasonable? Our son already put in a request to have me act as a litigation guardian and it was turned down. He also asked the judge if I could act as his counsel if he can't find a lawyer and again he was turned down.
I am getting so sick and frikin tired of having something good thrown at us and becoming very happy only to have something horrible thrown at us right after that and feeling completely helpless and depressed.
I have no idea what to do now.......

Update to our situation....
We were in court yesterday for the Trial Management. As luck would have it my own lawyer in my obstruction case was acting as the duty counsel for cas court... Now when we first got to court we were under the impression that we would be in family court because of CAS dropping their case, however... we soon found out that although the case is a family law custody case they are still holding it in CAS court... Also... At our last appearance on Aug 20 I specifically asked if CAS was going to be a party in the custody case and the judge stated NO!!! However... when we walked into the court there was the CAS lawyer in all his glory. I asked why he waqs there and was told he was there as an observer. However, several times during the proceeding he stood and spouted a bunch of lies in an afford to again screw our son over in his case. Observers do NOT take part in something, they OBSERVE!!!

Quote:

observer Main Entry: ob·serv·er Pronunciation: \əb-ˈzər-vər\ Function: noun Date: circa 1550 : one that observes: as a: a representative sent to observe but not participate officially in an activity (as a meeting or war)

The CAS lawyer is prejudicing the court against our son and the judge is allowing it....

Now.. my lawyer/the duty counsel lawyer took a special interest in our son's case because being my lawyer he knows the case intricately. However there was very little he could do as duty counsel. He is no longer a family law lawyer so therefore can not take our son's case either. We wish he could....
Anyhow.... Our son rose and spoke to the judge about his current situation of being without a lawyer and having difficulty finding one because of his fired lawyer black balling him. The judge doesn't seem to care that he is a 17 year old with basically no legal experience whatsoever. She is willing to force him to proceed to trial without a lawyer knowing full well he will lose. She refuses to allow me to act as his representative as well. She set aside a decision until Sept 10 at which time my son has to appear in court and name his new lawyer and have this new lawyer submit a motion to adjourn the case so the new lawyer can become familiar with the case. If my son can not find a lawyer before this time she is going to force him to go to trial without a lawyer......
I'm telling you.... I am feeling extremely defeated here.... We might as well move to China where the government and courts have a better understanding of human rights (note the sarcasm in that last comment).
Our son, and our family has done absolutely nothing wrong!!! We fired the last two lawyers for directly acting AGAINST our son's best interests and our grandson's best interests and directly hurting our son's case. Now they can go all over the place lying to other lawyers telling them our son is a problem client and they can make up excuses for not accepting him as a client without even speaking with him to find out what he is really like......
This is frikin madness!!

WOW. Have you ever been railroaded.
Do I remember reading that your son is 16?
Have you tried the office of the children's lawyer?
Since your son is still a minor child, they should be representing him too. I just read this somewhere. Maybe in the CFS act. I'll try and find it again if you want it.

He would be able to obtain a lawyer from the OCL only if the child is involved in court proceedings with the CAS.

Thanks Gammy.. we actually contacted them but they don't work in our area.... However.. we did find a new lawyer... My wife met him and said he seems like a very nice man, very honest and forth coming.... We checked him out and have seen some good info about him.... He is a member of the advocacy group which only invites the best of the best lawyers to join and the organizations mission is to ensure honesty and integrity among lawyers and clients. They are big advocates of family court justice and equality for both parents.... I e-mailed the advocacy group before choosing this guy inquiring about four different lawyers in our area including our new one..... I inquired about four because I didn't want to just ask about one in case they .. you know.. just gave him a glowing report out of loyalty or something.... I also didn't tell them we had any involvement with any of the lawyers.. just that we got their names off a list and wanted to know what they are like... One of the lawyers I inquired about was our last lawyer.... The e-mail I got back was VERY honest ehheeh..... they told me to stay far far away from our former lawyer as she often lies to her clients and has a penchant for dramtics in the court room that the judges hate. This was right o the money as we already knew eheheh.....
They stated that our new lawyer was a very respectable man who is very well thought of within the advocacy group and legal circles. Very experienced and very honest. They said if he takes your case it's because he believes in your case and he will do everything he can to ensure you are treated fairly.
So... for now we feel good..... we'll see when we go to court the first day....

hi.....I'm feeling so betrayed...
situation.my mother has lived my husband and i off and on for over 5 years..her health has deteriorated over time...she has the "i don't care"about everything,and "everyone owe's me attitude"so i asked her to leave my house,i couldn't take it no more.here's the deal.my mother is in Tennessee and she received 24,000 from back pay on social security.my mother and my husband we're going to sign on a nice house,etc...my mother was going to live with us and share the bills..etc now she backed out.we're in a delapitated trailer and i have 2 lil girls and she does this to me and them.. in case ya'll are wandering,she was going to help the money down and now we're not able to move out.i've done everything for her and i feel totally betrayed by her! i haven't stopped crying since she called me and backed out of this deal..what do i do?my mother also told me she got approved for her a "hud"apartment and she's going

gold cufflinks

I'm sorry you feel so betrayed. Does she have any explanation for her change of mind?

Unless you had a contract with her, there is nothing legally you can do to force her to honor the plan.

If her health has deteriorated recently, has this had any effect on her decision making?

Hi PapaJohn so such a good grandfather and father, fighting for your son and grandson. Well, I just wished that the new lawyer will stand for son case. If he is from the Advocate group, I am sure he will. Good luck and God bless.