Law Office of Michael R. Young

[redacted] was an existing customer of [redacted]. We acquired Mr. [redacted]'s law office, and Mr. Miller requested that I continue to represent him. I met him in my office on one occasion to prepare a stipulation regarding custody and visitation. Several changes were required in...

regard to the stipulation between Mr. Miller and his ex-wife. I never charged or billed Mr. Miller for any review of his case. I only charged him for the work that was done. Mr. Miller consented to me continuing to represent him; however, he was only billed for the time spent on his case. As a court date approached, Mr. Miller indicated that he disagreed with some of the charges on the invoice. At that time, he told me that he wanted to represent himself. In order for him to represent himself, and for my office to no longer be responsible to be in court on his behalf, he needed to sign a Substitution of Attorney form. He did not do so. The day before the hearing, I attempted to contact him and he failed to respond. Accordingly, I was forced to go to court on his behalf and ask for a continuance. Mr. Miller was not at the hearing, nor was his ex-wife. The judge was going to sanction the both of them. However, I was there and requested a continuance on their behalf. A continuance was granted. I have only charged Mr. Miller for the time that I have spent on his case. Lawyers routinely bill for the time that they spend and that is what has been done here. It is curious that Mr. Miller, who is not an attorney and hired an attorney to work for him, criticizes the work and how it was done. However, all the work that was done on his behalf was pursuant to his request and the changes that he requested. Mr. Miller does not dispute any of the time spent on his case, but just the fact that his overall bill is $1,728.50. If Mr. Miller would have done as we asked previously and simply signed the Substitution of Attorney form, he would have incurred no further costs. To date, after several requests, he has continued to refuse to do so.