Well, I haven't been following Julie's situation too closely, but any lawyer should give you a written fee/retainer agreement indicating that you have hired him/her and specifying payment terms and what will be done in exchange for that payment.
Once you have that, it seems to me that your only real concern is making sure they have what they need and maybe calling the day before a hearing or court appearance just to be sure you all are planning on showing up at the same time with the same documents.
It's hard when you've had a bad experience, but you really need to have a lawyer you trust.
I wish we'd talked to our bankruptcy lawyer the day before the hearing, then we might have known HE WASN'T GOING TO SHOW UP! Nothing impresses a judge in a busy hearing situation with multiple cases like bankrupty applicants going "He said he'd meet us, Your Honor, we have no idea." Another lawyer volunteered to be the attorney of record and did his paperwork for the next case while we talked to the judge. Fortunately, our bankruptcy was from medical bills and we had no real property to deal with, rather than people who had bought multiple houses and boats etc. and who hadn't bothered to keep up with the bills. The judge liked us. He asked about our cars, we said we didn't have any, he asked how we'd gotten to the hearing, we looked at each other and said "By bus and train." Considering the judge had just dealt with people whining about how they were having to turn over their second and third houses and five of their cars, he preferred dealing iwth us.
Who has crawfish for lunch? I do!
Who also has a very polite but manipulative dog staring at her? I do.
Who is not getting any of my food? The dog.
And who is now sulking, lying at the other end of the couch facing away from me? Still the dog.
"Not going to give me nommy foods? I'll show you!"
She knows she doesn't get people foods, but she's an eternal optimist.
I'm watching 12 Angry Men for a homework assignment. You guys, I know it's a classic, but there are too many middle-aged white dudes in this film.
The people here at work are being super nice to me this last week. It is such a huge difference between everyone else and the boss. Today and the next two days people are taking me to lunch. Today after work a group are taking me to happy hour.
And the new office I am going to, which is much much smaller (only 5 people), two people from there have emailed to say how excited they are to have me coming.
