Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Re: Domestic violencep

I take it that the atty's suspension has nothing to do with your case?

If the former attorney won't respond {which you need to document with some certified mail / retrn recpt letters}

then you might consider writing to the Committee on Professional Standards that suspended him [i.e., which judicial dept has jurisdiction].

This needs to be a 'most humbly inquirying' type of letter. Only set out the pertinent facts: You retained Atty Susp to represent you; you are aware that he's been 'temp susp'; you have been trying to contact him to obtain your files, pertaining to a child custody case; that he has not responded; that you don't know whether the preferred procedure is for you to formally lodge a new complaint - - or whether, perhaps, the Committee has another procedure that you should follow.

That & that alone should suffice.

The Committee - - they are very busy & very important people - - may respond by telling you to lodge a formal complaint.

Or, you might get lucky, and they might write the atty and urge him to send you the file {by sending him a copy of *your* letter and, thereby, nudging him to send it to you}.

This approach is, I think, appropriate, particularly in a circumstance where there is no fee dispute involved.

The main things are:

you do need to document your efforts to contact the atty with a simple request that he turn the files over to you, "by return mail"; your letter to the committee should be as 'simple' as a recital of your efforts;

that you've received no response from the atty after a reasonable time;

that you are asking their guidance as to the preferred procedure: should you file a formal complaint?

You can, of course, begin with filing a formal complaint - - but the approach sketched is thought to be a reasonable, viable alternative :: particularly if what you really want is just the retrieval of your files.

Regards, etc.,

J. M. Hayes

>>--> The foregoing amounts to musings and observations based on some years familiarity with the 'day-to-day' operation of the law with regard to the issues involved In The Most General sense; my remarks should not be thought of as "legal advice and counsel" in the formal sense of that phrase, since there is, in fact, no 'attorney / client' relationship existing between us. <-<<