Lawyers Suck

[Baloo]

why would you need a lawyer for these docs? I got the paperwork, and wondered why anyone would get a lawyer ?

Is there any reason ?

Yes, if the case is complex.

Criminality, custody of children etc

[Karlshammar]

You are correct (except about the spelling of my name ). My mistake, it's the law society. Most professions are regulated by a "college" rather than a "society," so I wrote the wrong thing by default because I wasn't putting in the mental effort of thinking.

Oh GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!  These stories are AWFUL!    And I'll bet you chose a lawyer over a consultant because you thought you would be better represented.  So sorry for you.

I agree with Karlshammer that you should lodge a complaint.  However, it is not with the college.  It is with the provincial law society for the province where they practice.  In the case of making complaints against immigration consultant, you go through the national regulatory body, the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants.

Note to others thinking of hiring a lawyer or consultant.  GET REFERENCES!

[rjessome]

You are correct (except about the spelling of my name ). My mistake, it's the law society. Most professions are regulated by a "college" rather than a "society," so I wrote the wrong thing by default because I wasn't putting in the mental effort of thinking.

Oops!  Sorry KarshammAr!    Obviously I wasn't putting any mental effort into typing your name!!!    Perhaps today is not the day for mental effort.  At least it's not my day for it!

i'm agreed and have a similar experience with lawyers and even with the present one even they r one famous firm in toronto. my pr application is in process for 40 months and in start my lawyer said the firm will take care and will follow up care fully with my file at islamabad embassy .BUT very imp thing to point out is ,.. my case is in last stages and his assitant has not corrected my home adres of islamabad yet "even i notified her so many times,she said ok but all was and is same".and coz of it the mail can be delivered in another place and my waiting of years can be more lengthy ... also in start lawyer was showing so much efficency but once he got our case and a handsome fee of 4000 $ , he only helped me to fill application and sent my case from canada to islamabad "after mississauga immigration offices approval" and after then i'm waiting and waiting up till now ,whenever i ask him to do something and find if there is some prob with my case and why its taking so much time ... he simply says ... be patient and ' im done mu duty and if u want more then pay more'.. duhhhh . in fact they dont deserve these feeses of our hard earned money and they really know to screw u up instead to help u get out of truble . thats my experience and im changed 3 lawyer nd all were claiming of well imaged but after hiring all were same . WHERE AND HOW TO FIND A GOOD,DISCIPLAINED, SINCERE LAWYER ...?? DOES ANYONE KNOW ANY SINGLE GOOD LAWYER i dont c ... 

40 months???  And no reason as to why?  Is this spousal or federal skilled worker?  If it's FSW, then it doesn't surprise me that's it's taking so long seeing as it would been submitted pre Bill C-50.  The wait times for those that are still in process are HUGE.  But it's not the lawyer's fault, it's CIC's.  They are not placing a priority on clearing that backlog and since they make the rules, there is nothing the lawyer could do to speed it up.  However, the address should have been changed and the lawyer should be able to explain to you why the processing is so slow.  But he couldn't do anything to speed it up, unfortunately for you.

[jdwhite21]

why would you need a lawyer for these docs? I got the paperwork, and wondered why anyone would get a lawyer ?

Is there any reason ?

We personally got a lawyer this time because my husband was denied permanent residence after we applied inland back in May of 2009. We assumed that a lawyer would likely do a better job than we did or be able to advise us better on what immigration wants to hear. He does seem to know what they want and has been doing this for 15+ years... I found out here that it is my lawyers assistant filling out most of the paperwork and he seems to be the careless one... but still you would assume that the lawyer would at least make sure that his assistant is doing the work properly :S

Most likely he charged a flat fee and you have already paid him, so firing him may be beside the point at this juncture. I wonder what would happen if you asked him for a discount? Most law societies also have a process for disputing your bill.

waitingintz, I take your point about being involved in the process and I agree with you. However, it should not be necessary. Lawyers are professionally obligated to represent their clients' interests and to do so vigorously. When they take the barristers and solicitors oath that is what they swear to do. It's disappointing when they don't do that, because it's probably the most important part of a lawyer's job.

Your right, we did pay a flat rate so at this point there really is no point in firing him. And I have been involved as much as I can, I made sure to see all the papers before he mailed them in and that's when I caught all of the errors the first time around. When I did phone him about this matter and expressed how upset I was he did sound deeply apologetic and said he would make sure to be more diligent in the future, not that that really does a lot of good at this point.. I was also referred to his law office by a few people from where I live and both my husband and I talked to him a few times before we decided to hire him and he seemed awesome. We never dreamed he'd turn out like this.  I guess we'll see what happens here on out before we decide if we should lodge a mistake or not...

Thanks everyone for your responses.

Jess.

[sasmak]

Wow after reading all these stories makes me feel sorry for you guys.

I hired the best lawyer in Toronto i think, They were so attentive, followed-up with me evey week/mth depending, i even got assigned my own Paralegal.

Anytime i wanted to visit the office i was told to come on in, they responded to my emails within the same hour and phone calls as well.

My case was extremely complicated and i am pleased to say that i landed last week.

If anyone needs a good lawyer let me know pleased to share information

[justina]

Jess,

so sorry you have a crap lawyer!! I know you don't have the lawyer I do, but is it the same office? We never actually got her to do anything but check over our application to ensure we hadn't missed anything. We submitted ourselves, and ordered our FOSS notes ourselves. She seems to have called the call center once because she had similar info, in a letter she sent us, to what we got from calling. Otherwise we still have no news.

I hope things get sorted out for you and Jose soon!!

[jdwhite21]

Jess,

so sorry you have a crap lawyer!! I know you don't have the lawyer I do, but is it the same office? We never actually got her to do anything but check over our application to ensure we hadn't missed anything. We submitted ourselves, and ordered our FOSS notes ourselves. She seems to have called the call center once because she had similar info, in a letter she sent us, to what we got from calling. Otherwise we still have no news.

I hope things get sorted out for you and Jose soon!!

We are through Snyder and Associates, they are in the Sunlife building there in Edmonton.
Have you had an interview date set up yet?

[_696_]

Lalalaaa lawyers... SAD and I'm sorry to hear, really....

[justina]

We are through Snyder and Associates, they are in the Sunlife building there in Edmonton.
Have you had an interview date set up yet?

Still nothing.....no contact from CIC 

[jdwhite21]

That's terrible Justina, I hope you hear something soon and you hear some good news!