Dealing directly with other party's lawyer

[GlassHalfFull]

Hi all. I'm sort of in family law limbo where I have still have an active family court case ongoing, but my last hearing was many months ago and my next scheduled hearing is many months into the future, and I'm mostly just following current interim orders as they are. However, my lawyer has been pretty slack lately and has ignored my recent emails and not returned my phone calls over the last month or so. My question is this: if I want to do make progress on something with my ex and my lawyer is not responding promptly, what is the etiquette involved in dealing with the ex's lawyer directly?

Is it likely that I'd be upsetting my lawyer, breaking some legal etiquette or causing confusion by doing so? Would the ex's lawyer tell me that as I'm 'represented' (I haven't officially sacked my lawyer and will probably continue to work with them, assuming they get their act together), that they will deal only with my lawyer? Can I 'pick and choose' what issues I choose to deal with directly and which issues I choose to delegate to my lawyer?

I'm in a position where I'm a bit frustrated that my lawyer is not communicating with me, but I also don't want to be billed by them for minor aspects of my case that I feel competent to represent myself on.

I'm not so much asking for advice on what to do with my lawyer, as what the logistics of essentially self-representing on some but not all aspects of my case are. Has anyone else done it? How did it work out?

 

[CSFLW]

GlassHalfFull

If your lawyer is on record, and if you haven't terminated his retainer, the other side's lawyer cannot respond to your correspondence no matter how minor the issues are.

 

[GlassHalfFull]

GlassHalfFull

If your lawyer is on record, and if you haven't terminated his retainer, the other side's lawyer cannot respond to your correspondence no matter how minor the issues are.

Oh right, thanks for the advice - that's news to me. Is that an actually legally binding thing or simply an etiquette thing? Because surely as there are different aspects to family law, you can ask for representation only on certain matters but not others? For example, if I wanted representation for parenting matters but not for property, could I not self represent for property matters? It's all or nothing as far as a lawyer is concerned?

 

[CSFLW]

I know it sounds technical, but lawyers cannot correspond with people who are represented by a lawyer.

It is against our conduct rules.

 

[GlassHalfFull]

I know it sounds technical, but lawyers cannot correspond with people who are represented by a lawyer.

It is against our conduct rules.

Hmmm. Sounds more like a gentleman's agreement that if you scratch my back (and keep the client paying for service), I'll scratch yours... If not in principle, then in practice. Still, thank you for the advice.

 

[CSFLW]

No it is not. Which state are you in?

I will send you the legislation.

 

[GlassHalfFull]

Victoria. I said that slightly tongue in cheek but I'd be interested to see the legislation. Thanks. I assume similar applies in the federal jurisdiction too though?

 

[CSFLW]

https://www.liv.asn.au/PDF/For-Lawy...2-15---CAP-guideline---(approved-by-LIV-.aspx

 

[GlassHalfFull]

Thank you, I'll have a read.

Out of interest though, in the following scenario, did my lawyer act inappropriately then? A while ago, my ex partner approached my lawyer directly and asked if they would accept divorce proceedings on my behalf. My lawyer then asked me if I was happy for them to accept service, I said no, I would prefer to file the divorce paperwork directly and not use a lawyer for it since it sounded simple enough. My lawyer then wrote back to my ex to advise her of this and provided my email address for her to contact directly.

Should my lawyer have refused to engage with my ex then? She has had representation (for the last 12 months or so) and as far as I know, has not terminated the retainer. If she had terminated the retainer, would I or my lawyer be informed? How would I know? When we turn up at the next hearing and she has no representation suddenly?

 

[CSFLW]

Good question. Without knowing whether your ex filed a notice of address for service to let your lawyer know they were acting for (him or her self) I cannot answer the question. Is the matter listed for parenting only? Or property and parenting?