Firing My Attorney
Shortly after Bifoss assured me that his utterly disastrous negotiation was just fine, I ended my agreement with Jaffe. He then reminded Layton that he continued to have a claim on any recovery I might obtain from HomeFirst. That lien would make it impractical to get another attorney to represent me on a contingency basis. I saw no reason to trust another attorney either. Nothing would come from legal action.
As I headed into my whistleblowing adventures, I thought I had power and was rightly exercising it. Even after CEO Jenny and the Board members decided to terminate me, I thought that I would be vindicated. I fantasized how Board members would share a wink and nod with me to say it would all work out fine in the end. That was how it went six years earlier when a different floundering CEO wanted to fire me, but not this time. When I assumed that I would be fairly compensated for what happened, I could treat as silent partners those who had witnessed the same events without speaking up. Now that I would get nothing and HomeFirst would suffer not at all, those who failed to help became guilty by their association with Jenny and the acts of retaliation.
When I have described to friends my experience with Jaffe, they have been sympathetic. One suggested early on that I complain to the California State Bar, but I supposed him biased because he had recently been disbarred as a result of his involvement in an unfortunate incident. Six months after I parted from Jaffe, another friend, who was a practicing bankruptcy attorney, also said I should consider complaining to the Bar.
The California State Bar advises that complaints must be limited to violations of its Rules of Professional Conduct. The Bar is not interested in hearing the gripes of a dissatisfied client who feels that his attorney should have negotiated a richer settlement with fewer restrictions on his freedom of speech. I found a few Bar rules that I could contend Jaffe violated, and I sent off my complaint a year after I was fired. They replied that Jaffe might have been negligent, but the Bar does not discipline attorneys for errors in judgment or mistakes. They suggested that I might try mandatory fee arbitration. Another mediator with more fees; I passed. Case closed.
The next step was a complaint to the State of California that HomeFirst had violated the California Whistleblower Protection Act.
No comments:
Post a Comment