The Koch Firm (my "appeal")

So far, to date, I have never...NEVER...not once, received an email or phone call from the firm that was assigned to represent me on an appeal to get my son.

They have not been an incompetent firm--instead, they've been a firm that uses their brains to screw a client over.

I have had ONE email response from the firm, after I emailed and left message after message. In over 6 months, 1 email. During this time, I made countless phone calls to try to talk to a lawyer at their firm and of all the attempts, I was able to talk to a lawyer twice. Total. For a total of combined minutes of less than 30 minutes.

They filed every single brief for the appeal without allowing me to review it first.

They did not even think it was necessary to call or email (when they had the ability to contact me through phone or email) before taking my case, writing up a motion, and submitting it to the court.

Out of all my attempts to be part of this process or let them know some of the things which would make for a successful appeal, I got 30 minutes and an email that maybe took them 10 minutes to write.

40 minutes total, of their communication time with their client on an important appeal for parental rights in the State of Washington.

They filed their first brief without even letting me know they were my firm first. They just decided what they were going to say for appeal, and filed away.

I can't even fire them if I want to because they took all of the powerful material, about the State admitting on record that they withheld evidence, and other things...they just never asked my opinion. They didn't ask me to verify and see if the transcripts were correct, and when they were sent to me (again, because first time things were stolen), it was too late.

The one thing I picked up on was that by reading the motions, someone bent over backwards to defend Justin Titus. It's very subtle, but he sort of got a defense out of the thing. And Justin Titus did some very bad things and so did the firm he was with, which was entirely Irish Catholic except for him, the token Jew.

Even though this firm has refused any and all communication, not even introducing themselves or allowing me to read motions first, they put me in an impossible position of being unable to even fire them because they made the entire motion about right to an attorney for termination. Which, it's very true, is one of the most important points. It's not that I don't agree that this is a very strong argument. I do. It's highly significant.

But it's so "toned down" from what it could be. And I don't think an appeal ever has to be on just one point. I mean, lawsuits and appeals can include different arguments, like A,B, and C. It doesn't have to be just A.

I think the writing is decent and the intelligence level is there, but the basics of communication with the client are completely missing. It's like I don't even exist. I've tried to make my presence known. I've tried to be a part of the appeal. I've tried. And it's like I am not even there. I'm the ghost-client or hypothetical client that isn't even real. I'm kind of a vapor-in-the-mist or maybe it's more like gorilla-in-the-mist. And then they acted surprised I wanted to preview the motions and be able to give information or feedback.

I can't fire a firm that refuses to even comply with the most rudimentary basics of client communication because they made the entire appeal about only 1 point: right to attorney and the idea that if I fired others, it doesn't mean I'd fire a termination trial lawyer. So the idea here is that if I fire the appeal firm, I make the State's point. So they refused to communicate with me at all and even switched lawyers mid-game, not even telling me one disappeared for maternity leave, and it's like...huh. I don't know where my lawyer is, or who they are, or what they're doing, or what they're filing. I even asked to preview the motion and the lawyer sent it to me upside-down. I couldn't rotate it so I asked her to please resend it so I could read it and she never did.

This firm was not even able to send me a copy of the motion they were filing for my parental rights, rightside-up. And I had no money or ability to pay for printing and had let them know this and asked them to resend it and to date, they never have.

I didn't just ask once. I sent a friendly reminder. And no, no one in the whole smart firm, was willing to comply and just send the motion to me rightside up so I could actually read it and not be out the costs for printing. And yes, that's how broke I was, and they knew it. And even if they didn't know it, I tried to tell them and asked them, once again kindly, to please resend the motion.

It's kind of like their "voodoo" way, I guess, of saying, "We don't care."

"We don't care enough about your rights, even though we're making an argument about your rights, to even send the motion to you the correct way so you can actually read it."

"You are not the boss. We are. The State pays us and you don't, so we work for the State, not for our client." (they told me this, in different words)

"We don't need your input. We are God."

"An appeal is all about paper and what's on the record, we don't need to talk to you at all." (they told me this, in the same words exactly)

I said, "How do you know if the transcripts are correct, or other facts are correct, if you haven't even talked to your client? If the State withheld evidence and then admitted it on the record, why isn't this in your appeal or don't you think talking to your client would be beneficial for allowing them to shine a light on some things?"

It's like my "paperwork" has been shuffled from one person to the next, and it's almost been more about discovery and having the next firm or party go in and trim out the fatty juicy parts.

"I like ham. Do you like ham?"

"Yes, but I think we need to trim off the fat. The fat is not really the meat, but it's dangerous."

"I think there is so much meat we can use, they won't even notice the fat if we keep it."

"No, they'll notice the fat. And these judges and the lawyers before us, well, they're all watching their cholesterol levels, blood pressure,...we don't want to give them heart attacks or anything."

"The fat is juicy. I mean, the juiciest bits. Very flavorful. Might go a long way in bringing attention to some other things, you know, bring out more of the flavor of the meat."

"Exactly. And we don't want the juicy meat. We want to leave fat out of it. We're going for dry, one level slab of meat here."

The fat is there.

Very weird analogy but it's true. And while sometimes trimming off the fat is good, in law, sometimes that's like trimming off the fat of the land, some of the worst but juicy parts that really make the whole case look not like a slab of meat, but a fat-ladden piece of pork.

Not making a point about fraud by the State in withholding evidence, sort of calls the whole pork chop into question. I mean, you throw in, or keep a little bit of fat like that, in the motion about how they denied a mother the right to an attorney for termination, and it starts calling the whole pig into question.

If a jury hears a case about a Judge refusing a mother a lawyer for termination trial, that's one thing. They might think, well, mas o menos, it's not right but maybe she was a disagreeable client.

If a jury hears a case where the right to an attorney is denied, and oh, by the way, evidence was concealed and there was obstruction of justice and perjury on the record...

It starts sounding like there is not just one small "error" that should rewind the clock back to termination trial...it starts sounding like there is something foul about the entire deal.

The entire "deal" is corrupt. The entire "deal" is that what happened to begin with, was wrong, and people broke the law and they know it. And the "deal" is that you don't get a negotiation or favors from victims and if you try, you might get screwed worse in the end.

You are the criminals. You are those who are guilty of public corruption.

You do NOT get to "negotiate" with innocent victims of torture, to your benefit and then feel pissed it didn't all work out the way you wanted it to.

Negotiation of hostages in America.

Fine work for the FBI, isn't it?

Think about it.

And think about how you are going to figure out who your next scapegoat is, and make sure it's someone who really is a criminal and corrupt, because it's not going to be ME.