Possible to switch attorneys after one already retained?

[Chicago]

Lurking for a while but really need some advice now. I retained a lawyer two months ago today and he said I'd fall under Chapter 13. I was so freaked out when I met with him that I didn't know what else to do and just retained him on the spot. I hadn't read these forums so didn't know I should meet with several attorneys before deciding on one.

It's a large firm and the office was swamped that day and it took nearly three hours before I finally met with him to review my case. After he reviewed my case, I desperately signed the retainer form and he has been deducting $160/wk from my account to pay for his services and the future trustee payments.

Question Now that I know better, is it too late to meet with other attorneys and switch? I'm planning on filing in July.

[SinkingFast]

You could retain another attny, but,............ You may loose part or all of the money you've paid this current attny.

We paid one attny $350 because our house was in Foreclosure. We were like you. We panicked. We wanted to negotiate a DIL and be done with it. We'd Consulted with this one attny. Liked him. Decided to ask him to handle the DIL. He said "Sure! Just give me a deposit of $350 and I'll get right on it." So we paid.

The attny had his "assistant" contact our Realtor and had her fax all information regarding our house to the attny's office. Even had the Realtor get the Title Company to fix up whatever paperwork it is that they do. Our Realtor did all the work and then the attny didn't do anything.

We gave him a month. No response to phone calls or "drop in the office" visits. Nothing. Then we moved on and never looked back.

In chatting with the paralegal of the attny we did hire I told her I figured it wasn't worth fighting over. He could say he did any thing that came to 1 billable hour and poof! There's the $350 fee. She agreed.

Later I learned we weren't the only people he's done this to. Our attny has had 5 other couples come to him that paid the other attny money. One couple got taken pretty bad. They actually paid him $1200 and lost it all.

You can try "canceling" with that attny. Our attny said if we changed our minds, just tell him and he'd refund our money. If you don't feel comfortable saying that, you could tell him you changed your mind about filing. You've been able to work out payment arrangements. See if he will refund your money. But don't be surprised if you loose part or all of the money you've paid so far.

[Chicago]

That's what I figured but I know so much more than I did then and am not panic stricken like I was, either, so it might be worth it.

I sent him an email with a question this morning and waiting to see if he replies. They are such a HUGE firm and advertise on the TV and radio and all that but I just feel uncomfortable with them. Plus, the fact that he didn't really bother to take the time to learn about my specific case. I made the appointment for a Friday afternoon at 2:00 and finally got in to meet him at around 4:30 or so. He looked like he'd had a long day and just wanted to get outta there and start his weekend.