Posted by Frank on 10/27/05

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I posted this on the solo board earlier, and decided to
post it here too.

I've had a client file a grievance against me for
abandonment of their case. It's a tax matter, so I've been
dealing with the IRS. Client came to me in June, and I
told him it could take several months to work this thing
out with the IRS. I filed the 2848 Power of Attorney, but
it was originally sent back because the right box wasn't
checked. Client claims he called the IRS in September, and
I am still not listed as the POA. I called the IRS today,
got the name an ID # of the IRS rep, who told me that I
was, in fact listed as the POA.

In late July I contact the IRS, and discussed this case
with them. I called client, told him that, based on my
discussion with the IRS, I didn't think one of his
arguments would fly. I told him the other argument would
take enough work to exceed the estimate I had originally
given to him. He was going to think about it.

In late August, client called, and we played some phone
tag. On Sept. 21 client sent a certified letter to me, in
which he claimed that I still wasn't on the POA (which I
am convinced was wrong due to my call with the IRS
today). I had actually packaged up his file and was going
to mail it to him, and terminate the relationship without
charging him anything. Had I done so, his case would not
have been hurt in any way. Now he's filed a grievance
against me for abandoning his case, since we haven's
spoken in a couple of months.

Obviously, this is very upsetting. I've never had a
problem before, and am scared of being disbarred or
suspended over this. Do I need to hire someone to
represent me in this? Do I call the client to discuss?
Is it too late to terminate him? Please advise ASAP.

Re: Grievance filed: what do I do? PLEASE HELP, 11/05/05, by JoeStanley.

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