A father reported he hired a lawyer and paid several thousand dollars for a retainer, had two phone calls, and decided to get a different lawyer. The lawyer claimed the entire retainer and billed him more, and the father says the lawyer falsified his billing to justify the costs.

Here is my response in the hope that it may help other litigants who face similar circumstances with seemingly unscrupulous attorneys, and who want to seek justice.

I am not a attorney and this is not legal advice.

You appear to allege that the attorney has created false phone logs and has made false billing claims to bill for phone calls which never happened.

Possible:

Fraud

Fraud is both a civil tort and criminal wrong.

In civil litigation, allegations of fraud might be based on a misrepresentation of fact that was either intentional or negligent. For a statement to be an intentional misrepresentation, the person who made it must either have known the statement was false or been reckless as to its truth. The speaker must have also intended that the person to whom the statement was made would rely on it. The hearer must then have reasonably relied on the promise and also been harmed because of that reliance.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fraud

Possible wire fraud:

Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

18 U.S. Code § 1343.Fraud by wire, radio, or television

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1343

These are crimes and can be reported to the police. I would consider doing so.

I would also consider a bar complaint:

Complaints Against Lawyers The ABA is not a lawyer disciplinary agency and has no authority to investigate or act upon complaints filed against lawyers. Each state has its own agency that performs that function in regard to lawyers practicing in that state. Locate your state agency from the Directory of State Disciplinary Agencies.

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/resources/resources_for_the_public/

If he is aware that this money is required for you to maintain your family law litigation, his actions may have been a corruptly made threatening communication to prevent you from having access to the money which impedes the due administration of justice, which can be:

Obstruction of justice Definition 18 U.S.C. § 1503 defines "obstruction of justice" as an act that "corruptly or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication, influences, obstructs, or impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice."

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/obstruction_of_justice

I wish you the best of luck in your search for justice.