SEARCH FOR AN ATTORNEY 

I started actively searching for attorneys located in San Antonio, Texas 
starting at the beginning of the summer of 1997. 

Every day during lunch breaks from work, I drove home to telephone attorneys 
in San Antonio to request assistance.  During the course of the summer, I 
spoke with probably about 75 attorneys.

My experience was as follows:

By early-September, after three months of searching daily for attorneys, I 
could not find one attorney who agreed to take my case at a price I could 
afford.

Even by late-September, an attorney from a Pre-paid Legal organization I was 
a member of (that supposedly guaranteed legal representation) refused to 
represent me and claimed my case "had no merit".

Of the attorneys I spoke to, some attorneys (less than ten) were very 
friendly and were empathetic.  But those attorneys like numerous other 
lawyers stated they could not provide any assistance.

Four or five attorneys agreed to review the documents pertaining to the case. 
 However, the result with those attorneys was always the documents were 
returned after one or two months and the lawyer declined to become involved 
in the case.  

Three attorneys (all male) were outright extremely hostile toward me about my 
case.  The mere mention of my trying to recoup retired mlitary pay wrongfully 
taken at the beginning of a conversation provoked very angry responses.  It 
was obvious they were very pro-ex-spouse and strong supporters of the USFSPA 
as it is currently designed.  Furthermore, it was obvious those lawyers 
viewed an attempt to recoup funds wrongfully collected by an ex-spouse as a 
violation of laws.

Every female attorney, except one, who I contacted (i.e., approximately 
eight) shied away from becoming involved in the matter.

The one female attorney who offered to represent me (and who I declined to be 
represented by) later claimed she was a personal friend of my ex-spouse's 
attorney.  She claimed she would have no difficulty contesting my ex-spouse's 
attorney in a law suit.  I did not believe her.

Of the three attorneys who offered to represent me during the summer of 1997, 
all were Certified Family Law Specialists.  All seemed very competent.  
However, at that time, I just could not afford the fees they requested after 
having lost so much in the divorce court's judgment. 

"All" attorneys I contacted who advertised they were former Judge Advocate 
General lawyers declined to represent me and wanted no part of my case.
 
In total, I spoke to well over 100 attorneys in California and Texas.  

I estimate slightly under 50% of all attorneys I spoke with advised me and 
were adament the USFSPA "automatically" divided military retired pay between 
the military retiree and a spouse.  Of those attorneys, I estimate 70% of 
those lawyers who interpreted the USFSPA as being an "automatic" division of 
pay resided in California.