I contacted The Bar Association of San Francisco s...

I contacted The Bar Association of San Francisco so that I could contact a lawyer, to pay them to explain questions that I have regarding employment law, references, the risk of soliciting unlisted references for information, and how it all dovetails into academics, having presently found myself in a very tenuous situation, and not of my own making. All of this communication could and would have been electronic with no need for transit.

The person on the other end of the phone at The Bar Association of San Francisco was a pushy, rude individual, who, after cutting me off while answering their questions once or twice, was told to "just hang up" from the background, now that the straining 5 minutes was up, and gave me two phone numbers for other Bar Associations that have not helped. Thank you, sir. After having spoken to you, I doubt I could dislike NorCal anymore than I do now, and I am no fan of SoCal either.

The point that the functionary had trouble with was this:
I am currently in a very unique position as I have been an employee, who became a student at a University (#1), who recently became both a student and employee while trying to finish a graduate program. When I entered as an employee, I provided a list of professional/character references; but, either before or, in preparation for entering the academic program (outside the expertise of the lawyer most likely), an extra reference was solicited from a previous advisor of mine (University #2) who disliked me immensely, and likely portrayed me as a gross and detrimental abstraction of what I am (I have a mental illness that follows the correct regimen and I am compliant with my Doctor). When I joined University #2, prior and during my previous advisor's guidance/malignance (he REALLY did not like me, and I don't know why), the illness fulminated and I had some breakthrough issues due to misdiagnosis and the prescription of improper, exacerbating pharmacology. No accommodations were made at anytime by University #2 under Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, and all this information was used out of context as an employment reference for University #1 by the advisor at #2, and it has followed me through employment, being a student, and until now, eroding my academic success as I have transitioned from one advisor to another two years ago. My planned questions were simple: what limitations are there on what can legally be asked of a non-listed reference, what recourse is there for defamation and fallacy being used for personal reasons to prevent hiring (I had been blacklisted by unsuccessfully getting a job after University #2 for 6 months; during the recession for 2 years, from being admitted into a graduate program, and having oblique references made to what the malignant advisor would most likely have said. Blacklisting and defamation are strong words, but apt and likely true. Finally I wanted to know what if anything could be done to explain the transfer of information from an employer in a lab, who is also an academic, to another academic (i.e. my second boss after the first failed tenure), and which has caused me trouble since.

That was it. That was all for which I needed the reference. It is actually a straightforward request so long as someone's ability to speak is not hamstrung or a careful reading is undertaken.

If I could rate the California Bar Association any lower, I would. This was the least professional treatment I've ever experienced amongst attorneys or their representatives; the experience was more like what I imaging bad speed dating to be like.