Just what can a lawyer do?

[melissa3]

I'm not sure where to put this so I figure I'll start with my own state. I'm sure I should post this to Soc but I'd rather see if I could find the answer myself before harrassing him =)

STORY - The BM asked that visitation for my fiance be suspended until he proved he wasn't abusing drugs / or abusing his prescription. The BM made a tape of him taking his medication but she has no evidence that he is a danger while on medication. The tape wasn't admissible in court, however, its existence spawned supervised visits and an evaluation. Our old lawyer failed to question the tape and failed to defend us and ultimately destroyed our case. We now have a new lawyer.

We have already started the evalution but our evaluator is over-booked and he/we cannot finish the evalution in time for trial. We have NO time or the finances to start another evaluation with a new evaluator. Also, my fiance has stopped taking his medication, despite the chronic pain, and could pass a screening. What more could an evaluation show if my fiance is "clean", so to speak?

My question is, can our new lawyer raise an objection to the evidence and the evaluation if we can show its irrelevence, since my fiance is no longer taking his prescription?

Or is our new laywer restricted to working with our case as it is now?

Thanks

PS: It may seem obvious to ask our lawyer but I'm asking here first in an attempt to save what money we have left.