Since I've learned so much from this group, I thought I'd share/remind everyone of a good lesson when dealing with attorneys - don't trust them.
One of my credit cards is American Express (owe about $20k). After unsuccessfully trying to work out a deal that was doable for both of us (I'm doing debt settlement on my own), American express sent the debt to one of their local attorneys, who served me a summons for repayment. Instead of hiring an attorney, I decided to file the ANSWER by myself (again, using a lot of great resources to draft an anwer to the complaint).