malpractice in fed court - is it all over?

I am in Texas.

I hired an attorney to help me with an EEOC case. He advised me to sue in federal district court when the EEOC court ordered mediation failed. I did so. Now defendant is claiming, and the district court judge has accepted, that it is without jurisdiction since all administrative remedies (i.e. EEOC case) were not exhausted. The real kicker is that my EEOC case may also be dismissed because I filed suit in federal court! In addition, my attorney apparently decided to spice up my case by including some false charges that I had already told him NOT to include.

I dismissed my attorney and sent all parties, including the EEOC court, a letter explaining what had happened and withdrawing the false charges. I included the letter from my attorney advising me to file suit in federal court promptly. My attorney has withdrawn and the defendant agreed to putting everything on hold until I can find another attorney. This will probably give me one month of breathing space.

The problem is, my former attorney now has my life savings, and I need to get it back before I can hire another attorney. What is the fastest way to get the money back? I know I can file with the Bar Association, but I need the fastest way!

In addition, I am not sure what to ask the court for, assuming I very possibly will have to do this pro se. I think the way the case has been handled by my former attorney, I would probably lose my case on every point, except for one: The defendant was 11 days late answering a court summons which specified that they must answer within 60 days. Since my attorney neglected to point this out to the court, the judge has already ruled based on inaccurate info from the defense, that defense response was timely. I submitted USPS proof of delivery, but it may be too late. If so will have to go to appeal to win. Can I win at appeal on this one point? Or do I want to ask the judge to declare the whole shebang a mistrial and let me do it all over again after I finish my EEOC case?

If I can ever get this case heard in court it will be a good solid one. My manager lied about me to get me fired from a federal job, and I can now prove what happened.

[AFFA]

I wish to inform you that you may represent yourself. In this regard at present if your case is being herd in EEOC then you may exhaust your remedy in EEOC and may then move in Federal Court. In this if your suit in Federal Court is being dismissed then you may seek permission from Federal Court that the case must be dismissed without prejudice so that you may file again after your EEOC remedy is over,

AFF

Thank you.
Yes, the Title VII claims have been dismissed without prejudice, I should have added that.
So I can sue again later.

Is it possible to win a case based solely on the fact that the defendant was 11 days in submitting their response to the charges? If so, the least messy way of resolving this issue would be to simply to take this federal case to appeal and prove they were late. The defendant would probably thank me for doing that if they knew what all was coming. Is that a safe strategy though? Or could a new judge simply say, "yes, they were late, but I forgive them" and decide the appeal based on something else?