Husband lost I-94. Overstay B2 since 1997. Want to apply I-485

[XoticMoon]

Hello. I am a US Citizen born abroad obtained via US citizen father. I have been a US citizen and resident since I arrived as an infant. I met my husband in 1999 through my mom while working. We dated 2001-2005. We reunited end of 2008. He moved in with me into a house I own in September 2008. We decided that we will work on his permanent resident status this time around. We consulted with an attorney who told us to get married. We married Dec 2008.

My husband came to the US through NYC from Poland on a visiting visa in 1997. He was visiting his sister who was not a US citizen. He received I-94, returned to Poland, his native country, once later that year and received another I-94 upon re-entering the US. The previous one was removed. His sister got married to a US citizen. He stayed with her and ended up not returning to Poland. He has not left the US since. He paid a NYC attorney in 1997 to process his paperwork so he could remain in the US and doesn't know if forms were ever filed with USCIS. He has no copies of any paperwork. He believes he was scammed and does not remember who was the attorney. In the meantime he got a US Social Security card and moved to FL in 1998 and got a FL driver's license. It expired in 2002. In 2005 he lost his Polish passport, I-94 and US SS card. He knows SS# and had used it for work. He renewed his Poland passport after it expired in 2006. He has worked and paid US taxes and Social Security tax all these years. He lost his job of 7 years and now works as an independent contractor. We want to get him permanent status. An attorney told us to get married, pay their fee and they would proceed with paperwork. WHAT paperwork? They never said what forms they would file. Don't we need the I-94#? My husband worked illegally for so many years, I don't know if he qualifies to file some forms. We would like to know what are our options and what can we expect from an attorney? We want to know what forms so that when we walk into a firm, we're educated instead of getting "Just hire us and we'll take care of the rest" pitch. My husband is leery of attorneys but I feel our situation is in desperate need of legal help and I do not feel comfortable attempting to file these forms on our own even though it costs alot and will take us time to save the money. These are some of my questions

How do we find out if a file was ever initiated by the NYC attorney if we don't have any documentation or recall how to contact the attorney since my husband does not remember the firm? Should we start over and assume the NYC attorney did nothing? What do we do about the lost I-94? Should we file I-102? What about the fact that he severely overstayed his visiting visa? Is he eligible for I-765 so that he can apply to work legally? Are we eligible to file I-485 and I-130? Can he get deported? I just lost my job earlier this month and he is the primary income earner. How will this affect us?

Answer to some of these questions would greatly help us as we continue to meet with attorneys until we settle with one he feels comfortable with. Thank you for any assistance