I have clients attend "teleponically" all the time.
I've had conferences re-scheduled when the worker was unavailable, the judge can consent to that.
You could have (1) dismissed the present attorney and (2) hired new counsel when this attorney refused to reschedule, but you did not.
Therefore, YES IT IS LEGAL FOR YOUR PRESENT COUNSEL TO SCHEDULE THE MATTER FOR TRIAL.
You can still dismiss this attorney and attempt to secure a new attorney, but most attorneys will be hesitant to consider you given the matter is set for trial and another attorney wrote down the evidence... if there are any problems with the evidence, it's too late to fix it now.
I'VE TAKE ON CLAIMS SET FOR TRIAL, so there is that possibility... go out and see if there's a Certified Specialist in the community up there who can dismiss this other guy and take over your claim.