1. No, I got my parents' GC (filed by myself) less than a year even with an RFE (applied 8/2017, RFE 1/2018, EAD 3/2018, GC 6/2018 ), plus spouse is always faster than parents (I've seen as fast as 2-6 months unlike parents 6-12 months).

2. Honestly it depends on how confident you are with your application (if confident just go for GC; if wanna be safe go for DACA and GC). My parents were out of status and they got GC without a problem. IDK why the hell your application got terminated tho.

3. Is your lawyer legit?