1 /5 Jeremy “Smaug”: Its not a well-run firm:
- They took my information, then proceeded to mix up my phone number twice. Apparently leaving messages at some other number for my case.
- When I hired them, I could not get them to call me or email me to confirm they would appear on my behalf in court. The DAY OF, the senior attorney called me just minutes before court.
- 2nd court date, junior attorney wasnt prepared with the required documentation, so we were denied a reasonable request.
- Their agreement says that clients agree to them splitting up tasks, to be more cost-efficient. However, in reality, it means clients get charged many times for a task that could have been done by a single competent attorney in one session. For example, when I asked them to withdraw, because I was not seeing the value, they managed to rack up over $2,000 in further expenses just to withdraw: Junior attorney read email, sent to paralegal. Paralegal reviewed it. Junior attorney made revisions. Senior attorney reviewed it again. Revised again, Submitted. 1.5 hour court time talking about it.
- When I saw the final bill and disputed it in an itemized way as required, I got no response except to keep requesting payment over and over again.
- In short, they racked up $7k worth of expenses in 2 months with mostly junior level administrative tasks.
- Speaking of billing, this is a pain point too. One person asks for more money. I paid. Several days later, another person "reminded" me that I need to pay. I said I already paid. "Oh, were sorry." Then they did it several more times.
My advice is to find a single attorney or a firm with a flat rate by case type. I explored a flat rate attorney that was well-reviewed and they quoted $6k. Im now in over $10k with this firm and didnt even get good representation. Im now pro se (representing myself) and doing just as well.
