For the protection of my privacy, I have to limit some of the information in this case. However, I will be as descriptive as possible. I had used the legal services of Gerald Boyle and Bridget Boyle previously when they were a part of the law firm Boyle Boyle and Paulus. I was a bit concerned when I found out the law firm split up, with the Boyle's staying together and Paulus leaving (a business splitting like that, along family lines, at the very minimum sounds somewhat suspicious).
I had hired the Boyle Law Group (aka Boyle Boyle and Boyle SC)—the "new" law firm comprised of Gerald Boyle, and his two children, Gerald H. Boyle (with whom I never worked) and Bridget Boyle to represent me in a legal matter that involved two steps. I later found out that these two tasks, in legal terms, were incredibly simple and should have taken no longer than a week to accomplish. The first task was, in comparison to the second task, incredibly simple and literally required no more than two minutes in the courtroom and no paperwork whatsoever. The second task did involve the drafting of a simple document and another brief courtroom appearance. I had negotiated a payment for these serivices of $3000—quite a lot of money to an individual in his twenties still working full time and going to school full time. We did not specifically appropriate what portion of the $3000 was for which task. And it's not like I'm an idiot—my final GPA for my bachelor's degree was 3.96/4.00.
Well, after about three months of calling and checking (every time Bridget Boyle had a new excuse or reason as to why the case was taking longer), I FINALLY was able to get Bridget to go to court to resolve the first matter. I had at this point paid them $2250 of the $3000 they wanted for taking care of both events. At this point it was nearly Christmas, and Bridget said we would resolve matters after the holiday. SEVERAL MORE MONTHS pass by without her doing ANYTHING. I would call about once a week and/or send an email inquiring about the status of my case. Again, every time there was an excuse—literally sometimes they would blame the weather, sometimes she would claim to be sick, and other times she would claim to be working on this supposedly complex and time-demanding case, for which $3000 was SUCH a VALUE.
Well, after four months I had had enough. I called the law firm's senior partner, Gerry Boyle Sr., with whom I had worked intially (and successfully). I was thinking he had no idea how unprofessional his daughter was acting and upon hearing it, he woud correct the situation. I could not have been further off-base.instead he completely blew me off, talking to me like I was some raving lunatic (and I was speaking completely calmly, though I will not say I was in a cheerful mood). He started talking to me like I was a five year old. "What do you want us to do for you?" To which I responded that I simply wanted her (or anyone at their law firm) to perform the job for which I had paid them. He said I had been "constantly calling" Bridget and effectively harassing her while she was working away on this case. I don't feel like a weekly call, after seven months have passed, for a matter that should have taken, at the longest, two weeks, was unreasonable. He proceeded to say that he was busy and had to go, and hung up the phone. I was not able to get Bridget Boyle on the phone again. Nor was I able to get her to respond via email.
Then, because they refused to respond, I HAD TO HIRE ANOTHER ATTORNEY TO FINISH THE JOB. He was the one that explained to me how simple and easy the second matter was to take care of. It was done and resolved by a competent attorney within a week, after seven months of getting the runaround. My new attorney also proceeded to explain to me that the methodology that Ms. Boyle was claiming to work on for the second matter was not even possible with my specific case, and that any lawyer that had passed the bar would know that. He also clarified that any lawyer would know that, if they are accepting money in exchange for future services, an agreement needs to be signed by the client according to Wisconsin law. No such document was ever offered to me. It cost me $1500 to hire this new attorney.
I also asked the attorney about how the two matters (remember that they did actually take care of the first, far simpler task). He said that since the first matter required zero paperwork and a single, brief court appearance, a 1/3 to 2/3 ratio would be more than fair, meaning that first issue that they did resolve could not have cost more than $1000, meaning they received $1250 from me for absolutely NOTHING. Not to mention the other $1500 I had to spend HIRING A SECOND LAW FIRM to finish the job. This behavior is absolutely inexcusable for anyone that is claiming to be a reputable lawyer. From what I heard from the other attorney, my situation was not unusual. This was a truly sad situation. And, their neglectful wasting of time delayed my application to graduate school. Then, once admitted, I ended up moving out of state, so it is just not financially feasible for me to proceed with a civil suit (it's just not worth it considering the costs of traveling out to Wisconsin, etc.). At the same time, I did not think they should be able to get away with this free from consequence. Hopefully some other potential clients will read this and know to stay away. You would be better off hiring a monkey for counsel.
0 comments