I retained this divorce attorney and was extremely disappointed with their performance. The owner, Bill came to me highly recommended.in my opinion you can find much better divorce attorneys in Phoenix who will work harder for you and charge you much, much less. To start things off, Bill did not have the time for my case, so he assigned me another one of his associates. This "young, aggressive, attorney" as he was decribed to me - in my opinion failed every objective and could not "move the needle" on anything! He was a nice young guy, but just didn't have the nads to get the job done. I was billed at $3,000-$9,000 per month with no results, no plan, and no strategy.
One of the tactics my attorney did was always sending "polite reminder" messages to opposing counsel that something was due or coming due. So by way of example, if the other lawyer needed to give us something by the 1st of the month, they would get letters leading up and and after words reminding them that things were due/things were late. I paid for all of these and it is a great way for law firms to pad their bill. When I questioned my attorney, he was indignant and said it was "right" and "ethical" to remind the other lawyers, as well as his job and, "how dare I question his methods!" While that may be true (I don't think it is) it accomplished nothing, got me nowhere, and just gave me a larger bill each month.
On more than one instance, I received email documents that I needed to fill out about my assets, which already had the Social Security number and banking info from the firms other clients! Bill Bishop brushed this off as "accidents happen." Could you imagine in this world of identity theft if your attorney freely gave out your personal contact and financial info? Your attorney - the one who you should trust?
You have a choice as a consumer. When you buy services, you expect accurate, timely and fair and competent representation.in my opinion - I received none of these with this firm. I tried to work with Bill Bishop on getting a fair refund of my retainer plus 10% of what was billed -and he refused and tried to accuse me of extortion. Imagine that! That ought to show you what type of guy this is. He appears to be a very arrogant and doesn't believe that consumer complaint messages will work.
On another note: While looking for attorneys don't be fooled by credentials like Martindale-Hubbell or Certified Family Law Specialist - like Bishop Law Firm has on their website. Most certifications are "peer reviewed" which means other lawyers give and get you these certifications.
Divorce is not fun and it is even worse when you don't have a lawyer that has the same views as you and runs at a different pace then you. My advice is to not use Bill Bishop Law Offices and the ONLY way to find a good lawyer is to talk to clients who have used lawyers. I have run into other people who have had equally poor experiences with their attorneys and we are banding together to start a "Lawyer Only" rating website. If you would like to send me your experiences with attorneys (both good and bad) you may ping me at bad. [email protected] and I will let you all know when our site is up. You can be assured the Bill Bishop will be one of the first firms highlighted on our site.
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