To those of you going through or beginning the process of divorce and considering hiring John Asselin-Connolly of New London CT as your attorney please see the following:
Prior to hiring John Asselin-Connolly ask him the following questions:
1. Has he ever be reprimanded or sanctioned by the State of Connecticut Judical Branch Statewied Grievance Committee govering attorney ethics and professional conduct?
2. How many times has he requested a client mortgage their property as collateral for his legal fees?
3. Has he ever told a client that he will seek a reduction in the child support they will have to pay to compensate for his legal fees?
4. What is his hourly rate?
5. Has he ever been sued by a client for malpractice?
Here is your backup information:
1. If he answers no to question one above please reference the following: Statewide Grievance Committee Public Reviewing Committe Hearings - October 1 File #08-0232, Mazella v. John Asslein-Connolly - This is not my case but very similar to the way I was treated by John Asselin-Connolly.
2. Check the web - google and yahoo John Asselin-Connolly and you will find references to court matters where has requested clients mortgage their assests to collateralize his fees. You will also find references to how he is regarded negatively by his attorney peer group in CT.
3. I know this one is true. I have emails from him indiacting such. That is when I fired him. His bill before my children?
4. Good luck if you proceed with him. If he can't negotiate you for a higher rate it is certain his time will be far in excess of what he quotes you. He is going to try to get the biggest fee one way of the other. Try not to find this one out in the middle of his representation. It is hard and expensive to change attorney's mid-stream. Word to the wise, don't put yourself in this position.
5. Ask the question.
During his representation of me he billed me more than 3 times what he told me would be the fee during our inital fee meetings. More difficult for me to understand that regradless of this excessive billing not a single issue which was on the table was yet resolved or had really even been addressed with oppossing counsel.
The best thing that happended to me was that in the process of him trying to hit me up for more than $8,000 of legal fees in a month when I balked at the bill he told me "he was having a difficult time getting motivated about my case".
I fired him and hired a new attorney and within 2 weeks many of the issues were resolved at 1/5th the fee?
I would recommend John Asselin Connolly if the following are your goals with regard to your divorce:
1. To create animosity with your divorcing spouse
2. To pay 3 times what the average divorce in New London county costs
3. To spend much of your free time being inundated with long emails from your attorney, most of which will be directed at pointing out all the problems and the costs which will need to be incurred to solve the problems
4. A long, expensive, painful and very stressfull drawnout divorce process
If the above are your goals this is the right attorney for you.
Read grievance file #08-0232. If you still want to hire John Asselin-Connolly that is certainly your choice. However, if you would prefer to move through your divorce process with as little conflict as possible and without going bankrupt you may want to consider looking elsewhere for more effective and ethical representation.
Best of luck.
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