A waste of time and money, and they put me in an even bigger hole than where I started. I had a family law matter which, in hindsight, I would have been better off pursuing pro se. The initial meeting was with a paralegal, with an attorney brought in about an hour and a half later.initial price quote was $3700, reduced to $1500 after I informed them I was underemployed (like so many others these days). They didn't guarantee a favorable outcome - which they are forbidden to do anyway - but intimated strongly that I would win based on legal precedent and the merits of the case. I made a down payment and a payment schedule was established. I was provided with several pages of documentation to fill out and return.
Over the course of the next four months the only person with whom I had any regular contact was the accounts receivable rep assigned to my case. She was very pleasant, of course. I spoke with my attorney by phone twice, for a total of less than two hours. He dismissed, rather condescendingly, the 12 pages of paperwork I had filled out, along with two of the three courses of action they had originally agreed to pursue on my behalf. My attorney was confident we would prevail on the remaining issue.
I met once with my attorney, five days before the court date. He explained his strategy, the legal basis for it, and that it was as close to a slam dunk as existed in the legal world. He showed up late for our appointment and had to return to his office to retrieve my file. He was not familiar with who I was or the status of my case until he had the file in front of him.
My attorney called me after appearing - and losing - in court. He gave me a detailed blow-by-blow account of the proceedings, and expressed his shock and dismay at the court's ruling. He then laid out his strategy for an appeal, as an idea had occurred to him just then that he hadn't considered before the hearing. He was confident his appeal strategy would prevail, and it would only cost me another $1500.
Seriously? I'll admit to being an idiot for ever retaining these thieves, but I do eventually figure things out. The deception and incompetence of this firm extend beyond the well-documented issues in their real estate division, and are apparently endemic to the entire organizational culture and operational philosophy. They exist for the sole purpose of separating the public from their money, and one can only hope that sooner rather than later the state will shut them down.
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