I used Attorney Melman's law services in a custody case. Even though my case never went through to trial (my Ex and I settled on an agreement outside of court), I was less than thrilled with Attorney Melman's overall service & experience. Attorney Melman showed a general lack of interest in my case and more in the amount of money he could get out of me.
In fact the ONLY time he offered to meet with me to discuss my case was when I had to drop off the attorney fee.
Anytime after that, if I would call, email or inquire about having a meeting with him, he instead had his mother meet with me or reply to my emails.
In preparation of the upcoming trial, I organized and prepared as well as I could based off of the research I did online by myself. I then brought him all of my evidence, custody factors, diary entries, dates, pictures, text messages, previous police statements, etc organized into separate binders (one for him, one for the opposing attorney & one for the judge).
When he showed up to either conference at the courthouse he never once called or met with me beforehand to make sure everything was prepared (or even make sure I knew what to expect for that matter). In fact, I even told the courthouse that I wasn't going to have a lawyer at check-in because Attorney Melman had never once answered my calls, emails or messages- therefore I thoroughly believed he wouldn't show up.
Even after he did show up (15 minutes late on both occasions), the organized binder I gave him with the important papers & details of my case was no longer; instead everything was crumpled, ripped & dirty, crammed into a manilla file folder.
It was so embarrassing to have him shuffle through the disheveled pile of papers at the last minute trying to grasp for straws to fire back at the other attorney; and seemed as though it was the first time he even looked at the papers. Imagine a disorganized college or high school kid unprepared for a Final Exam.
After that, all he said was insults about my Ex with no real bits of law or knowledge to back up any of his statements, then informed me of his fee which he'll be expecting before anything goes any further. Even still with an extremely important custody case ahead, I still had little to no contact with him and he only pushed every bit of my case onto his mother (she was a real help btw even though she didn't fully understand Custody Law since she is an Estate Attorney). I often would inquire if I had enough evidence to support my case (even though I probably didn't need any evidence I still had a very strong case no matter what) and he would rarely ever answer me (usually it was his mom reassuring me) and when I brought a chart (stating numerous custody laws & detailing them in real terms) that another attorney had given my husband to use during his own custody proceedings, he scoffed at the idea and said "I know the law I don't need a chart".
I would NEVER recommend his services to even my worst enemy. He is extremely unorganized and also very young minded. He definitely has a lot of growing up to do along with learning. I often wondered how this young man made it all the way through Law School and Bar Exams successfully. I would've went with my husband's attorney if I had an extra $6K to spend at the time, but I didn't- so in that regard, I guess you get what you pay for.
I did pay Attorney Melman over $1,400 however for this entire service and in his words, my case was practically "Pro-Bono work" (community/charity service in case you aren't familiar with the term). In reply to his arrogant words, I'd say if you're going to provide that type of Charity Service or lack thereof, you're better off not providing a service at all. read more