Extremely disappointing experience -- $4,000 for virtually no communication, advocacy, or…read moreaccountability
My husband was charged with a DUI in April of this year, and we immediately retained this firm because of the positive reviews and our initial conversation with David. Looking back, hiring these attorneys was one of the worst decisions we could have made.
After paying $4,000, communication with David was practically nonexistent. We went months without hearing from him, and when we did, it was generally through text. He rarely, if ever, called us unless we initiated the call ourselves. Most importantly, we felt that he did very little to actually advocate for my husband. My husband's circumstances were unusual in that he was not even driving his vehicle when he was pulled over, yet David essentially advised us to take the plea deal without making us feel that our specific circumstances had been meaningfully explored or advocated for.
At the plea hearing on August 20th, we were represented by Derek. While he initially seemed more engaged than David, he made a major mistake by telling the judge that my husband wanted work release for his jail sentence when that was not what we had requested.
Even worse, when going over the paperwork, Derek failed to tell us that obtaining work release required a doctor to complete and sign a form confirming that my husband did not have tuberculosis. We had no idea this form was required.
As a direct result, when my husband self-surrendered to serve his three-day sentence, he spent approximately 10 hours waiting to be processed, only to be turned away by the jail because he did not have the required medical form.
We immediately reached back out to David and Derek, expecting them to take responsibility and help correct the situation. Instead, we were told that they no longer represented my husband because sentencing had already occurred. Neither attorney took ownership of the mistake, and neither would take our calls. Communication was extremely difficult, and responses to our texts were minimal.
So after paying $4,000 for legal representation, my husband and I had to go to the courthouse ourselves and stand before the judge to get instructions for him to surrender again a few days later--without work release--so that he could finally complete his sentence.
Because of the errors and lack of communication surrounding the jail requirements, my husband ultimately had to spend additional time dealing with this situation beyond what should have been necessary for his original three-day sentence.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it.
We were also never informed that my husband needed to complete an 8-hour MVD driving course in order to have his license reinstated. Because we were unaware of this requirement, he had his interlock device installed nearly a month ago, but that time does not count toward the required 18 months until the 8-hour course is completed.
These are not minor inconveniences. These were consequential details that we relied on our attorneys to know, explain, and communicate to us.
The most frustrating part has been the complete lack of accountability. When you pay thousands of dollars for attorneys, you expect communication, attention to detail, advocacy, and someone who will actually guide you through the process. Instead, we were left trying to figure things out ourselves after the most important parts of the case had already happened.
I would not recommend this firm to anyone based on our experience. We hired attorneys so that we wouldn't have to navigate this process alone, yet that is exactly what we ended up having to do.
And after reading the glowing reviews that initially convinced us to hire them, I honestly question how representative those reviews are of the experience we had.
Do your research and ask very specific questions about what communication, representation, and post-sentencing assistance are actually included before giving this firm your money.
