I would give -1 star if I could. I have a consultation scheduled. I arrived on time, followed the instructions at arrival. He did not show up for the consultation, I send him a text message that I was present, did not respond, and he did not even have a voicemail box set up. I would not recommend you use him as a lawyer. He did not apologize and he did not even text me back, he called me 24 hours later b/c he thought I was a new consultation. I wasted time taking off work, gas money, and parking to meet with a lawyer who does not show up, and was not even apologetic. I agree with the rest of the reviews saying he is unprofessional. I should have gone with my gut feeling when he told me to arrive, and there was no formal intake or calendar invitation. It felt like he a one man show, and that is what I still think given he didn't show up. read more

This person is very rude. I would never use or recommend because of the treatment received.

I was in a pickle. James DeVita helped us out. He counseled about the different options that I had and guided me through the process. It was a very tight timeline. The best option for me was to file for bankruptcy and helped me navigate to process in a very short amount of time. His attention to detail and his work to make sure that all of the bases were covered was invaluable. He even stayed on the case all of the way through and beyond the time of the case. The fees I paid took care of everything and there were no surprise charges. read more

I was referred to this attorney by my employer through the CLC Legal Access Program. I talked to him over the phone, and since he said he was in court the other days, we made an appointment for Sunday 10 a.m.--I thought it a little odd that he'd propose Sunday, but whatever. Sunday, I went all the way across town on the Metro, which is about an hour and a half. His office building was basically next door to the Court House stop, and since it was pouring outside, I said a silent "thanks" for how convenient it was. But... ...it was locked. Nobody home. I'd arrived half an hour early, so I stood outside for a while in the pouring rain. I phoned his office repeatedly, with no answer. At 10:15 when he hadn't showed, I finally called security using the phone outside. The guard came and told me I could sit in the coffee shop next door--but he also told me "you ought to know that that particular attorney very often makes appointments on Sunday and then doesn't show." I waited till 10:45, and then got on the Metro and went back home. While standing out there in the rain, I probably left five voicemails on Mr. Devita's machine. I would have thought someone on his staff would have gotten back to me the following day to explain why he'd stood me up, to reschedule, or just to apologize. But nobody did. At that point, I was pretty upset. I called and asked to speak to Mr. Devita. I asked Mr. Devita why he hadn't shown up. He told me he needed to cancel but he had deleted the voice mail with my name and phone number. I responded that he had all of that information in his e-mail. He didn't really have an answer to that. I added that even if he'd totally lost all of the scheduling information about my appointment, he could have at least bothered to leave a note on the door saying he wouldn't be there. That way I'd still have wasted the time it took to go out there, but I wouldn't have had to stand out in the rain for an hour, wondering if he was going to show up. Anyway he apologized and I decided that it was not worth arguing with him further. Yes, he'd behaved unprofessionally, but telling him that wasn't going to bring back my lost Sunday or get my legal work done. So I stopped, and just asked him what forms I'd need to file for the legal procedure I wanted to hire him for. (I knew I could find that information in 0.1 seconds via Google, but I wanted to see what he'd be like as an attorney.) Mr. DeVita gave me a cagey reply that he couldn't answer my question unless I hired him, since the forms were his work product. That was the point at which I decided not to hire him. I called another attorney. That attorney returned my call immediately. He happily answered the simple question that Mr. Devita had refused to. I hired him instead, and gave him the few thousand dollars of business that I would otherwise have given to Mr. Devita. read more

Stay away!!!!!!! I completely agree with the other reviewer. Mr Devita would not give you any advice unless you hire him, even after I PAID for a 30 minutes phone consultation. I paid for a 30 minutes phone consultation to ask for advice. All Mr. Devita talked for 10 minutes was that he will not take the case because it is not financially worthy to him, and that I need to also hire another specialist for at least $5,000. I told him that since he will not take the case, can he use the 20 minutes left of the paid consultation to give me some advice of how to represent myself in a small claim court, or similar sugestions. The consultation was paid through the legal referral service, which is supposed to be also a service for community, helping with 30 minutes of legal advice even if the attorney was not taking the case. Mr. Devita obviously was not interested in helping me or the community in any way. All he cared about was the amount of money involved, tell me it was not worth his time taking the case, and refusing to give me any useful information or guidance without taking the case. He only stayed on the phone for 10 minutes out of the 30 minutes I PAID for, because he kept on repeating that he cannot help me without taking the case. My honest advice, stay away from Mr. Devita or from any attorney whose ONLY interest is his financial gain, and has complete lack of consideration for the client. If he CHARGING me for a 30 minutes consultation, he should use every minute of it to provide me guidance with my case, rather than waste my money and my time by explaining to me that he is not interested in taking the case or in providing even the most basic information. read more

Referred to him via my companies EAP. It was a pretty straight forward issue. He was able to assist and handled it professionally. The entire issue was resolved in a reasons amount of time. I would recommend. read more

If you're looking for a lawyer who doesn't really protect your interests, this is the lawyer to choose. He "helped" me with a separation agreement as I was going through a divorce but did not really read the fine grained details of the agreement and advised me incorrectly on how to proceed (after I asked multiple questions on the topic and was told not to worry). After all was said and done, he denied liability because he "didn't understand" the details from the other lawyer. Quite disappointed and WOULD NEVER recommend this lawyer read more

I retained Mr. DeVita's counsel for one speeding ticket and one reckless driving ticket. Both times he did a thorough job, showed up to court in a timely manner, presented my case professionally, and was able to get me a reduced sentence. Mr. DeVita is a professional and I have already and will continue to recommend him to friends. read more

I received a free legal consultation with Mr. DeVita through my employer EAP. My experience was different than the two other reviews. While I was surprised that he offered Sunday hours, that meant I didn't have to use leave. The office building is locked on Sundays so I had to call up to his office. He quickly came down and walked us up. I was also surprised that he was dressed in sweats, but in a way that was good because I felt more comfortable than had he been dressed in an expensive suit. He did not watch the clock. I brought along a friend and we were both pleased with the counsel provided and the rate offered if I decide to use his services. I will update if I decide to hire Mr. DeVita vs going with a higher priced attorney. I'd read these reviews before seeing Mr. DeVita but decided the EAP price (free) was right so I might as well check him out, but I was a bit uneasy. Now, I have to say I'm surprised by the other reviews because my experience was very different. Perhaps it also has to do with the nature of my legal needs. I got the paperwork I needed and pretty straightforward advice. read more

I found Mr. DeVita via an on-line consultant search. He & I began working on my Chapter 13 bankruptcy case in 2010. Personally, I have always found him to be prompt, polite, honest and willing to go above and beyond. I paid him one set rate back in 2010 and since then, he had to do a lot more work for me related to the bankruptcy that we could not have foreseen, i.e. when I went to re-finance my home, I needed approval from my Bankruptcy trustee which Mr. DeVita obtained for me. This is one example of many. He has never asked me for another penny. I did go to see him at his office on the weekend once or twice but he was always there along with one other administrative staff person. I have found him to be knowledgeable, forth coming, concerned for my case's well being and proactive. I would recommend him to my friends and would definitely use his services again should the need arise. read more