Keith Duane Hoppes' Reviews

Client Review: Mr. Hoppes is not the lawyer I hired; I hired his boss, Gary Marchalk. In conference Mr. Marchalk comported himself well and didn’t allow my abusive ex-husband and his lawyer to run circles around him. I felt reasonably confident as a result, but when it came time to go to before the judge, I was stuck with Hoppes. In pre-judgment conference he said nothing and allowed opposing counsel to badger and bully me. When I objected to the crap deal I was having forced down my throat Hoppes first gave me legal information regarding my case that I knew to be incorrect, and then proceeded to advise me based on information about me that he got not from me, but from opposing counsel. The man acted on information he got from my ex-husband’s lawyer rather than from me!! When I continued to defend myself (to my lawyer!) he said he was “getting sick of my feelings”. This was in private, but it’s still absolutely unacceptable. If Hoppes can’t deal with people’s feelings, then HE HAS NO BUSINESS IN A DIVORCE PROCEEDING. When we went back into the presence of my ex-husband & opposing counsel, Hoppes not only failed to shield me from the badgering and bullying, BUT ACTUALLY JOINED IN. He assured me that it was in my best interests to take the deal my ex-husband was offering and not go before the judge, so I very reluctantly agreed. Opposing counsel stridently demanded that I sign “an affidavit” by four o’clock that afternoon. Hoppes did not tell me that in doing so, I was signing my final divorce papers. I find that alone to be shocking. What was I paying him for if not to clearly explain everything that transpired that day to me and the consequences? He told me little and what he told me was either outright incorrect or based on faulty information. He allowed things to transpire that I was paying to avoid. While it is true that even with a better lawyer I might not have done all that much better in the actual divorce agreement on paper, as a result of Hoppes’ derisive attitude towards me in front of my ex-husband, combined with misinformation he very aggressively posited also in front of my ex-husband, having to go to court with Hoppes made things much, much worse in the real-life long-run.

I very definitely will be complaining to the Bar. I have no hope of Hoppes being censured but I want to make certain that his record shows a complaint against his conduct.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES GO INTO DIVORCE COURT WITH THIS ATTORNEY. He is inept, disrespectful and lazy.