Stephen S. Churchill

Steve helped make the best of a bad situation in an employment wage claim I had. He was always available for any questions I had and I felt he genuinely cared. He is highly intelligent but could also explain the options available to me in terms I could understand. It was also clear that he was highly... regarded by both the opposing lawyer, and later the mediator. I would not hesitate to use Steve again or recommend him to someone needing an employment lawyer.

I have been a public school teacher for 30 years; it’s been my passion, my mission, my dream, and my life. I was stunned when, twelve years ago, a new principal came to my school and started to bully me with threats to my employment, false and distorted accusations, false claims on my evaluations, an...d routine hostile meetings during which I had to endure aggressive, irrational, and unrestrained hostility. The union helped me keep my job for all of those years, but eventually that support wore thin and so did I. Sadly, my story isn't special or unique; it's common among teachers. Everyone loves to say “Teachers should be paid more and respected more”. What people generally don’t know is that our worst abusers are the school administrators, and they usually get away with it. By the time I found myself in Steve Churchill’s office, I was hanging onto my sanity by a thread, full of self-doubt, anger, confusion, fear, and heartbreak. I needed solid, compassionate, calm, articulate, and expert legal help. That’s exactly what Steve provided. Attorney Churchill is not only an expert in employment law, but he has a talent for explaining it clearly, calmly, and patiently. He was able to absorb my complex story that covered so many years and reframe it for me in a legal context. After hours of pouring my heart out to him and hearing his feedback that he offered so kindly, I could see my situation with an informed, realistic, and well-reasoned perspective. He spent many hours sorting through my many binders full of documents and notes that I had collected over the years, composing a well thought-out strategy. He explained the basic pieces and options and then worked with me to formulate its final form. He made sure that I was engaged as a respected partner in the process so I could make choices, have input, get answers to all of my questions, and feel like I was getting the kind of justice I was seeking while being realistic and reasonable. He started the negotiation process with my school district and laid a solid basis for the union attorney to build on when the conflict reached that stage. Even then, Steve continued to advise me and answer questions that I couldn’t get anyone from the union to respond to. For six months, Steve never missed a beat. He responded right away to every email, text, and phone call from me. His advice, support, and expertise are far above average, and he could have charged me for every second and every email and every thought; instead, he was incredibly fair and generous with his time and his advice. I know I got the best deal in town. While his legal help was rock solid, the way he offered it with kindness and understanding was what helped me find my way back to sanity so I could navigate my legal journey and also start to rebuild my life and move forward. Attorney Churchill helped me get the justice, resolution, and closure that I was looking for, and recover my self-respect that I had sacrificed for the sake of trying to keep my job. I am forever grateful to him.