James J. McDonald

I hired Jim McDonald to purchase a house in Montclair. During the process, Jim and his assistant hardly ever returned phone calls and emails and were difficult to reach. But most importantly, I would never hire Jim because his firm's email system was compromised by a hacker during my wife's and I ...house purchase. Long story short, but we were a victim of wire fraud from someone posing as Jim's assistant. Jim did not help us recover our down payment, denied any fault, and even blamed us. Luckily, we worked with the FBI, Secret Service and the NY General Attorney's office to recover most of the funds. I would definitely not trust working with Jim because of their compromised email systems. There are many real estate law firms that do the same work. It's not worth the risk to work with Jim's firm with your precious life savings.

Jim McDonald assisted my wife and myself on two occasions on real estate transfer. Neither of us is a resident in the USA and our knowledge of legal and practical matters concerning these procedures was extremely limited. Jim proved himself to be a highly efficient, knowledgeable and cooperative agen...t in both cases, which were concluded very smoothly. I have no hesitation in recommending his professional services to anyone in need of such assistance.

I had a nightmare of a purchasing situation . An estate sale with 3 siblings in different states with strong emotional ties to the house for sale. They hired the cheapest and laziest lawyer in the state to handle the sale. There was asbestos, non working plumbing, a questionable oil tank disposal, w...ater damage and nobody alive who could answer questions ( about a lovely house.) We hired Jim, who saw us through the whole thing with confidence and calm. There was a lot of money at stake and Jim made sure we got a solid and great resolution to the whole deal. We got a very fair deal - Jim made sure our interests were represented across multiple issues. It was extremely time consuming - but he got us to conclusion . When I think of the closing of our house, I smile when I remember Jim's competent hands guiding the process. I would hire him again in a minute for anything important, as I completely trust his competence, his knowledge, and his professionalism. If you want a calm and completely competent ( and aggressive where needed) and ethical hard working lawyer to see you through your house closing, you will be happy working with Jim McDonald.