Christopher George Porreca

Christopher Porreca

To begin, I did NOT represent the author of this review. I was retained to represent the author's mother, who was charged with an incident of domestic violence, which included a temporary restraining order. These people ended up deciding to handle their matter without an attorney. The "urgency" that the author describes was wholly self-imposed. I was told that my prospective client was hospitalized due to the emotional trauma of the incident and she was relegated to the mental health unit for further evaluation. I was told she was to be monitored for several days, which overlapped with the hearing date for the restraining order. Naturally, the health of any client is more important than a court proceeding, which can always be rescheduled. I told the family that their mother's health would take precedence over the court hearing, and that no judge would ever pull a person from the hospital to appear in court. Being that the woman WAS in the hospital, the court date HAD to be moved. They did ask me to meet with their mother at the hospital, which I politely refused to do. I replied that once she was discharged that she should immediately make an appointment in my office to review the case, etc. I advised the family of a scheduling conflict on the original hearing date from the very beginning. They repeated over and over again that their mother, "just wanted to get it over with." This was their "urgency." I explained that while I understood their mother's anxiousness, the system is such that litigants (and even lawyers!) oftentimes cannot pick and choose court dates and that judges and lawyers both have scheduling issues that can create problems and conflicts for everyone involved. I had to write to the court to advise them that I represented this person and that we had to adjourn the hearing date because she was still hospitalized and being evaluated. The client's release date was changed by the hospital, so I again had to write to the court to advise them of this change in circumstances. In the meantime, I and my staff had to field and make numerous phone calls to/from the family, to the court and to the hospital, all in an effort to try to keep the case moving forward. Moreover, the family came to my office twice for consultations and question and answer sessions, each lasting a least one hour. Ultimately, the family decided to handle this matter without an attorney, which is their right. However, at that point both and I and my staff invested several hours of our time into the file. The family and I agreed that I was entitled to $200.00, which was more than reasonable, given the amount of effort expended. The entire remaining balance of the retainer was returned. "A lawyers time and advice are his stock in trade" ---Abraham Lincoln