Barry S. Schwartz

I was very disappointed with this lawyer. From the beginning there was always confusion on his part with details. Court papers like summons and complaints had to be reviewed and edited several times for things like spelling errors or wrong info, etc. The thing that really bothered me was being charged for those corrections. Also, when I would express my concerns and disagreements on how the case was going or on how he was handling the situation he would get defensive and respond rudely. The original retainer was $7500 and I was told that once it has been reached then an additional retainer would be requested. A few days before he was suppose to appear in court to answer a motion for me, he sends me an invoice of $7500.00. I thought this was the new retainer amount because he advised me that after he responded to the motion the first retainer would have been used up. This was not the case, he was charging me $7500 for unwarranted services and wanted an additional $7500 to continue working. I felt he timed this to the motion as a way to shake me down for money. In other words if I did not pay him, he would refuse service, I would not have an attorney at the motion and my case be in jeopardy of losing. Immediately I got another attorney, only to find out that the motion was adjourned. The new attorney told me that he did not give consent to that adjournment and it was probably the previous attorney who consented. This I thought was a cheap shot and unethical. In addition, he refused to hand over my file to the new attorney unless he was paid $7500.00. Overall I found his actions to be suspicious, unethical and unprofessional.