Steven N. Terranova

Steven Terranova

We respect all our clients, and we pride ourselves on providing quality at an outstanding value. This client was inherited from another attorney who actually performed the work that this client indicates as being provided by me. My involvement was a subsquent single meeting that the client requested to discuss some future complex legal strategies. The client subsequently took issue with a very modest and discounted bill for that meeting. At this time, the client had no outstanding matters or tasks that needed to be performed. I explained the bill and how the charges were less than normal. The client wanted to continue to endlessly debate implying that we should not charge for time. I informed the client that I would write off this bill, but that we had to bill future work. At this time, and admittedly, I quickly realized that something was wrong with this client as it was impossible to have any reasoned conversation with him, and thus I would not be able to effectively represent this client. I informed the client that the bill would be written off and he should secure other counsel so that we could avoid any further misunderstanding. Again, the client had no outstanding matters that needed attention at the time, and this client was not prejudiced in any way for us to part ways amicably. I provided the client with a detailed listing of all their matters and deadlines to ensure a smooth transition and made it clear that the the client needed to seek new counsel. He had plenty of time to do so. Years later, and recently, the client contacted me to complain. I reminded him that he had not been a client for several years and thus I did not understand. Apparently, he did not secure other counsel after we previously parted ways. After my attempts to explain this and his continued endless debate on the matter, I politely attempted to end our telephone conversation several times. After his refusal, I had to politely excuse myself from our phone call.