Benjamin Tyler McLawhorn

Mr. McLawhorn represented me in a child custody situation in which he did not follow the Rules of Civil Procedure nor the Rules for Professional Conduct. Instead of fighting for me, he seems to have been extremely intimidated by opposing counsel; I have faced numerous opposing attorneys in the past, ...and not one seemed unethical. But this other attorney was and she appears to now be facing serious consequences. Point is, McLawhorn knew opposing counsel was corrupt when he entered the case, because I talked to the firm at length about this. McLawhorn-Russell took the case anyway, sent a bunch of emails, got files from opposing counsel (which were not accurate), filed one motion (only) which happened to be the one thing I had specifically asked Attorney McLawhorn to NOT do (and he confirmed receipt of this instruction via email, as did his office), a couple of weeks later did PRECISELY what we had agreed he absolutely would not do. Then, it was time to litigate -- which is what I had hired him for. At that point, with hours still on the clock, he backed out. Per his statements to me by phone, I had not yet exhausted my agreed-upon hours. So he: 1) took my money knowing the other attorney did not play by the rules, 2) bailed on me when the going got tough, and 3) kept ALL my money which further handicapped the situation. Do your research -- McLawhorn may not be young, but he is a relatively new attorney. I kept trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and then I read these "rave" reviews. I cannot let anyone else buy what this firm is selling. At this point in my life, i have personally retained at least 15 extremely ethical attorneys, and faced off against several others -- all of whom also seemed highly ethical. I would recommend ANY of those other attorneys, but not Ben McLawhorn. Nor his partner, Attorney Russell, for that matter. McLawhorn does not care about your case, he will not be loyal to you (which is a "Client Right," per the NC State Bar), and if the other side offers him faster way to climb the ladder, he will absolutely take it. I had to involve several state-level governing entities that I would never have otherwise involved if McLawhorn had simply carried out the contract he signed with me. Consider yourself warned.