John H. McWilliam

This guy completely seemed to be minimal help for my sister and her family. My sister had serious charges, it took him MONTHS to go see her in jail. My mom called his office seems like on a weekly basis only hearing from him a few times. He told us everything we wanted to hear to keep our hopes up (a...nd to keep the payments coming...). After my sister was sentenced (which was years longer than what was expected) he left. My sister, our family, did not understand what everything means with the sentencing and the requirements set forth by the judge. My mom called multiple times days after just trying to get answers and never called back. never went and spoke to my sister after sentencing. just left :( not to mention, the DA seemed to not have a good relationship with him and had a lame closing argument.

I retained Mr. McWilliam in January 2014. Our initial consultation was very positive and I was filled with confidence that I would be well represented in court. I was not unaware of the severity of my case but I felt like I had put my best chances in capable hands. My undoing seemed to come once I pa...id in full. It appeared that once my money was in hand, I had served my purpose as a client and little to no follow through on things we had discussed in the consultation were being delivered upon. I had to research many details of my case my self and feed information back to his staff in hopes of follow up which never came. Multiple emails and phone messages have gone unanswered and since January, there have been 4 different paralegals who have worked in the office and "assisting" me with questions about my case. I still don't have any resolution to an impounded car which I was told in our initial meeting another lawyer who was supposed to be the guy in the know about such things would be consulted. Nothing on that still and it's 7 months later. Clearly my retained lawyer has no intention of helping with this issue anymore. I called 2 weeks ago about it and spoke to yet another paralegal who promised to call me back about it. I've still heard nothing. Since this is a DUI case and jail time was mandatory, I was told I could do 30 days rehab in lieu of going to jail for 30 days. I did my research and got myself set up at a rehab. Did my time and came back with my completion letter, certificate, and sobriety. Because I did rehab during the month of March, the last 2 days of the month fell on a weekend so my therapist released me on the 28th so I could have that weekend to spend with my family and get settled before returning to work. Even though I called Mr. McWilliam's office multiple times the week before I was released and told them my release date and asked what documentation I needed to have, nobody bothered to inform me that I needed to stay for a full 30 days. My understanding was that my time would be determined by my therapist and would equate to 30 days of jail time. No one ever explained it had to be 30 for 30 so when we go before the judge and he reads the dates I attended rehab, he states that I'm "missing 2 days" and will have to make those up with jail time. Mr. McWilliam's response? "Oh, I didn't read that." Excellent. Then he told me he would talk to some of the people he knows and see if I could go to a rehab facility locally for the 2 days instead of jail. He would look into that and call me back. I still haven't heard from him on that and that was back in May. So it appears I am going to jail. I was a bit taken aback by him wanting to try my case on our very first court date as well and speaking to me in the courtroom gallery about my case instead of taking me to a conference room to discuss the strategy. Of course, I lost and when the judge asked Mr. McWilliam's about me as a person, he said, "I don't know much about her. I don't usually try cases on the first date. (looks to me) Tell the judge about yourself." If you don't usually try cases on the first date why was mine handled that way? What made it the exception? In the probation office it was remarked that they don't usually see him in there and he again remarks that, "Most of my clients don't end up in here." So again, why am I the exception to all of the usual "norms"? This was truly the most frustrating experience I have ever had with a lawyer and I feel like I was not adequately represented and lied to at every turn. I always came prepared and had all of the necessary documentation and I have been nothing but polite and cooperative. I'm simply disgusted at the lack of communication and false promises to help. I will tell anyone looking for a lawyer to steer clear.