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4.7 /5.0

37 Client Reviews

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Showing 36 - 37 of 37 reviews

Posted by anonymous | October 08, 2014

Pressure, Pressure, Pressure to settle after paying for trial prep that was never done in a custody case

Do not hire this attorney. If you believe that your case has a good chance of settling out of court, then hire a mediator, and by all means, settle. Save yourself time, money, and energy. If your ex has exhibited very bad behavior, and there is little chance of settlement, and a judge needs to hea...r what has been happening so that you can get a order that protects you and your children, then hire an attorney who is willing to take your case to trial. I paid over $30,000 for trial prep that didn't happen, as evidenced by Jeff's refusal to even look at important documents that I had brought to him. His trial prep consisted of going over (and over, and over) a questionnaire that I spent hours on myself. Then when an offer for settlement came to us 10 days prior to trial, Jeff put a great deal of pressure on me to settle, which would have been detrimental to me, and my child. It became evident to me that Jeff had never intended to go to trial with my case. I did not cave, fired Jeff, and found another attorney who was willing to take the case with less than 1 week left to prepare. Before I fired him, Jeff admitted that "95% of his cases settle out of court." If I had been told that upfront, there is no way I would have hired him, given the circumstances of my case.

Jeffrey Marshall

Replied last October 08, 2014

Ms. L.B. (name withheld for confidentiality purposes), I am very sorry that you feel this way about your case. It is important to me to clarify my intent with your case. Over the course of working together for just under a year, you communicated your goals for resolution of this case. My goal was to work honestly and transparently with you, while at the same time doing everything in my ability to protect you in this legal matter. We did have a court date scheduled and I was fully prepared to represent you at trial. Prior to going to trial we received an offer that I felt was very close to what you had previously communicated to me that you hoped for as a resolution. My intent was absolutely not to pressure you to settle. However, it is my job to ensure you at least understand the offer, the risks of it and responding accordingly. Additionally, I wanted you to understand that not responding to an offer, especially a good offer, and then proceeding to trial came with a risk. Because this risk involved potentially losing custody of your daughter, it was my job to make sure you understood this. In custody situations, it is very common for clients at times to be clouded by emotions about the decisions they make (rightfully so) through the process, especially when it involves a difficult ex. My job is to be objective, ensure you are protected when it comes to the law and help you see through the emotional decisions. When cases go to trial, judges do not typically make their decisions solely on "bad behaviors" of a single party. Instead, they look at the whole picture to see what is best for the child. I help my clients through these situations from an impartial and realistic standpoint in an attempt to reduce (and hopefully eliminate) the risk that a judge misinterpret a client's anger and resentment towards and ex and then holds it against the client. After you refused to respond to the offer (that I felt was very close to what you previously told me you wanted), I suggested that you obtain a second opinion and fortunately you did. Upon my invitation, your new attorney came to my office and I spent a good amount of time meeting with him and helping him get up to speed on your case. I went through your file with him in detail (you may recall it consisted of many bankers boxes so this was no small task) and made sure he understood what work had been done so that he was not duplicating work, and so that he would be able to represent you to the best of his abilities. He commended me on the work I had done in preparing your case for trial. He specifically told me that he would not have commented on my trial preparation unless he was thoroughly impressed. Specifically, he repeatedly told me that the file was organized, detailed and the work was "excellent." I pride myself on the integrity I have for the work I do and truly cared about the result of your case and how it affected your family. Even after you hired a new attorney, I spent this kind of time to properly transfer your file and ensure that your new attorney was as prepared as he could be. My practice consists of litigation (trial work), arbitration and mediation of family law and family law related cases. I believe that any family law practitioner who knows what they are doing would tell you that 95% of their cases settle and that the goal is always to try to obtain a favorable settlement if possible, rather than having a complete stranger (a judge) decide your outcome. Please do not confuse this statistic with my willingness to go to trial for my clients. When all settlement possibilities are exhausted I absolutely go to trial as an advocate for my clients. I tried to communicate this to you and I apologize if it was misunderstood. I do wish you the best of luck and would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you further in person if you would like to do so.

Posted by Tarun | April 22, 2014

Was Left Hurt/Betrayed/Robbed

No honesty in commitment to client . All about money. Made promises he could not keep. Manipulated to delay my case settlement for 4 months to drain my retainer while allowing me and my family/kids to suffer. I was totally betrayed in my trusting him when it came to getting results/taking action wh...en a settlement offer came knocking on my door by the opposition counsel asking to make an offer to settle when I hired him. He delayed the settlement for four months knowing my family/kids had been suffering for long time being separated unnecessarily. He totally ate up almost all of the retainer just to get a questionnaire filled out that he sent with 100 questions that he himself did not read before meeting the opposition counsel. He came to meetings not knowing the details of documents sent pertaining to the case details. He was always too busy and unreachable when I needed most to get answers to my questions. When confronted he asked if he could get out of the case just before my hearing date. How is this ethical? He had me pay for additional mediation (mediator and his time during mediation) charges to reach a unreasonable settlement offer after the same opposition counsel asked for same settlement offer 4 months before and used up the entire mediation to come up with terrible custody arrangement that betrays common sense and that I am still awaiting finalization. Unreasonable and Unnecessary charges such as an example:- > $47 for filing medical records of my son in his office after I gave him a copy for record were billed to me. He manipulated by his delays to settle when it was offered months before and we ended up loosing my time and my children's time together forever for trusting this man doing the right thing on time. Please decide to choose someone who puts your trust above his bank account balance.

Jeffrey Marshall

Replied last April 22, 2014

Tarun, Thank you for taking the time to write a review. It is unfortunate that you were not pleased with the legal services provided to you. Your review took me by surprise as I have not heard a response like yours in the 18+ years I have been practicing law. I take great pride in the work I do for each and every one of my clients and work with integrity and honesty through the entirety of their case. I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to address your specific concerns. Sincerely, Jeff.

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