Celeste Findlay Brewer

When people hire attorneys, they generally do so because they are in a crisis situation. This is especially true when it comes to criminal or family law. Well, we retained Celeste for a custody matter that was time-sensitive and of particular immediacy because the child was acting out in frustration ...of his circumstance and the mother, who was owed child support ($7K), was suddenly charged with paying child support to the child’s deadbeat father. Thus, we needed a savvy attorney to act promptly and effectually. We thought we had that in Celeste until two months passed and nothing had been done on the case. She even stopped returning calls and emails after a while. Mother’s Day rolled around and still no child, legal filings or communication. This was devastating, especially because we had discussed filing necessary paperwork shortly after she was retained and she knew of the contention between the families. We finally got a response from her when we asked for a partial refund, allowing her to keep about 12% of the retainer. However, she balked at the suggestion, saying she would keep most of the money, citing fees for initial communication and paperwork she began, which we have never seen. She also noted that we would not be getting any legal paperwork associated with the case that she had supposedly started. We were shocked by this response, as she could have apologized, provided a rationale for her inaction, and promised to execute her duties immediately. She did none of the latter, but rather, she cleaved to an unfathomable air of pride. By suddenly sending us a statement of her services, denoting time for text messages, etc, Celeste put a premium on her time but not ours, the client. The time we lost meant nothing to her, especially as it affected the integrity of our legal argument and the child himself. Celeste comes off as a sincere, knowledgeable person, which she may be, but she lacks integrity. I can’t speak to her competence because she didn’t really produce anything in our case. Again, when people are in crisis and they put their trust in legal professionals, these attorneys must realize that decisive effort on a client’s behalf means as much as results. We may ultimately lose the case, but it feels good to know that we, as clients, have a great attorney who is there relentlessly fighting for us. On the other hand, it’s horrible when it feels like no one is there for you but you thought they would be because they promised they would. That’s how we felt with Celeste – abandoned.