George Melville Johnson

I had a deeply disappointing experience with his law firm. Throughout my case, they switched my assigned attorney more than four times without explanation, causing confusion, delays, and a complete lack of continuity in my representation. Despite my repeated efforts to provide full details, the at...torneys failed to properly present all of my claims in my EEOC filing. As a result, critical parts of my case were left out, seriously damaging my ability to argue my full complaint. Their handling of my case demonstrated a clear lack of competence, diligence, and communication, and their actions (or lack thereof) have had serious consequences for my legal rights. I would strongly caution anyone considering this firm. Based on my experience, they do not prioritize their clients' best interests, and they failed to provide the level of professionalism and care that every client deserves.

I hired this attorney around September 2017. I had to fire them in March 2018. I was having a hard time trying to figure out if they represented me or the federal government. They tried to discourage me from defending myself. I have a discrimination case and they seemed to have a problem with me ...identifying the race of the senior management of the agency, who I made about 20 complaints to before they let the people I was complaining about remove me from Federal service. This firm also wanted me to leave out critical events in my case. They left out critical legal advice. I got more advice by going to the web site of Pines Federal and EEO 21; and that was free. George Melville Johnson is the owner, but he assigned me to Shaun Yancey, who they say is the senior associate on the staff. I wouldn't hire Shaun Yancey to fill out a car loan application for me. I had to put Yancey on an email only communication method. You can't trust anything he says. You might have to deal with Shaun Yancey, but George Johnson is copied on every email. He knows about this. Even though I encourage everyone to get themselves a qualified attorney, I would represent myself before I used this firm. Don't waste your money.

I had worked for the federal government for thirteen years, and as I got older my supervisors tried to force me out of my job in order to replace me with a younger employee. They increased my workload and placed unreasonable deadlines in order to set me up for failure. They claimed that they were doi...ng this because they were not able to hire new employees to replace the one who had left, but I was the only one who’s work was increased. This had a detrimental effect on my health and disability, and I was no longer able to work. With the help of Melville Johnson, P.C. and Mr. Durishan I was able to take my constructive termination case to the Merit System Protection Board, and we were able to settle my appeal. They kept me in the loop every step of the way, and took the time to make sure that I understood what to expect. While I would have liked a larger settlement, the team at Melville Johnson, P.C. got the government up to their highest offer and I am glad I chose them.

Everything I am about to say is merely my opinion about and my perception of my experience as a client of the GMJ law firm. FIRST of all, my experience was practically identical to the experience of the person who wrote the 8/7/13 review of GMJ law firm. SECOND, Mr. Johnson seems to care about only... one thing: getting as much money from his client as he can. Favorable results seemed secondary to him at most. Unfortunately, by the time I realized I was being duped, I had invested every financial resource I had into GMJ's representation. THIRD, I did not receive good representation. Initially, Mr. Johnson led me to believe that he, the supposedly well-experienced person I thought I was hiring, would be handling my case. After a couple of conversations about my case with Mr. Johnson, and me paying Mr. Johnson a hefty retainer, without even discussing it with me, Mr. Johnson passed my case off to a woman who made it obvious that she didn't give a hoot about my case and that her primary interest was in leaving GMJ. Speaking of passing my case off to another lawyer, Mr. Johnson's law firm was like a game of musical chairs for lawyers. In a one-year period, my case was transferred from one miserable, angry, inexperienced lawyer to another miserable, angry inexperienced lawyer. There were so many comings and goings that I started to wonder if the lawyers all left so quickly because they were afraid they would lose their law licenses due to being expected to do something unethical, illegal, or inappropriate. FOURTH, looking back I can clearly see that Mr. Johnson has a very well-calculated M.O. In summary, he takes advantage of the fact that most clients seeking a lawyer are distraught, stressed out, sick, anxious, depressed, angry or all six due to whatever their legal problem is by the time they come to him. Specifically, Mr. Johnson (1) expertly gauges the client's level of vulnerability and clout; (2) leads the client to believe that he cares about the outcome of the client's case and that a reasonable settlement offer is just around the corner; (3) demands more and more legal fees allegedly to continue to negotiate in the client's best interest; (4) eventually obtains an offer but fails to communicate the offer to the client if he thinks there is not enough in the offer for himself; (5) stops returning phone calls and starts sending bills showing exorbitant, unjustified costs; (6) demands an additional unreasonable amount of money and threatens to drop your case if you don't come up with it immediately; and (7) threatens to sue if you for slander if you say something negative about him or sue you for breach of contract if you fail to pay what he thinks you owe him. After experiencing all of that, I think your average person who relies on the GMJ firm would end up exactly where I ended up: jobless, broke, bankrupt, in foreclosure, and more distraught than I was when I first met with Mr. Johnson. And, I was the PLAINTIFF in my case.

Mr. George M. Johnson has conducted himself unprofessionally, unethically, and with absolutely disregarding his obligations to his clients and the profession this behavior was not only displayed with/to me but his staff (which has provided reviews on Glassdoor for review. During my few months all i...ndividuals quit (which were the majority) or were terminated without notice. I was not kept informed of my status due to the fact there was not status to update. Not one tangible item had been completed on mybehalf after paying a substantial amount of money. I had to terminate the services of Melville Johnson PC/Mr. George M. Johnson for failure to meet any of the terms of the agreement. It is a disjustice to the legal system to have such a incompetent officer of the law. I warn others do not use this attorney. It states he has no disciplinary actions I cannot understand how this could even be true; I imagine this will change in the future. He treats his clients with much disrepect and threats. Total nightmare.