James Lawrence Powers

I hired Jim for a straight forward legal matter that he assured me he would be able to deliver excellent results with. Instead, he quickly changed his tune when it came time to have a hearing and convinced me to enter in to an incredibly faulty agreement with the opposing side that ended up costing m...e dearly. He did not clear last minute changes made to the agreement with me prior to me signing it, instead hurrying me into signing what I thought was the agreement he had recited out loud to me twenty minutes prior. He didn't have the confidence to proceed with a hearing to defend me but he spent hours arguing for his attorney's fees to be awarded. I was shocked to hear him tell the judge that I was being charged five times what was standard and customary for my type of case. The judge thought it was ludicrous and refused to award any attorney's fees. Jim promptly dropped me after that point and never called me again despite telling me afterwards that he would call me the next day to discuss my options. The entire experience has created a monumental hardship for me and he and his firm are now attempting to sue me for the rest of what they claim I owe despite the fact I paid them double what any other attorney would have charged me. He and his firm engage in the most unethical billing practices I have ever seen or heard of. To my shock, I found out too late they were charging me for two attorneys and two paralegals. Talk about excessive staffing. My entire retainer was exhausted within the first six days and it was only until we were two days out from the hearing that he demanded more money or they would not continue with my case. Every attorney I've spoken to since can hardly believe what they did to me and I'm not the only one of their clients that experienced this. I wonder how many greivences with the State Bar it will take for them to curtail this practice of over billing and inflating thier billable hours? Thank goodness I have an attorney now that is representing me Pro Bono and we have our expert witness lined up. The entire situation is appalling and I hope I can spare someone else the trouble I've encountered as the result of hiring this attorney.