Richard M. Darden

I was to appear in court October 1 for a misdemeanor. Richard Darden told me not to. He charged 4 thousand dollars upfront for his work on 2 soperate cases. After receiving the 4 thousand dollars, he claimed to have struck a "deal" with the state soliciter for $1,673.00 to finalize the case. I se...nt him the check, he cashed it. There is still a warrant out for my arrest for failing to appear in court. My probation officer, the state clerk, and the state solicitor are all unaware of this deal and have not heard from Richard Darden. I cannot contact him. He has not return a single phone call or email. I plan to do everything in my power to get my money back and, furthermore, to sue this firm for negligence.

Zero proactive communication. If I was wanting to know what was going on with the case then I had to reach out and wait days for a reply. Usually had to follow up again on the topic before getting a response. I felt as though I was treated like Mr. Darden was doing me a favor by handling my case, not... as though he had been paid thousands of dollars to do the job. After 12 months of dealing with the case it was FINALLY resolved. This would not be an issue if I had not been misled into thinking it would take - at max - half of that time. I went back and forth with him on several issues which he clearly was not fully informed on or could care less into finding out proper information which dragged the process out. AT MINIMUM I should have gotten half of my money back since I did at least half his work. When I reached out to express my frustrations, I got no response. Nothing! Since the case is closed what does he care. Saddest part, he was referred by a family friend. There are still unresolved issues in which I should be receiving his assistance or at least guidance. You can bet I will be handling those alone. If I had to do it all again, I would have certainly gone with a different option.

My son needed a good criminal defense attorney and we called Richard Darden’s Law offices on a Sunday morning and within no time at all he returned our called. I was trying to tell him about my son’s case but was so emotional I could not. I ask him to hold on and I gave the phone to my husband who ...explained the circumstances to him. But, even in my emotional state I recall Mr. Darden being very calming and understanding of his potential client’s needs. Within a few hours we were meeting with him and after a few moments of discussion he told us he had read about my son case and indicated that the initial charge was unsubstantiated. After about an hour of talking with and him answering numerous questions we enlisted his services. His attorney’s fee was very reasonable and he indicated that the flat fee would be for the long haul. Once we finished our conversation he immediately went to see my son who was incarcerated to assure him he was not alone and he would fight for him, because he believed in his innocents. He also told us that he knew we wanted this to just be over with but it was going to take some time. However, within a month Mr. Darden presented evidence during a bond hearing and my son was granted a very reasonable bond and was released. During the nearly 4 years it took for a court date, Mr. Darden was always available to answer any questions or concern that we had and put our minds at ease. He was always honest and upfront, always giving us the best and worst case scenarios. At times we thought our son’s case had gotten lost in the system, but each time we contacted Mr. Darden and he assured us that he was continuously working on the case. Once on the court docket and within a few weeks after our initial plea hearing of not guilty……Mr. Darden asked for and got the case dismissed against my son and I will be forever grateful for the abundance of legal knowledge he presented from the beginning of the case until the plea hearing. He is an Excellent Criminal Defense Attorney and I would highly recommend him to anyone who need one of the Best!