James M. Burns

We retained James Burns for (what we thought was going to be) a simple ejectment case involving a family member. The person we were attempting to remove from the property caused so much chaos it became quite entangled with craziness, false charges, etc… Mr. Burns was very patient and compassionate,... stayed focused during a longer than expected and complicated case, always kept us updated throughout the entire process and personally returned all messages and calls in a timely manner – I knew we were in good hands !! His staff was fantastic as well, Jon Searcy was always available to answer any questions we had and helped us understand the process. Jon also put in so much time and effort, he is very knowledgeable with cases like ours – they make an incredibly formidable team !! Mr. Burns is a great attorney who is very knowledgeable of the law, detail oriented and his professionalism is unparalleled. James Burns was completely successful with the complicated ejectment case and successfully had the false charges dismissed. I hope to never need an attorney again but, in the event I do, James Burns will be the attorney I hire. I cannot thank James Burns and his staff enough !!

I wouldn’t recommend. He and Debbie (his assistant who you would think is the lawyer) are friendly and nice for consultations but once you pay them they avoid you, they’re very rude, and they don’t prepare for your case. Do not sign the contract if it says non refundable because they will refuse to g...ive you your money back. He represented me for my final hearing of my family law case and refused to properly prep me and my witnesses for trial. Debbie constantly scheduled me for meetings with Mr. Burns but when I would show up she would tell me I wasn’t on the schedule or that Mr. Burns wasn’t in and ask me to come back later. I’ve been his client since April 2022 and he new nothing about my case on 12/08/2022. He was referring to my daughter as a little boy during our trial. I gave him a copious amount of evidence in a binder that he refused to admit in court because as he stated, “I don’t want to admit evidence one by one”. I even made 3 copies because they were constantly missing deadlines. The day Debbie told me to drop the binder off she wasn’t in office, they turned everything in the day before my hearing. Mr. Burns rushed through the hearing because he was ready for lunch. When the judge told him to take time to talk to his client during the trial he would leave the office and go to Debbie and ignore me as his client. He never acknowledged me as a client always addressed Debbie and she lies a whole lot, you would think she really is the lawyer. They didn’t file any motions to help prepare for my hearing or go over the evidence I provided. They Submitted documents passed the deadline. Every time it was time for my hearing someone was sick and he was requesting a continuance yet he was on vacation all summer. I witnessed two other clients walk in complaining about the same things I am complaining about now on this post. I also have another one of his clients information in my trial binder because he was working on their case as if it was mine and isn’t. I will be filing a formal complaint with the Florida Bar. Find another lawyer if you are fighting for your child, this one will not have you or your child’s best interest