William Bill Barnett

My opinion/impression was that all he cared about was the money and that I was just a number because he had been doing this for so long. This attny apparently talked to clients in jail with me sitting right there in front of him, using up the hours his fee covered on other matters. Blamed me, his... client, for my ex's bad behavior. I was horrified and so discouraged; the whole thing was depressing. The only reason I did not get another attorney is because I was so stuck. It was right in the middle of my case and I had already given him thousands of dollars to cover the entire case and I would not be able to get it back and had no more money for a different attny. I had to get a backbone and decided I would just have to look out for myself. This man did not listen to me or respect anything I had to say. I felt he was not prepared for mediation, I had to have the presence of mind in that difficult situation to basically advocate for myself and the only thing I felt I got for the money was the paperwork being filed. Everything I got out of mediation were things I brought up and there were holes left in that agreement that I am now having to deal with because it was such a pressure situation and he was supposed to be the professional to notice them but didn't. I I don't feel that he took the custodial agreement I was in mediation for as seriously as he should. In fact, I believe I recollect he said something to the effect that what was on paper did not really matter that much because he and his ex never bothered to look at it after they signed it- they just worked things out as needed -implying that is what I should do too. Unfortunately, unlike him, I am not an attny who has the upper hand in legal matters with my ex; I needed a well written airtight agreement that I could live with for a long time. Just awful! This experience left me with a sick feeling for a long time. Thankfully, after my case was over, I subsequently met another attny for advice who was respectful, actually listened, was the utmost professional and took every detail seriously -and that subsequent experience sort of repaired that poor image of attny's for me that Bill Barnett created.