Benjamin Yancey Saxon II

I hired Mr. Saxon in 2007 to represent me on a divorce and signed a $10k flat fee contract. His office and staff quickly turned around responses to most actions. During a mediation session, however, I told the mediator I did not want to sign the agreement, and my attorney refused this response seve...ral times, making statements that I would have “wasted expensive mediation time for nothing”, “we were not going to go backwards”, and “No, I want to know why she won’t sign it? We need to get this out of the way and move on.” In addition, he relayed stories to me during the mediation of how he could no longer represent some past clients because they could not agree with him on major issues. Nine months into the divorce, Mr. Saxon told me I was out of money and required I pay another several thousand dollars and sign a new contract. I refused, as I had a flat fee contract and all costs according to that contract which were outside the bounds of that contract were supposed to be billed to me directly (but I never got a bill indicating any activities were outside this contract). I ended up hiring another attorney, and reported Mr. Saxon to the bar for breach of contract and ethical misconduct. In the end the grievance committee dismissed the complaint, however, they did file a "Letter of Advice" to Mr. Saxon stating "The committee wants to make it clear, however, that its finding does not indicate that it condones your conduct in this matter. While your conduct in this instance did not warrant formal discipline, the committee believes it was not consistent with the high standards of our profession. The committee hopes that this letter will make you more aware of your obligations to uphold these professional standards and you will adjust your conduct accordingly." In addition, the Grievance Committee also stated "However, the grievance committee was concerned with the clarity of your communication with Ms. XXX [name removed for privacy] regarding her case as well as the issues pertaining to your legal fees."