Steven Cripps

I hired him because he was inexpensive and offered a flat fee for my divorce. I got what I paid for. Mr. Cripps did not defend me against my ex- husbands false allegations, and failed to present evidence I had against my ex at the trial. He rarely returns phone calls, and when he did, he rushed me of...f the phone. My ex got primary residential custody after lying under oath and I (an upstanding citizen and long time government worker), got every other weekend, when my son was only a year and a half old at the time. After the verdict, he never returned any of my calls.

Mr. Cripps advertises as a flat fee attorney . This is so he can justify, in his own mind, doing the bare minimum of work to benefit his client . Mr. Cripps encouraged me to settle for the standard visitation agreement for fathers. This is equivalent to four to six days a month. Mr. Cripps advised m...e to pay child support based on this visitation schedule . My ex wife and her attorney loved Mr. Crips. He was willing to concede to her every demand. I finally hired a different attorney. For the past two years I have had my children every Friday , Saturday , and Sunday . Also I have not paid any child support because with a holiday schedule I have had 50% of the visitation . The divorce is not finalized but I have a good chance of having 50% shared parental responsibility with minimal support going to the ex which would never get spent on the children. Mr. Cripps does not return calls, keep appointments, or demonstrate professionalism in any shape or form. He is very good at endorsing and cashing retainer checks.

I retained Attorney Cripps for a contested Paternity action. Without qualification, Steve is trustworthy. You would undoubtedly be impressed if I were at liberty to publish the details behind that remark. I knew that Mr. Cripps was very highly regarded by other lawyers when I hired him. At a hear...ing, it also became very clear that he was well liked and respected by the Judge. During his tenure as my counsel, he never once failed to return a phone call and support staffer Charlene is kind, professional, and accessible. Since he worked on an affordable flat fee, only the other side could run out of money if they decided to litigate silly issues, a huge advantage from a strategic standpoint, and a great segue to my next point: Attorney Cripps is not for everybody. He is VERY pragmatic. He identifies the relevant issues and is not inclined to spend time on matters not worthwhile to take before a Judge. Within his practice area, it appears he possesses the knowledge to make accurate determinations of what is and is not relevant-- and fight accordingly. Being that pragmatic means that he didn't explain each rule, statute, case law or nuance to me; he wasn't inclined to comfort me and devote large amounts of time to how I FEEL. Family law cases are extremely emotionally distressing to any parent. If you need a therapist, then hire one, but do not expect that this attorney will wear that hat too. There are plenty of lawyers happy to bill you $400/hour to do that, but that doesn't make it wise! While I could probably score those lawyers higher on "kept me informed", only the results actually matter in the end. When it counted, Attorney Cripps did not fail me. All I heard about was how the other party's counsel was this world class "bulldog" who would destroy us in Court. It was clear the other side devoted all kinds of billable hours to some very serious pleadings. Steve showed up with just what he needed, and nothing he didn't, and won in a landslide. It was fun to watch the other attorney become visibly angry and unravel a bit in Court. The other party didn't attend and didn't get to see the results of their supposedly infallible lawyer in action. At one point, I was charged with a crime and was unable to contact Mr. Cripps. A materially false story was reported by a media outlet that, coincidentally, employs a family member of the adverse party; the coverage was included in a DV Injunction Petition against me. Unable to contact Steve, I was paraded into the hearing in shackles and inmate scrubs. Attorney Cripps knew about it and showed up to protect me, though I never actually retained him for that case. I was sure his strategy was wrong at the time and was outraged! Classic Cripps, from my experience: He didn't explain why or give me a legal education or counseling session, but he was RIGHT. Once in 18 months, Steve didn't show up for an event and cancelled last minute. He said he had to attend another hearing. Maybe it was some other guy in shackles that day-- who knows? Having to reschedule something once in 18 months because my lawyer didn't show is reasonable, IMO. Some reviews make it sound like the he never shows up or is usually unprepared. That wasn't my experience, though he is clearly busy. It's possible his caseload is slightly too large or he could add a junior partner to provide a bit of "relief"-- pun intended. He did what I hired him for; job well done. My own decisions put him in a horrible position, but he didn't let me get railroaded in spite of myself. If you want to spend ten grand in attorney's fees litigating over a $100 lawnmower, hire someone else. There's no shortage of lawyers who will exploit your disdain for your ex and line their pockets. If you seek PRACTICAL, adequate, and affordable family law representation, I'd recommend Steve Cripps.

I couldn't believe how much he has been helpful to me when I was going through my divorce and child custody cases. Anytime that I had a question or needed to tell him about my ex , he always answers the phone and emails. I have even referred him to my brother. He's the best lawyer I've ever had to d...eal with and I usually stay away from them. Before I met him, I thought that lawyers were like car salesmen.

During my divorce, he NEVER brought 1 piece of evidence to court, of child abuse or neglect from my husband toward my children. He had video, emails, pictures & SOLID PROOF of the abuse & neglect. It was blatantly obvious BUT he didn't even show up with the proof. He walked into court empty handed ...& basically blind-folded because he apparently doesn't even read his emails or messages, refuses to return phone calls. This was an easy case to win & HE BLEW IT by not being prepared or even caring!!! He couldn't even cross-examine my husband on the stand because he never spoke to me & had no clue of the case or the situation my children had been suffering through. He just sat there in silence, as I was DEFENSELESS & my CHILDREN SUFFERED! NO CHILD or Mother should EVER have to suffer due to the irresponsibility of an attorney! It's been over 6 months my children have suffered & not been able to see their own Mother, living in abuse for NO REASON AT ALL!!!! This is uncalled for. The system is broken & he made it worse. I was also held in contempt due to documents he never mentioned that I needed to file as well as, NOT filing the documents I sent to him that were requested by the courts. I had to pay contempt fines due to his negligence! If any other company did this to their clientele, they'd be out of business & shut down by the government. How he gets away with it, is beyond me! RUN from him....DON'T WALK. DO NOT HIRE THIS ATTORNEY, HE WILL DESTROY YOUR FAMILIES LIVES with NO REGARD, blaming everyone else involved!!!!! All these reviews here are TRUE & CORRECT! I witnessed his incompetence, 1st hand & now my family suffers from it! I will be defending myself from this point since he took all of my money & I can no longer afford another attorney SAVE YOUR MONEY, SAVE YOUR TIME, SAVE YOURSELF THE HEARTACHE!!!!! You will spend more time and energy fighting with this attorney to try & get him to do something than you will fighting your own spouse to protect yourself.