Richard Alan McKinley

This attorney was hired with the promise of aggressive representation. That was two years ago. In spite of my pleading ( in person, e-mail, phone) with him to move my case to a quick resolution, he has done very little on my behalf except charge me (months late) for meetings which result in no docume...nts being produced or filed on my behalf. He has not copied me on documents pertaining to my case, in spite of many requests to do so. I get updated on my case by going to the courthouse to review my case file. He has not taken promised actions on my behalf. At least one member of his office staff is rude and does not follow through with requests or answers to questions, even though she says she will. I plan to file a complaint with the Florida Bar because I feel his lack of representation, in spite of me being billed for services, should be considered some sort of malpractice.

I have worked in the criminal justice system for ten years and have had many dealings with attorneys. This was the second time in my life I needed to hire one personally for a non-payment of child support case. I hired this attorney based on a referral from a relative. McKinley handled my first no...n-payment of child support case really well. The justice system is slow, but it moved along fairly easily. I then had to retain McKinley a second time, again for non-payment of child support. This time the case was not handled well at all. It took 4 months to have papers served to the defendant in this case. After my ex was served I called many, many times inquiring if a request for a hearing date, to have my case heard before a Judge, had been done. I was told by the asst. repeatedly it had not. When I asked why her response was always, I don't know. After two months of calling, the asst. told me she was going to make me an appt. with McKinley so I could ask him why he had not requested a hearing date before a Judge. I did this and told McKinley that financially I was having a very difficult time. I also told him I wanted him to request to get in front of a Judge so I could get my case resolved and get back child support. He didn't apologize but told me there had been a mis-communication in his office. That day when I left his office I thought that he was going to do what I, as his client, had requested him to do. By this time the child support that was owed to me was over $30,000.00. The next time I heard from McKinley's office was a phone call from his assistant. She informed me that they were sending me a financial form to fill out. When I asked her why, due to the fact there was already a court order in place for how much child support was to be paid every month, she responded that McKinley wanted this because he believed my Ex would be filing for a reduction in child support, as of this date 6 months later my ex has never filed for a reduction. I then asked his assistant if McKinley had requested a date for a hearing in reference to my case. She told me no. I asked her why and she said, I don't know. At this point I was pretty much broke and was giving up. A financial affidavit was filed with the court to request the same information from my ex. He had 45 days to respond. He never responded and that apparently is where my case ended. McKinley never followed up and to date has never request a hearing to have my case heard before a Judge. I've called leaving messages for him to call me back, sent emails and certified letters and have been completely ignored, he's never called once. To date it has been six months since my face to face meeting with him and i've not heard from him since. I did receive bills for his services. When I inquired with his office manager as to why, because I could not believe with as little amount of work that he did that it was over $2000.00 worth. I then requested she send itemized statements showing exactly what had been done and the charges for my case. She stated she would send me an itemized statement. She has never sent those statements. I have sent emails, I have phoned and sent certified letters requesting again itemized statements and I've never received any copies. I'm a single mother and can now not afford to get another attorney. So i'm not only out my child support I am also out over $2000.00 in a retainer fee. It has been one full year since I paid my retainer for this case and it's been six months since I've heard from McKinley. I have recently filed a complaint with the Florida bar in reference to this and will update when there is a conclusion to this matter. I would also like to note that I had to call the clerk of courts to find out what was filed in my case and what date anything was filed. McKinley's office never sent copies, and never kept me up to date on anything.