Terris Caton Harris

Please know that I am not trying to bash this lawyer but I feel that I would be doing an injustice to clients or potential clients who have legal matters if I did not share my horrific experience with this lawyer and the firm he is employed by. In 2013, I hired this lawyer to represent me in a wrongf...ul death case after I lost my brother unexpectedly and in a tragic way. Keeping the client informed is not a priority for Terris Harris. I always had to constantly call the office to try and get an update on what was going on with my late brother's case. Mr. Harris would never return my phone calls or emails in a timely manner. Sometimes, it took 6 to 8 weeks for him to reply to my emails. As a matter of fact, there were many of my emails that he never replied to. The entire experience was a nightmare, and I was still grieving over losing my brother. Mr. Harris filed the lawsuit in time before the limits were up. However, he tried to reach settlements and did so underhandedly without my written consent and did not inform me that he was meeting with the defendants. Anything that concerns the fair representation of my late brother should be brought to my attention. Nothing should have been done without discussing it with me and getting my written consent because this is a legal matter. It was very disheartening to be treated so poorly by this lawyer. Although I did get a decent settlement, the settlement was not worth the pain, sleepless nights, frustration, and many shedded tears that I had while going through the litigation process. I would never recommend his services to anyone who wants to be treated fairly. Customer service is essential to any profession, but it is extremely essential when it pertains to the legal profession. Again, I'm not trying to berate this lawyer but it would be wrong for me not to tell the truth about my experience.

I hired this lawyer to represent me in January 2012. I was referred to this lawyer's services by a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. I deeply regret that my sorority sister referred me to this lawyer. He was very unprofessional and unresponsive during the entire legal process of my ...personal injury case. The entire process was so frustrating because of the lack of communication and unprofessional behavior displayed by Mr. Harris. I began to experience reservations about him handling my legal matter after the initial consultation. Despite that feeling, I rolled with it because my sorority sister spoke of his reputation for winning cases. After Mr. Harris had served the notice of claim to the defendant, I began to have even more reservation about him representing me. Nonetheless, I did not seek counsel from another lawyer or firm because I didn't feel like starting the whole process over again. About 8 months after the actual lawsuit was filed, the defendants agreed to settle out of court. I received a substantial settlement, but it wasn't just about receiving a settlement. It was more important that I be treated like my case mattered and that my feelings mattered. However, I was treated as though if I were just another number to help him make a check. Many minorities in business have great skills and abilities but most of them lack customer service skills, and that is what hurts their business, employer's business, and reputation (This statement is not meant to sound racially biased because I am Black). Please note that my review is unbiased but truthful of my experience. A lawyer can have a reputation for winning all of his cases, but if he doesn't put the client's feelings and best interests first through by using a customer service attitude, then his business will not thrive for long.

This lawyer is actually knowledgeable of the laws and regulations that pertain to personal injury cases in the state of Mississippi. However, he lacks the appropriate and necessary customer service and communication skills as it pertains to keeping the client informed throughout the pretrial and tria...l process. Many times he "jumped the gun" with handling matters in my personal injury case without consulting me or my husband first. The client has a say in how his/her case is handled, and the lawyer must adhere to legal and ethical rules which are a part of his fiduciary duties while representing a client to avoid being sued for legal malpractice. In December 2011, my husband and I came in for a consultation at Sweet and Associates with Mr. Harris. Because I already had copies of my medical records, the only thing the paralegal/legal secretary had to do was make copies of my records. Mr. Harris told me that my records would be sent to a medical expert and that I should expect the expert opinion to be received by late January 2012 or early February 2012 and that the paralegal/legal secretary would be calling me after that time. February 2012 arrived, and there was no response from the firm. To be considerate of the holidays, I didn't attempt to follow up with him until mid February 2012. When I made my first attempt to follow up with him regarding the medical expert review, I placed a telephone call to the office and left a message with the receptionist. Two weeks later, no response. So, I sent an email. Two weeks after sending the email, still no response. So, I attempted to call the office again. I was told that Mr. Harris was not in the office. About eight weeks later in April 2012, Mr. Harris informed me that the experts had given an opinion that was equivalent to malpractice. Instead of Mr. Harris arranging for us to come in to discuss the expert's findings and have us sign a contract, he proceeded to serve the claim letter to the Jackson area hospital without our knowledge or consent. We were not called in to meet with him and the head lawyer who owns the firm until after the claim letter was sent out. That really left me feeling furious because we legally had not signed a contract prior to the claim letter being sent out and that is very unprofessional. On top of that, I was in the dark about what the experts found to be wrong with me. Despite this, my husband told me to just stick it out because the head lawyer has been winning cases for 30 something years. So, they proceeded to file the lawsuit. Once the lawsuit got filed, Mr. Harris continued to not keep me informed. I was not expecting any overnight results because lawsuits can drag on for years, but any competent lawyer will keep his client informed at various intervals throughout the pretrial and trial process. The entire process was very stressful on top of me coping with the horrible negligence I was subjected to by the neurologist, surgical team, and hospital. I was so relieved when the process was over. I actually ended up missing my first required physical examination with the medical expert because Mr. Harris did not let me know about the examination appointment until the last minute and it had to be rescheduled. Because of this, the medical expert got upset me with me and I had no control over not being informed of the examination appointment. In the end, I was able to obtain more than enough to pay off my medical bills and expenses but the agony of being treated so poorly was not worth it. I would never seek legal representation from this lawyer ever again.

In 2010 I lost my husband as a result of medical negligence. Mr. Harris represented me and my 3 daughters. He told us it would take 8 weeks for his experts to get back to them about my husband's records. It was exactly 6 months and 16 days before we got the opinion. During that time, mr. Harris faile...d to keep us informed. We would call once a month and send emails but we never got a response from him. After he chose to represent us, we were able to get a nice settlement but it was difficult experience due to lack of communications from mr. Harris. Lawyers must keep clients in the know about what is going on

He knows the laws but needs to work on customer service. I know personal injury cases take time to pursue but as a client I have the right to updates. My lawsuit was filed on time and we were able to settle out of court but I wished this lawyer had been more responsive and receptive towards my feelin...gs and concerns and i wished I had been included more in the process since it was foreign to me.