Maxwell Russell Hiltner

This was the first (and hopefully only!) occasion in which I needed to hire a lawyer. I did my due diligence by asking personal friend, who is a lawyer out-of-town, for recommendations in Cleveland. He came back with two options; one who had been practicing for 30 years (and his expensive rates refl...ected this) and another, Max, who had only been practicing for one year (his rates were much more reasonable). He assured me that Max was extremely intelligent and had a great drive to be an extremely successful lawyer. So I decided to give Max call just, thinking that an initial conversation would be beneficial for me to judge the situation. I called him on a Saturday afternoon and to my surprise he was more than willing to chat with me at length. He took a good 40 minutes out of his weekend to speak with me. Not only was I impressed by his past triumphs in the courtroom, but his calm, understanding and easy to talk to demeanor was endearing. By the end of the conversation I legitimately felt as if I was speaking with an old friend. On top of that, he agreed to move around his schedule to meet me at the downtown courthouse on Monday morning. Monday rolled around and I was immediately glad to have him there. There were complications that arose and I would have been clueless on how to handle them. This was just the start. Throughout the process, Max was extremely knowledgeable on how to proceed in every situation. He always met me on time and always was pleasant to work with. Whenever I needed anything, I could call, text or email and he would respond promptly. His knowledge of the courtroom landscape and all the politics involved were invaluable. He worked extremely hard in writing a lengthy notice of suppression (I believe this is what it was called) which ended up being accepted. This resulted in the court offering a plea which I accepted. Not to mention, I complicated the situation by driving under a suspended license. Just like telling your parents or boss that you did something wrong, I was nervous to call Max. When I called, he was more than understanding. I absolutely could not believe it. I had just potentially ruined everything he had going for us in the DUI case and he spoke to me in such a calm matter. With this charge, I was facing jail time and was extremely nervous. Again, working with Max was so calming. He never beat around the bush when giving me information but nevertheless made me feel confident with his knowledge and positive attitude. In this case he was able to get everything dropped by working with the prosecutor. In conclusion, if I were ever again in a situation where I required a lawyer, I would absolutely call Max. I could not have received better outcomes and could not have had a better time working with someone in an extremely stressful situation. He has a genuine care for your situation and after all is said and done, he will be someone you can call your friend.