Keith L Altman

The firm is unethical and unprofessional. The attorneys should be investigated for violating the Michigan Code of Professional Conduct. I lost $15,000, received no meaningful representation, and was left to defend myself in a workplace investigation. Furthermore, despite appalling and nearly non-exi...stent representation, they repeatedly refused to refund my money and, only after numerous requests, produced inaccurate and misleading billing records. By way of background, I have been an attorney for over twenty years. I am also a college professor. A student made false allegations against me in retaliation for a complaint I filed against the student for egregious misconduct. To be clear, the allegations against me were false. I contacted this firm and paid $150.00 for an initial consultation, where I spoke to an attorney from Boston for about five or ten minutes (the firm is based in Michigan). He quickly requested a fee of $15,000 to represent me. After that, I never heard from him again. Also, I had one meeting with Mr. Altman to discuss my case, which lasted no longer than fifteen or twenty minutes. Over the next three months, I never heard from him again. Instead, I was given a non-attorney assistant, whose responsibility was essentially to answer my questions, even though he was not qualified to provide legal advice. In fact, over the investigation's three-month period, this firm spoke to the university once and drafted two poorly written letters to the university in which they misstated the facts. Quite frankly, they were embarrassing. When human resources released their report, I was forced to spend hours drafting not one, but two written responses and ultimately resolved this situation myself. I contacted the "assistant" to complain about their conduct. He admitted that he "dropped the ball" and apologized. After that, I never heard from him again. Instead, out of the blue, I received a call from an attorney in another state -- recall, the firm is based in Michigan -- who was suddenly assigned to my case. I had never spoken to this attorney before, and the attorney asked me what I would like the firm to do for me. At this point, I was so appalled because it was obvious that retaining this firm was a terrible mistake. The attorney ultimately wrote one more letter, and I was left to fend for myself until the investigation was officially concluded. After many hours of drafting responses and meeting with university officials, the investigation was resolved favorably. But I did all the work. Ultimately, I lost $15,000. I demanded a refund repeatedly. Indeed, in a good-faith effort to resolve the matter, I compromised and said I would accept a refund of $7,500. They refused. What's worse, I repeatedly requested their billing records; when I received them, they were inaccurate and misleading with, among other things, duplicate entries for the same conversations or tasks, and no indication of how much time was spent on them. It was shocking. For the past year, I have hesitated to file a complaint against this firm because I feared that the firm would respond with falsehoods. After speaking with my attorney colleagues, however, and showing them the billing records, they were adamant that I should file a complaint with the Michigan State Board of Ethics. I intend to do so, and caution everyone to not, under any circumstances, retain this firm.

Run- In my situation this firm was a scam. The firm will provide misleading and partial information to you, in order to secure a “consultation payment.” Mine was $175.00 dollars. Firstly, the two and only phone numbers they provide result in two scenarios- Line number one, either they answer ...or not and line number two has an AI operator answer and you get nowhere, eventually stating, “No one can take the call.” The sales rep would not answer my question as to if their group, firm or business has an attorney licensed in my state of TN where my legal matters reside. I asked how long the consultation would be and she replied about a half hour in a voice that seemed suspicious, that’s when I should’ve said no, declined and left. After payment I receive an email stating I can send documents (good, I composed an overview letter for the firm to read and sent a few more/ additional important docs, I’m paying for the consultation, it’s not free so I’m understandably sending them to be reviewed). Then I read, “We will do our best to review documents, if you send numerous documents or long legal documents they may not be reviewed.” What! Then, thereafter they’re a no-show for my scheduled consultation. After I send an email, a rude lady on the phone tells me (calls me), “On my end I see, let me check,” as if I’m imagining this in which I had to say, “No, you're wrong, want me to forward you the email I have, was sent by you guys?” She then tells me she will get back to me. I replied, “If I can't get my consultation today, I need a refund.” Then, the lady who scheduled me wrong on their end calls me with the same attitude. I tell her I just want a refund and don’t appreciate the errors and accusations like I’m an idiot and I have been waiting on the phone twenty minutes. She tells me (like the other lady), I’ll check and get back to you. Finally, a male attorney calls me and leaves me a voicemail. He says, “Sorry” very nicely and tells me I can get a consult Friday, three days away in the afternoon with an advocate or they can refund me. While he was apologetic, still I just wanted my refund and emailed them, instructing the office a third time to refund me. I don’t want to speak to an advocate- I already have an advocate, my own advocate I have been working with and paying hourly fees to for months. I was (verbally) promised to speak to an attorney. For a $175.00 fee, you should receive a 1-2 hour consultation with a real licensed attorney in which they should review your sent documents. A zoom virtual meeting invite and link, not a phone number to call as they instruct you to and, certainly, the *attorney should show. This is not how this improper firm works. I suggest requesting something in writing or email before payment- To rightfully state: I will be meeting with/ see a licensed attorney (name) and have them disclose the duration (how long the meeting will be) of your consultation. I believe there are entities we could make/ file a complaint with regarding this party’s processes and procedures.

First off, during the initial consultation with Attorney Altman, he told me he knew my school’s attorney and made it seem like I had a strong case. If he tells you he is familiar with the other party’s attorney, don’t believe him. His office did the bare minimum work in my case. If they had put in mo...re effort and we still lost the case, I wouldn’t be as upset. Except for the general counsel meeting, they did nothing differently that I myself hadn’t already tried to do (write an appeals, send a few emails.) They charged me $13,000 and I got absolutely nothing out of this case. During talks with my case advisor, she would forget details and had to consult her notes. Sometimes I had to send multiple emails to get a response. They put me through 5 months of anxiety and stress with very slow progress and I ended up losing the case for reinstatement to medical school. After losing the case, they tried to just get rid of it and didn’t even try to genuinely explore other ways to help. I hired them after reading positive reviews on here but I am starting to think those reviews are fake. Do NOT hire this firm unless you want to lose thousands of dollars and have no outcome in your case.