Joseph S. Neterval

From the get-go, "Joe" seemed very exasperated even when he answered our initial phone call. Looking back, we should have trusted our gut and moved on (we would have gone with another of the lower income options first but our opposing party was already using them). Long story short, my husband h...ad been in a custody battle with his ex-wife for the last year and a half and the scales had been tipping in his favor for some time. Being the court-ordered third party contact between my husband and his ex-wife, I was my husband's secretary for all intents and purposes, always having kept things documented and seeking out evidence at any opportunity. When we were looking for a new attorney, we spoke with Joe, giving him our financial basics first of course (which was fine since fees are base on income). It took a few weeks of phone calls back and forth but things seemed promising. He said he would just have to speak with my husband to make the official agreement since it was my husband's name on the case. They spoke, made the agreement, and we authorized a payment of $500.00. Even though we weren't thrilled with Joe's repertoire, we figured maybe he was just a hard ball attorney, no worries... ...until there were. When he called for the second phone consult with my husband, he completely disrespected him, his own client at this point. The conversation started out fine but it seemed like Joe had done some very basic research of our case, things anyone could find on CCAP, and jumped to conclusions based on that information. Little did he know, the details of our case were fairly unique; the likelihood of my husband taking custody from his ex-wife was promising. When Joe asked my husband about a detail of his case, my husband was not sure so he asked Joe to speak with me to clarify (as I mentioned, I am basically the record-keeper). Joe responded saying in a very firm and combative tone, "I don't want to talk to your wife, I want to talk to you; you are the boss here, not her." O-kay...clearly Joe had no idea how instrumental I actually was to this case. And instead of having an even remotely open mind and asking the specifics or acting on my husband's (his client's) wishes to speak with me, he wrote it off as just an over-bearing wife. My husband wanted to hang up the phone then and there but I urged him to stay on a little longer. Turns out he only needed two more minutes until Joe insulted him again. Again, Joe neglected to learn the actual details of my husband's unique case. While he should have acknowledged my husband having temporary custody of his kids for over a year, Joe chose to see the glass half-empty if you will, focusing on how courts are more lenient to women, etc. and he literally asked my husband, "Are you a politican? Are you the governor?..." in a rant in which he basically communicated to my husband that he was not going to win his case. The truth is, my husband did win, without the help of Joe Neterval. A few days ago, we had our final court date regarding the custody of my stepsons. The final order of the court states that my husband will continue to have sole legal custody and primary placement of the kids and his ex-wife will have placement at reasonable times, upon reasonable notice. We thank God that we did follow our gut, even if it was better late than never. At the time, we agreed, we'd rather go on pro se (with no attorney) than to have someone representing us that we didn't trust. While we wish no ill will on Joe Neterval, we do want to alert others to his practices. Remember, your attorney works for you, not the other way around. Make lots of phone calls and talk to people, you never know who or what you will come across. Best of luck.