Michael F. Brown

I am aware of who this reviewer is; a former client who I’d represented for a short project lasting a few weeks. Of note, of the (few) negative Avvo reviews I have, this is the first who was actually a client of mine; the others were just callers/queriers to my firm but had never retained my firm or actually had me work as their lawyer. This review contains numerous false statements that are proven false by emails, etc. First, the case was not "lost". For the client’s matter, there was no litigation or "case" that existed; thus, winning or losing was not possible in this instance. Further, she was never charged or asked to be paid a cent for the work I had performed (which is completed, and she never received any bill from me). The representation was on a contingency contract, which provided that my firm would only be paid (as a percentage of payment gained from a third party) if I could help her improve upon a payment she’d been offered by the third party. I tried and failed to help her gain the improvement/extra payment. As a result, the client’s (still) paid the original amount the third party had offered (thus is no worse off financially and did not “lose” anything), but on my part, my firm and I received no contingency fee for my work. This, I am fine with; the risk of non-payment is a risk that every lawyer assumes for every of the (many) times we agree to represent any client on contingency. For certain contingency-client matters (the minority), things don’t work out as expected/hoped, despite the lawyer’s best efforts and work, and the lawyer receives no fees for his or her work. In most of my other clients’ situations similar to this one, my clients and I had/have succeeded in obtaining extra payment, so the result here was a disappointment to this client and myself. But I'd made sincere efforts and performed the same type, quality etc. of work that I've generally performed for my other clients with similar matters that have usually had better results. In my dealings with this client, she had repeatedly expressed expectations to receive extra time and legal work on extra projects/matters that that were outside and beyond the scope of our agreed legal work arrangement/contract. I have represented thousands of clients, and in my observation she was comparably more demanding and entitled than 99% of the clients I’ve dealt with (with whom things typically went smoothly, and again where she is the first actual client to complain on Avvo). Initially, I had responded to her requests for extra work (not required by our contract) and I’d provided extra work/answers. However, she proceeded to ask for more extra work, and to re-ask questions that I’d already answered for her once or twice previously. I finally refused to answer (or re-answer) any more of the questions and requests she was continuing to make for work outside our contracted/agreed legal work, which, again, had already been completed. I did tell her that if she retained me for a specific future legal work project, that I have a standard hourly fee that I would charge for one hour of that type of work. She did not choose to have that work performed, and she was not charged anything. Ever. I had performed approximately 10 hours of work on this client's contingency matter, which if she had been charged standard- hourly legal fees by a lawyer, would have been thousands of dollars worth of work. Again, I have been paid nothing. Again, she is no worse off financially, but she has left me this “review” to ensure that my firm and I have lasting negative consequences.

No one had talked to me directly about the concerns described in this public review. I have no record of this call, which from its description seems very unusual to me. I have never slept at work or been "awoke[n]" by a call, as this reviewer suggests had occurred; the reviewer further says that I (despite being half-asleep) had talked incessantly and "interject[ed]" over the caller during that same call. In any event, the type of call described is a free initial consultation call. For the vast majority of people who call me for a free consult, I do not quote them any retainer fee amount. (Most of my cases are handled on contingency basis, with fees recovered from the opponent and my clients do not pay out of pocket fees). I do quote out of pocket retainer fees to some (minority of) callers. Those situations typically involve the employee-caller being accused of wrongdoing by the employer, and/or they are seeking preventative legal help from me, e.g. employee-callers who were sued and/or who want me to review contracts to try to avoid breach or litigation, etc. For such preventative or defense work, it is usually not possible for an attorney to offer contingency representation, and out-of-pocket fees are typically charged by lawyers like myself. Understandably, some callers are frustrated by the notion of having to pay legal fees for a situation they feel was caused by an employer being unfair. I never quote someone a retainer fee unless I have first heard sufficient details about the caller's situation to (1) understand the caller's legal matters at issue; (2) assess the scope and volume of legal work on my part that would be needed; and (3) quote an initial retainer fee for said legal work. Assuming the reviewer here had actually spoken with me, I would be glad to talk again (at no charge) if he or she contacts me directly. If he or she does so, the call would be free, and I would be willing to listen to, and to discuss, more details about the case and about retainer fee value etc.

I keep record of communications, but I can't identify your matter from that information or your post. I apologize that what I said or did left you feeling dismissed and treated rudely. Please know I would be glad to talk directly, if you would like to contact and speak with me. After you have identified your name and legal matter, we could discuss your prior inquiry and the concerns you had with that encounter. Having that information, I could, if you wish, discuss in detail the reasons why I declined to offer representation. For most new client inquiries, I speak at length with inquirers, on average 15 to 60 minutes. But there are certainly instances I don't, especially if it is a day with a high volume of inquiries and/or with time-sensitive obligations to existing clients. Again, I am sorry for your prior experience with me, and would be glad to talk offline if you wish to email or call me.