Thomas William Burns

In a desperate situation, we hired him to enforce previous orders and to collect money owed to my wife. He did absolutely NO work on the case in 3 weeks, didn't even file for attorney of record in the case, so we hired someone else. Went to get the papers back that we provided to him and the money we... paid him - he gave the papers back but not the money. He did NO work, read NO emails from us, and only spent 15 minutes with us initially (every lawyer gives first 30 min free) and refused to give us ANY money back. Go flush $300 down the toilet right now and you will know exactly what it is like to hire Thomas Burns! This man goes to church and will look you in your eye and tell you that any money you give him is not refundable even if he didn't do anything to earn it! Why would he alienate so many clients (his bread & butter)? We can't figure that one out either! But he had been disciplined before for going AGAINST his own client (look it up). I've know him for 3-4 years now and all I can see that he does is collect money from people, do very little for that money - if anything, then run around spending it on horse riding lessons and guns & ammunition so his kids can be cool. He appears to be living the dream at our expense without doing any actual work to earn it. We signed NO contract with him but he told us that $300 should cover some research and him attending a one-hour hearing with us - total cost! He said to us verbally that IF more work was needed he would bill us at $100 an hour. He did NO research, did NOT ever contact the other attorney, did NOT set a hearing date, did NOT even e-file a simple Entry of Appearance, and never typed a single document - WE provided him with all papers and prepared & filed our own Motion! When I went to get the money back, he said it was non-refundable. I then sent, in writing, a request for billing - to show what he did for the money. He then sent a FAKE statement and had the nerve to show very little (& vague) work (that he did NOT do) and then had the nerve to show that he charged $225 an hour! And that meant that we still owed him some money - for NOTHING! But he was "christian" and wrote-off the $72.00 overage! ...WHAT? This man is a hypocrite of the highest level. The only thing I have ever know his office to FILE are checks into his bank account. They get that done before the day is out! But if you need some lawyering done - good luck! You are only an ATM to this man! He doesn't even care if you go to his same church - he will steal from you just the same! And then he'll smile & try to shake your hand - which means he thinks you are stupid! He KNEW we were broke and that if we were lucky we would collect a tiny little piece of pocket change from the opposing party - but most likely we would not. And he took advantage of us like we were nothing! If I have ever met someone that needs a wake up call and that you should avoid at ALL costs, it is Thomas W. Burns! Unless you have money to waste, DO NOT hire this man! And if you want to have a truly awkward experience, go into his office to talk about your very serious matter and see a couple of 20-somethings sitting there PLAYING and laughing with the receptionist! They will stare at you and listen in on your situation like they are watching Jerry Springer and you are just trash they can laugh at when you leave. Who are they? We don't know! But it is extremely unprofessional and off-putting. They all have no remorse or decorum. You are trash with cash and they will get you!