Corey Darnell McGaha

If your legal matter has any urgency—if you need real-time guidance and don't have the luxury of waiting weeks just to learn whether a lawyer will represent you—you may want to look elsewhere for a better fit. I contacted McGaha Law regarding a dispute with a major local car dealership. By August ...12, I had provided the firm with all of the detailed information and documentation it had requested from me for its evaluation. McGaha did not decline representation until September 7—nearly four weeks later. During that time, this wasn't a situation I could simply put on a shelf. The dealership was actively trying to contact me, asking me to sign a waiver of my rights as part of their offered resolution to the conflict. I specifically told McGaha's office that I wasn't returning those calls because I was waiting to learn where I stood with the firm. I was then told in writing, by his assistant: “I would hold off on communicating with the dealership until you've heard from him.” So I followed their advice. And waited. Eventually, with my dispute sitting in limbo, I pressed for a decision. McGaha declined the case—but remarkably, my request for an answer became part of his explanation for declining me. He wrote that my “request for a decision in advance of [their evaluation timeline] told me something useful about how our working relationship would likely go,” adding that our “expectations about pace are not well matched.” I strongly disagree with that characterization. His office told me to hold off communicating with the dealership while I waited for him. Asking for an answer while following that instruction wasn't impatience. It was an attempt to figure out how to handle an active legal dispute. His letter then revealed something else: “my current caseload does not leave me the capacity this matter would require to be handled properly.” That's information I wish I'd had much earlier. A law firm knows its workload and capacity far better than a prospective client does. If capacity was a significant concern, why allow me to proceed through intake, submit a complete case file, instruct me to hold off dealing with the other side, and then leave me waiting for weeks? The final irony came when McGaha warned that “Legal claims are subject to strict deadlines” and encouraged me to consult another attorney “promptly.” Apparently urgency mattered once McGaha declined the case. When I expressed urgency while waiting for his decision, however, it was characterized as evidence that we weren't a good fit. To his credit, the eventual rejection letter was detailed and candid. My complaint isn't that McGaha declined my case. He had every right to do so. My complaint is that his firm put me in a holding pattern, advised me not to communicate with the dealership, and then criticized me for wanting an answer while I was following that advice. If you're considering McGaha Law, I'd ask at the outset: How long will the evaluation actually take? Does the firm currently have the capacity to represent me? And what am I supposed to do about an active dispute while I'm waiting? I wish I had asked those questions before entrusting critical weeks to their evaluation. Now, after nearly four weeks of wasted time waiting, I'm back at square one. My conflict with the dealership remains unresolved. I'm faced with a coercive offer from the dealership that requires me to waive future rights in exchange for a one-time payment for damage that was undisclosed on the CPO checklist. I'm back at square one after squandering four weeks of nothing from Corey McGaha Law.