Paul Dennis Key

Paul Key

In my line of work, I deal with all kinds of people. Most are reasonable, and I am able to help them and obtain great results. Every now and then, however, I have a clients who don’t want to hold up their end of the bargain, and I have to ask the court to withdraw from being their attorney. That’s what happened with this client's cases. She agreed to pay me $4000 and only paid $500, so I finally asked the court to allow me to withdraw, and she responded with this review. She initially contacted me about one theft case, and my opinion about what I could do for her was based on my understanding that she had one case. I had no way of knowing when we first spoke that she had three pending cases, as they were not public record at that point. She may not have even known that they were going to file three charges, but she knew what you had been up to, and, had I known, I would have given her a different opinion. She agreed to pay me $4000. I was going to require half ($2000) up front, but I let her pay $500 and $1500 in 10 days so that you would have money for her bail, as it turned out she had to bail out for three cases. She paid $500 and never made another payment, despite many promises to do so. I explained to her many times why I was resetting her cases, and it was to hold out for a better deal. It’s just how the system works, for better or worse. You can always go take the first thing offered, but you can often get better by holding out and resetting. I would have reset her cases even if she had paid me in full in order to try to get the best result for her. I spoke and texted with her on many, many times. I did have to repeatedly remind her that you needed to contact me during business hours and not at 6:33 PM (6/4), 5:49 PM (7/10), 7:19 PM (7/12), 5:08 PM (8/15) or 11:05 PM (8/15). We spoke and texted many times during business hours on 5/13, 5/15, 6/3, 6/11, 6/14, 6/17, 7/11, 7/13, and 8/16. As far as my “always [being] late for court,” first, she only had to go to two settings, the first and the last. I explained to you that in Collin County all misdemeanor cases are set for 8:30 AM, and court goes on from 8:30 to around noon. There are 7 courts. Any lawyer in Collin County will have multiple settings on the same day. No lawyer can be in all courts at the same time. On the two occassions that she attended court, I arrived within 5 minutes. I never raised my voice to her, ever, and, by our last conversation, it became clear to me that she was not going to pay me, and I don’t think I was rude under the circumstances, though I was firm. I thought it was rude that you she not live up to your end of the bargain, despite specific promises as to when she would pay. When I made it clear to her that I was not going to work for 1/8 of our agreed price, she went from “thank you for everything you’ve done for me” in her 8/15 text to this. To anyone who is still reading this reply, I care about what I do, I’m good at it, and I will work hard to get you the best result possible under the circumstances. Naturally, every case is different, and what is a good result for one person may not be for another. It is important for a client to provide accurate information. In the initial stages, often the only information I have about a case is what the client provides. If I have inaccurate information, then I’ll likely give an inaccurate opinion. Another way to say that is that my opinion is based on the information at hand and may change as I learn new information. I try really hard not to withdraw on a case, but I have to make a living like everyone else, and I expect my clients to live up to their end of the bargain, too.