Johnny Joe Urrutia

Initially things went well. I was impressed by what he had to say in our initial consultation, however, after I hired him, he began to neglect my case and his communication was very poor. It became more and more difficult as time went on during the case to get ahold of him. The class was nearly over ...and he didn’t even take the time to review the final decree with me; he just sent it and told me to sign!…unacceptable! Following the finalization of my divorce, I reached out a few times to discuss some very serious matters and he never responded at all to any of my emails or office calls. I basically had 5k stolen from me! To say I am unhappy would be an understatement. Don’t bother with this guy.

Johnny is a good and honest person, but I felt he was not up to the task against some of Austin's top lawyers and their firms. We lost one case and then he struggled in fighting another bigger one. Over time, he became less and less responsive - and it was not for money, his invoices were all pai...d and current. I got the impression he was simply way over his head against more knowledgeable attorneys and he just decided to pick the smaller lower-lying fruit of his criminal cases. The breaking point for me, was Johnny failed to appear for an important meeting which he had confirmed - without notifying me, without an explaining or even trying to reschedule; It was then I decided to seek another attorney in Austin. The difference in performance of the new attorney simply was stunning. Sidenotes on organizational skills : It was very interesting sorting out (or trying to) his files after I gave the case to someone else. His billing was also disorganized and very sporadic. From my conversations with Johnny, his mainstay clientele are low-end criminals in underserved communities and he relies or negotiating before court. He is probably a good lawyer in this area. In a higher level family case where attorney's and their staff can play dirty he appeared outmatched by resources and tactics. The review rates 'trustworthy'. Well, I believe Johnny Urrutia to be an honest and sincere man. But I would not trust a complicated case to him.