Mark Leroy Means

I own a local service company here in Boise I hired local attorney Mark Means to help with a contract dispute valued at $8k by a former employee of ours back in May. Mark charged me $7k and said he can definitely help with this issue. I provided Mark with copies all of the information that I had gath...ered including the defendant information, the contract we both signed, vehicle title that was in my possession, and screenshots of text messages and emails. It took him over a month and a half to draft the letter (which had misspelling of the defendant’s name) then another month to file the complaint with the court... Since it took him so long the defendant left the area and he wasn't able to find him in order to serve the complaint.. (I was actually able to locate him through Facebook in a matter of seconds by simply searching on Facebook for his name, but still Mark was saying that the server could not locate him there). It took Mark way too much time to get the complaint, I understand he's a busy man but when I asked for an itemized invoice for billable hours and a partial refund as a result of no progress in this case over 6 months later... as I'm trying to "cut my losses" and "minimize damages" at this point. I've called and texted many times that he will not answer any of my calls (nothing since the initial call when he "sold me the agreement") my only way of communication with him was through text. After multiple attempts he responded back saying "i'll close it out" He has been very difficult to work with and I feel like I was being taking advantage here with this situation. I feel like the amount that I was charged for the issue that I presented to him and the work that was done until now is ridiculous. I definitely feel that I was taken advantage by Mark! the fact that I cannot get any clarifications on what I was charged for or even a payment receipt is unbelievable! As a business owner I know some customers can be very difficult to work with but I've been more than patient and I feel like the way he handles things in my case is very unprofessional and unethical. I didn't receive any updates nor have I received any sort of payment receipt or itemized invoice from him. I feel like that should be the bare minimum for any service provider or a business. After meeting with another attorney randomly on a job site and asking him about this matter he told me "This lawyer took you out for a spin and that's unfortunate" also that I was "way overpriced/overcharged" and that "$7000 to recoup $8000 is absolutely absurd and no lawyer that respect himself will do that". As well that he should have provided me with an invoice and if not that I should ask for one (which I did many times) and contact the Idaho State Bar. Unfortunately the state bar doesn’t do much or they are way too busy… At this point like I said all I'm trying to do is to minimize the damage. I've had a former employee that stole $8000 from us and a lawyer that charged me $7000... Yes I agreed to the cost but I was also told by Mark that that's an "easy case and that he does it all the time" I do think Mark should be paid for the services/hrs billed until now but I would also like to receive a refund for the rest. I have yet to receive a breakdown of cost / hrs billed. I’m about to contact my credit card company and reverse the charges with the hope that will make him respond and we can cut ties in a proper and professional manner as I’d like to pay Mark for what he did until now but again I was never provided with an actual itemized invoice. I sincerely hope no one else will ever go through this situation. When contacting an attorney to fight a scammer/criminal you expects them to just that and not act like one. This isn’t an attempt at slanderous review and I’m not trying to bash him or he’s business but this is my personal experience with this attorney. Again I still haven’t heard back from him and that’s why I decided to leave this review

I was involved in a car accident. None of which was my fault. I had never been in this situation before, never even been in an accident before, let alone thinking I needed a lawyer for one. Mark told both my husband and I that we would have nothing to worry about. Months went by, we didn't worry abou...t anything. Come to find out my bills started getting sent to collections because he wasn't worried about them either. I ended up paying most of the doctor bills out of pocket, before any settlement was made. Mark made me email him the same documents multiple times because he had lost track of them. I called ALL of the doctor offices/hospitals every month giving them updates on my case. Mark never called any of them, until it was time to settle and then he was calling to find out how much money to send them, which he kept telling me he would talk them down on the amount owed...and he didn't! When I asked Mark questions about how things would pan out in the end close to settlement time he explained to me that none of the side things that I had paid for and none of the side things that he had paid for would be taken out of the settlement, it was simply Mark takes 1/3, the bills get paid (whatever I hadn't already paid) and I get the rest.....That is NOT AT ALL how it turned out. . He charged me for mailing things and making copies of things. This man ended up taking home more money, doing nothing, than I did, after spending 4 days/nights in the hospital, missing work - 6 mths recovering, paying bills up front, calling ALL of the doctor offices myself, and not being able to take care of my family...How can this man sleep at night! I asked him over and over again for a copy of my contract and he would never send it to me. He told me that normally he has his clients come into the office and talk over the accounting aspect of things, nope he sent a check in the mail. With one sheet explaining where all of my settlement went. He took his 1/3 PLUS fees for this and that and the other....NOT A FLAT FEE!!! By this point I was upset. I called him and texted and never any response until about a week and a half later, I get a letter in the mail stating that his offices sees my file as closed, along with that was finally a copy of a contract. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL!!! He is trying to be a one man show and doesn't juggle very well. I was NOT at all impressed. I did tell Mark close to time to receive the settlement that I was happy with the results...I got my full policy amount, which I could have done on my own. Lesson learned the hard way.