Chad J Gladstone

Chad was hired for a highly contested anise, divorce, custody and relocation case. During the consultation he was everything this damsel in distress needed in a hero after 2 previous attorneys really hurt my case. Meeting my then 1 year old daughter he was dotting and complimentary and used that as a...ssurance that he knew just how special of a thing he was fighting to protect and how important this was for mine and my infant's well being and ability to lead a life "after all this" with safety and security. THEN...he got a $7500 retainer which he indicated was standard so I didn't question it...he became progressively less responsive and when he DID respond it would be via emails time stamped anywhere between 12:30-3:30 in the morning. The replies either had one or all of the following components: not coherent, lengthy BUT at the end nowhere was an answer ro ANY of your questions/addressed your concerns, talked in circles, usage of a lot of "fluff" words to perhaps show off his vernacular? However they weren't used in an intelligent manner that conveyed any clear message. At first his filings were necessary, useful, made sense to spend money on...then as everything else faded so too did his commitment to being conscious of his clients money because he would file irrelevant, useless, etc things and NOT consult me before doing so..:furthermore it became apparent he enjoyed filing things just to "mess with" or "ruffle the feathers" of our opposing attorney. He enjoyed poking the bear so to speak but at MY expense. He began asking for more money $5,000 at a time, then $10,000 at a time then finally $15,000....the $15,000 was requested just days before trial and no consulting attorney I talked to could make sense of how that kind of money could even be "fake used" in that short of time! At one point, months before trial, I came to meet with him to let him know I had hired another attorney who would finish my entire case from where it was THRU trial for no more than $4,000 and he offered me alcoholic beverages in his office to talk over the problems. He said he would match the $4,000....so I stayed with Chad. $6,000 later I said nothing about him exceeding his promised price but when he demanded the $15,000 I couldn't do it any longer in any sense. Chad was dragging the case on and on, clearly milking it for the money...when I walked away Chad sent me many emails and text messages that were hurtful and insulting including stating, "[your new counsel] can now argue your own stupidity against you." What hurt the worst was the game playing that had him writing documents to file that were NOT putting my daughter in the safest situations but it was a chance to use her to "get at my husband".