Teri D McCall

Teri McCall

It is difficult to respond to an anonymous review that expresses conclusions and no factual bases. No client of mine has ever expressed to me personally the content of the review or anything close to it. Nonetheless, if this review is from a former client as opposed to an opposing party, I would certainly encourage the reviewer to contact me to discuss and to attempt to resolve such negative perceptions. Having practiced for 26 years, it would be impossible to think that each and every client was satisfied with me. Cases are won on the facts, and not all client cases have good facts. Not all clients follow legal advice in the highly emotional field of family law. Nonetheless, for the large majority of my cases, I have developed close relationships with my clients, and I have maintained relationships with them. I am honest and direct with them even if it does not always endear them to me in the moment. In an extremely large majority of the cases I have handled from the start, my clients have either prevailed after trial or have reached settlements they could live with by taking charge of the resolution of their case instead of having the court make the call for them. Although I have won issues in cases on tape recorded conversations, I do not advise clients to tape record all that their spouse is doing. Often in situations where a client is being physically threatened or verbally abused, the other spouse denies it, thereby creating a he-said/she said scenario. A recording eliminates that scenario. I am not aware of any client who was endangered by doing so, and I do not think any of my clients would in fact record a conversation under circumstances that would place themselves in danger. Most of clients have been fairly wise people. My staff are and have been extremely loyal to me, and I do not believe any one of them would have spoken negatively about me to a client. They are too professional to have engaged in that conduct. Moreover, I have in fact successfully represented various members of my staff over the years, and all of the staff at my firm know that there is an open door for any and all legal assistance I might be able to provide. As to fees, the reasonableness of them relates directly to the reward sought. It does not make sense for a client to spend $5,000.00 to recover $8,000.00. That case should settle, On the other hand, it would make sense to spend $100,000.00 to recover $1,000,000.00. Also, I think it is important to address the client's expectations of the attorney's efforts in relation to fees. A standard example that I discuss is that I cannot provide a $10,000.00 case for $5,000.00. I can, however, work within the client's financial wherewithal, as long as the client recognizes that I may not be able to utilize all available options available to obtain evidence for their case or to present their case to the court. With that said, I have provided pro bono assistance to many clients in need, and I will reduce my fees in certain cases. In some cases where the financial power of the couple was imbalanced and the financial underdog had a meritorious case involving children, I provided many thousands of dollars of legal assistance with the knowledge I would not recover the fees. While it is always distressing to think that a client is so dissatisfied with your services that the client would write a horrifying public review, I have always worked hard to try and satisfy each and every client and to obtain the most successful result possible for them. I will always maintain that same standard.