Tad A Davis

Tad Davis

Hi Kerri, I’m disappointed that you don’t feel like you were represented well in your case. My staff and I always try to serve our clients to the best of our ability and its devastating to hear that our efforts didn’t hit the mark. I know we’ve had several conversations about these issues offline and I’m sorry that we weren’t able to resolve things that way. But, even still, if you would like to address this offline, I’d be happy to have that conversation with you there. In an effort to give some context to your review I wanted to share some more information here. In July 2019, we met to discuss your upcoming trial in two weeks. You told me that you were anxious to find a lawyer because other lawyers had wanted to charge $5,000 or more and you did not have that kind of money. You only had $1,200 in total. I indicated that your case would require more money than $1,200 because it would take hours to prepare and then do the 1-hour trial. But as we talked, I ultimately decided that I would take your case because of your sincerity and desire to do the best for your child. To prepare for your case my staff and I spent about 15 hours before we did the “1-hour trial.” And at the conclusion of my representation, we had invested well over 20 hours into your representation. We understand that the $1,200 is a lot of money. But when we compare that to what you would have spent had we not agreed to the discounted rate, we still feel like you’ve received tremendous value. Unfortunately, before I came on your case, you and your ex had met with the Judge and had determined that your case would be set for a 1-hour trial which meant that you only had 30 minutes to present your side of the case. That made your request to call multiple witnesses to testify impossible unless you cut down or didn’t testify at all which would have been devastating to your case. At trial I felt as though you testified really well in the time allotted. The court did start late because the prior case ran long but as the July 23, 2019 minute entry shows, court started at 10:15 AM and ended at 11:15 AM which means the Judge gave you the entire hour of time that it was set for. At the end of the day the Judge did not adopt your request, but in reading the Court’s ruling I believe that the Judge found you to be a credible and genuine parent. The Judge wrote “Both parents are acting based on his and her genuine and reasonable belief about the child's best interest,” and “Both parents have a strong relationship with the child.” Unfortunately for our argument, the Court cited stability as the single biggest factor in why it adopted your ex’s plan over your plan. The Court wrote “Father has lived in the same house for 18 years. Mother has moved several times during [child]'s life… Mother is renting a house. Mother's most recent move was not for employment because she is not currently working. Father presented evidence that her driver's license is suspended and has been for some time. There may be an outstanding warrant on her…Father is significantly more stable.” Unfortunately, those factors are not ones that I can control. Since our time in Court I have spent a number of hours working on your holiday schedule and trading proposals with your ex on your behalf at no cost to you. And although you and I have disagreed about what the best legal pathway forward should be, I still would like you to be set up for a good result in the future. I understand that my son’s Make-A-Wish trip wasn’t convenient for your timing. But we did have a chance to speak by phone both before and after that trip, text, and even had an appointment to meet in person set up prior to the firm withdrawing from your case. So Ms. Hubler, while we are deeply disappointed in your review, we do wish you the very best of luck in your case in the future!