Kurt A. Smith's Reviews

Avvo Review Score

4.4 /5.0

46 Client Reviews

Showing 41 - 45 of 46 reviews

Posted by Don | January 29, 2021

Had a phone appointment for consultation. He never called never cancelled.

He must be a real important person, since there was no consideration given to my time. A phone consultation was setup via email for 5:00 pm. I cleared my schedule and waited for the call that never came. It is now 20 hours later and I have not received any explanation via email or phone. I will/wo...uld never work with anyone who shows such disrespect for other peoples time.

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Kurt Smith

Replied last January 29, 2021

Hmmmm. I don't know who "Don," is, but it's 8:21 p.m. on a Friday evening and I am still sitting at my desk working for clients to get the best results for them that I can. I can say a few things, however, which are 1) we do not typically set up consultations via email - we do it personally over the phone; 2) I don't have anyone named "Don" on my appointment calendar throughout the past week, and 3) I haven't missed a consultation, either in person or over the telephone, in several years. That said, Don, if you are in need of legal assistance, I would be happy to help.

Posted by anonymous | August 18, 2020 | Hired Attorney | Child Custody

Incredibly Unprofessional and Creeper

Even though he was rude and yawned continuously throughout my consultation, I hired him because his retainer fee was lower than most other lawyers and the other ones were unavailable that week at a family law convention.....And I ended up getting burned badly. He didn't show up to a TPO hearing as p...romised on time and missed the entire thing. Then while discussing details to a custody agreement document, he gripped my shoulder with his hand and rested it there for an uncomfortably long time....and not only did it once but TWICE. Then after I submitted the signed documents to the judge, I called to ask about further details. I was lucky I did because he then suddenly remembered he needed to respond to my counter parts custody filing. So on the last possible day to file it, he asked me to meet him at the court house to sign the paperwork and was late to his following engagement so he went straight to that hearing and made me wait in the parking lot for an hour with my two toddlers. THEN he tried to charge me $2500 for a no show, one filing and his paralegal drawing up those three documents. In addition to THAT his accountant kept leaving off a two hundred dollar payment I made in conjunction with other transactions that were made for his retainer fee, so it took MONTHS to finally resolve the issue. Even though at the end of it all, his accountant STILL never looked fully into it. I had to get my bank statement prepared to send them and when they finally allowed me to pay my account out....his rep mentioned doing it as a favor and avoiding filing a motion for something against me..... It was unbelievable.

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Kurt Smith

Replied last August 18, 2020

Valerie is just coming off of a billing dispute with the company. Accordingly, there are just a couple of details Valerie left out of her review. Valerie retained services at Smith Legal Group on March 10, 2020, to assist her with her CUSTODY case. She informed me that she had a TPO Dissolution Hearing the next day, but that she wanted to try to settle the matter with her ex without protracted litigation. Valerie asked me to meet her at the Courthouse, but not to announce that I was her attorney unless she felt like it was needed. I informed Valerie that we had several other Hearings that day, but that we would try to make it for her Hearing AS A COURTESY, as we were only retained to represent her in her CUSTODY case. As it turned out, I was able to get to Valerie's Hearing just as it was ending and Valerie informed me that everything went fine and that she didn't need me at the Hearing. We then worked with Valerie behind the scenes to come up with a Settlement Agreement that met ALL of her needs, without letting her ex know that she was working with an attorney, and avoiding protracted litigation. As stated, Valerie retained our services on March 10, 2020. VALERIE'S CASE WAS COMPLETELY SETTLED BY MARCH 19, 2020. Now here is the rest of the story. Although Valerie retained our services on March 10, 2020, She was not able to come up with a full retainer - in fact it was not even close. That notwithstanding, we continued assisting Valerie fulfilling our end of the agreement, while turning a blind eye toward Valerie's seeming incessant excuses about why she couldn't pay her bill as agreed. After we finished her case, Valerie still hadn't even come up with the money for her initial retainer. We eventually recently settled the Bill with Valerie for pennies on the dollar. However, as evidenced by her review, Valerie holds a grudge for even having to pay a partial payment for stellar legal work at a very reasonable rate. Lots of people come to my office looking for assistance on a budget. My heart goes out to all of them. But it is clients like Valerie, who take advantage of the willingness to help, that ruins things for the others that come in after. Because of clients like Valerie, who ask for favors up front, take advantage of the services offered and the favors done, and then lash out on line later under the "anonymous" moniker, Attorneys, and other professionals, grow very leery of offering kindness - it becomes not worth it when the kindness turns out to not be appreciated. That said, despite Valerie's shenanigans, I still hold out hope that karma remains kind to those who help others. ***NOTE: What is true from Valerie's review is that there are times when I yawn during consultations. I routinely work until 2 or 3 in the morning and have to be ready for 9 am Hearings or all day Trials the next day. It doesn't mean I'm not interested. It means that I really didn't get enough sleep that week and my body is feeling it. Note, however, that even Valerie, who is overly concerned about her bill that was heavily reduced to an amount much less than she owed, did not complain about the result. She won her case on terms she was extremely happy with all in less than two weeks. You're welcome Valerie.

Posted by Liz | February 10, 2020 | Hired Attorney | Family

Disappointed

We hired Kurt after talking with many attorneys by phone consultation. He seemed knowledgable and able to take on the case. Over the last month, the phone calls are being ignored and there was no thought for any agreements for certain time frames. For someone who does family law daily, the basi...cs that we are dealing with should be common knowledge and able to be negotiated. But many of the basics like holidays with children were never discussed or agreed upon. This should have not been my job to make these arrangements, this should have been done through our attorney that we are paying for.

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Kurt Smith

Replied last February 10, 2020

"Liz" is not a client. She is the mother of a client. Liz's complaint, however, is not accurate. In her daughter's case, her daughter settled her case, and agreed to two Visitation Plans - a pre-move plan valid for 3 months, and a post-move plan valid (ostensibly) until the child turns 18. Liz is upset that the pre-move plan her daughter agreed to while in Nevada did not include ADDITIONAL TIME for Visitation over the Christmas Holiday. AFTER the plan was entered as an Order of the Court, Liz, not her daughter the actual client, began contacting our office to request ADDITIONAL TIME over the Christmas Holiday. Liz then got very angry that we could not get the opposing party to agree to ADDITIONAL TIME. While I certainly understand Liz's concern, all clients need to be aware that once a deal is agreed upon and finalized with the Court, it is often very difficult to undo the deal that was made. For the record, Liz's daughter DID have time with the Child over the Christmas holiday. However, she did not have 1) as much time as she wanted, and 2) as much time as he was going to have under part 2 of the Agreement. Moreover, Liz's questions were answered in a timely manner - she just didn't get the answer that she wanted. That notwithstanding, it was a pleasure working with Liz and her daughter and we would happy to work with her daughter again in the future should the need arise. Liz was correct about two things, however. We do give great legal consultations and we are VERY knowledgeable.

Posted by Holly | March 17, 2016 | Hired Attorney | Lawsuits & Disputes

KEEP LOOKING

Think TWICE & move on before retaining this attorney! Especially if you expect professionalism, communication & value for your money. My first clue should have been the poorly written demand letter. Little wonder it didn't have the desired effect. Neither did my call to his office asking ...further action be put on hold. Oddly, Mr Smith continued ordering work be typed up which conveniently used up my retainer. His office manager couldn't resolve my concerns so she set up a phone conference at 1 pm. By 7pm, he hadn't called nor could I get any help from his staff. Don't be taken in by his calm demeanor & confidence. After the initial consult you'll never talk to him again. Also kiss your retainer goodbye when you give it to him. He'll find some reason to use it up, believe me!!

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Kurt Smith

Replied last March 17, 2016

Holly is a client that first came to my office on June 23, 2015. She was having issues visiting with her grandkids that she felt had to be resolved by mid-July 2015. After listening to her issues, we developed a plan that included initiating a Grandparent's Rights Visitation action, filing a Motion for said visitation, and attempting to expedite the hearing with the Court so that her deadline could be met. I explained that it was imperative that we act immediately, as a failure to do so would result in the Court not having time to hear her case before her deadline. Holly fails to mention that despite her urgent need for legal services, she could only come up with a highly reduced retainer fee. Notwithstanding her need for expedited legal services and inability to come up with a full retainer, I agreed to take Holly's case. Holly hired my office on June 25, 2015, at which time I immediately assigned my staff to begin working on her case. On July 2, 2016, Holly changed the plan. Rather than immediately submitting the legal paperwork that we had drafted, Holly decided she would rather first send a Demand Letter to the opposing party. She then demanded to review the letter prior to its submittal. It was explained to Holly that 1) in this circumstance, a Demand Letter was unlikely to be effective and 2) changing the strategy mid-stream like this was likely going to make meeting her stated deadline impossible. Holly indicated that she understood and the new strategy was implemented. The Demand Letter was drafted and submitted to Holly, who sent it back with requested changes due to her fear that the tone of the demand letter was overly harsh and she didn't want to hurt the opposing party's feelings. The revisions Holly requested were made and the letter was submitted. Not surprisingly, Holly's Demand Letter was ineffective and Holly's deadline was missed. In fact, Holly's deadline came and went and Holly never gave the office the permission to file her legal papers. My office kept in touch with Holly over the next few months. Holly was having many of the same ups and downs with the opposing party that she was having prior to coming into my office. However, she could never quite bring herself to file the papers that we had drafted for her. On September 5, 2015, I emailed Holly informing her that we had not heard from her in a while and asking her what she wanted to do with her case. On September 7, 2015, Holly emailed me back asking us to hold off, as she was having second thoughts, but thanking us for the great work that we had done so far. On November 13, 2015, Holly contacted my office, informed us that she no longer wanted to proceed with her case, and asking for a refund of her retainer fee. My office manager informed Holly that she was entitled to a refund of all unused retainer fees, which at that point was $269.51. Holly became irate. She felt that even though she had hired my office to do legal work back in June and that my office, pursuant to her request, had drafted the legal documents requested, because she hadn't used the documents, she shouldn't have to pay for them. Holly claimed to have asked me to hold off on all work during one of our conversations about her case in August 2015 (so much for not being able to get a hold of me). Holly was reminded that she had hired our office in June 2015 and that we had begun our work immediately. Accordingly, even if Holly had requested us to stop work in August, she would have had to pay for the time spent drafting the legal documents for her in the June/July timeframe. To date, we have sent Holly a retainer refund check approximately three times. Holly keeps sending it back demanding a full refund. I appreciate Holly's compliment regarding my calm demeanor and confidence. We do excellent work, but we do need to be paid for the work that we do. We generally do not offer refunds for work that has already been completed.

Posted by Jeremy | October 15, 2015 | Child Custody

Worst Attorney Ever!!!!

DON'T USE THIS ATTORNEY!!! The State of Nevada referred me to Kurt as he was an affordable attorney. I needed someone to represent me in a custody battle. When I met with him for my consultation, he informed me that my case should not cost me more then $4,000. After receiving several bills with o...utrageous charges, I called to get information on why I was being charged so much. He informed me that they are inflating the price as they are going after my ex wife for my attorney fees. Once the case is closed they will reduce the price down to the quoted price if we don't get approved to have her pay for the fees. Once the case was all set and done we did not get approval to have her pay for the fees but yet he was not a man of his word and did not reduce his charges. So in the end he wants me to pay over $10,000. My ex wife paid her attorney $3,000 to do the same things Kurt did. He is a crocked individual. He has the nerve to charge my account $2,500 to have a fill in attorney and his paralegal defend me at one of the court dates. It is not my fault you decided to take a vacation when I had a court date and I should not be responsible to pay for his mistakes. Key point to this story, DO NOT USE THIS ATTORNEY AS YOU WILL NOT BE ANYTHING TO HIM BUT A DOLLAR SIGN AND HE WILL TELL YOU ANYTHING TO GET AS MUCH MONEY FROM YOU!!

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Kurt Smith

Replied last January 13, 2015

Jeremy's review lends proof to the theory that no good deed goes unpunished. Jeremy came to my office as a low-income client that needed legal assistance. I agreed to help him and began working on his case for a severely reduced retainer fee. I also agreed to accept very low monthly payments on his case in an effort to get him the legal representation he needed within his very meager budget. Turns out, Jeremy and his wife had originally decided to get a fraudulent divorce in Nye County (using a different law firm) - fraudulent because neither party lived there at the time. Jeremy ended up needing to fight this case in both Nye County and Clark County - an unfortunate circumstance that greatly increased Jeremy's bill. Jeremy's wife used the same lawyer that had bungled the case in the first place. Jeremy's ex's counsel filed inappropriate motions in Nye County and when those proved ineffective, attempted to start the entire case over again in Clark County for what was effectively a third case. My firm competently handled all three cases and got the Jeremy the best result possible under the circumstances - circumstances which included allegations of drug use which ended up being true. By means of fact check, please be advised of the following: 1) My firm NEVER quotes a flat fee to handle an entire case. Jeremy's allegation that this occurred is false. 2) My firm NEVER inflates prices in hopes of having opposing counsel pay an inflated attorney's fees award. Attorney's fees are discretionary with the judge and doing so would cause severe problems. 3) I did not go on vacation in the middle of Jeremy's case leaving Jeremy hanging out to dry. I had hearings scheduled simultaneously in Clark County and Nye County. I handled the multiple hearings in Clark County and sent an Associate AND the Paralegal that was working on Jeremy's case to Nye County to represent him. Incidentally, we won the Hearing in Nye County. That notwithstanding, Jeremy expressed his dissatisfaction that I had not personally appeared at his Nye County Hearing. What Jeremy fails to state is that as a courtesy to him, I waived the entire fee for that Associate's time and the Paralegal's time and took that entire amount off of Jeremy's bill. 4) I am one of the few attorneys in town that will accept monthly payments on their cases. The reason for this is that most attorney's have figured out that people on monthly payments often stop paying their bill. Although I understand that as well, I often feel bad when people need help and just can't come up with a huge retainer fee to get the help they need. As I stated, I set Jeremy up on a very low retainer and a very low monthly fee. About halfway into Jeremy's representation, Jeremy informed me he could no longer pay the entire monthly fee and began paying me less than half of the previously agreed upon fee. That notwithstanding, I kept working on Jeremy's case. Jeremy assured me that he would keep paying his bill until his bill was paid. Unfortunately, that has not proved to be the case. 5) Jeremy misstates what I told him at our initial meeting. For the record, what I told him was "you keep doing your part and paying your monthly bill and I will keep doing my part and will keep representing you throughout these proceedings. At the end, we will sit down and discuss your bill and discuss a fee reduction to help get your bill paid off faster." When the successful end of Jeremy's representation came, Jeremy still owed my firm $6,794.81. He has only ever paid $3,100.00. AFTER the case was concluded, Jeremy informed me that he felt he had paid enough. Although I have offered Jeremy a SUBSTANTIAL fee reduction to help him out, Jeremy has stated that the only fee reduction he will accept is 100%. I understand there will always be people out there who will not want to pay. However, for me, getting Jeremy Joint Custody despite his drug issues was a good result for Jeremy.

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Kurt A. Smith's Lawyer Endorsements

Endorse Kurt

Carol Barnes

Family lawyer | Jun 21

Relationship: Opposing Counsel on matter

"I endorse this lawyer. Kurt is a knowledgeable and compassionate attorney who zealously advocates for his client. As opposing counsel, Kurt always promptly responded to my calls and worked toward resolution."

Mark Clay

Family lawyer | Aug 23

Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community

"I highly endorse Mr. Smith. Truly exceptional and caring attorney who produces great results in representing clients! I want all people with legal problems to contact him first."

John Fisher

Family lawyer | Jul 04

Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community

"I endorse this lawyer. Intelligent and compassionate with superior communication skills."

Jonathan Lacour

Family lawyer | Apr 27

Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community

"I endorse this lawyer. Quality representation and exceptional attentiveness to clients."

Brandon Leavitt

Family lawyer | Mar 17

Relationship: Opposing Counsel on matter

"Mr. Smith is a highly skilled and competent attorney. He is courteous and professional and does an excellent job zealously representing his clients. He his a credit to our profession and I am pleased to call him my friend and colleague."