I contacted the Shouse Law Group for their experience in cases like mine. I met with a case manager a month before my arraignment and was given attorney John Murray's contact info. Two days before my arraignment date I had not heard back from anyone so I called the office. Zack had taken over for ...John Murray and gave me a call the day before arraignment. I thought I'd get a call right after arraignment so I'd know the timing for my case, but I didn't get a call for 3 weeks. Zack called on a Sunday evening telling me to be in court on Tuesday morning for pretrial. I like to plan ahead so this was short notice for me. However I had lots of questions that night and he took plenty of time to explain the process and expected outcomes. I had a difficult case because I cooperated too much with the police, basically ignoring my Miranda rights. Zack expected the 314 to get dropped and it was, which was a huge relief. I thought the total fine for 647a was going to be about $1600 because it was difficult to get reduced to trespassing. But my total was around $625. Probation could have been 5 years but Zack got it down to 3. Prosecution and Judge wouldn't budge on 30 days community service. Lawyer fees were expensive $3500. I was getting lawyer letters offering $700 fees for misdemeanors, but understand there may be hidden fees. I decided to go to a firm with experience in cases like mine and I'm satisfied that I did. The price is less of a reflection on Zack than the firm. Zack had a second client (DUI) in the same courtroom during my pretrial. He divided his time between us and that worried me a little but he was able to handle both of our cases with the attention needed. Overall, I would have preferred earlier/more/better communication before going into the courtroom, but in the end it didn't really matter. Zack was there at the right time and got the job done to my satisfaction.

I don't like most attorneys and I am rarely impressed by their performance. I have found that the best way to get results from an attorney is to make certain they stay fresh with the details and have a success strategy in mind. Keep their focus on you and not all the other clients they have. Somet...imes you get lucky like I did when Zach McCready was assigned my daughters case. I met Zach, on the phone, at 9PM the night before the court appearance. He was assigned to replace the firm’s attorney who suddenly was not available. With less than 12 hours before the court appearance, I had very low expectations for what a new attorney could do with so little preparation time. After a brief meeting, Zach met with the prosecution and successfully arranged a plea agreement that exceeded my original expectations. He did a great job in very difficult circumstances and I wouldn’t hesitate to use him again. The outcome saved us much heartache, thousands of dollars, and quite possible saved a career.

Mr. McCready works for the Law Offices of Thomas K. McKnight. The firm's ads claim that they can reduce debts by negotiating with creditors. I was skeptical that they could cut my debt in half. However, I did not want to file for bankruptcy for personal reasons. I was very relieved when I was cal...led within 3 weeks of joining the program that they had already negotiated a settlement of one of my credit cards for about 30% of the amount owed. I will be even more relieved when they settle my debt with Wells Fargo. However, I am very pleased with the service so far. They call me regularly to make sure that I am not being bothered by collection agencies. Almost all of the calls have stopped. The bill collectors that do call are warned that I am represented by an attorney and the calls immediately stop.