James Jeffery Peters

First of all I'd like to thank Avvo very much for this service, your service is definitely great and appreciated, this web site is really helping the public through these valuable feedbacks so one can make an informed decision before hiring an attorney. Mr. James J. Peters just cost me a little fo...rtune in case expenses without accomplishing anything for me. He would ignore all your attempts to communicate with him after the initial contact, consequently he will know only a superficial idea about your case and you will lose much of the grounds for your case because he does not file your time-sensitive claims in a timely manner, he does not do due diligence of researching the case and presenting all and the important evidence that you have therefore your case would lose much of its strength and it will be just a botched claim, and if you complain about his botched work he would threaten that he will withdraw from the case that he already ruined. At the mediation conference he appeared as though he was working for the other party in an effort to end the case as early as possible so he can get his contingency cut. if you've signed with the Attorney already, maybe you already have seen some of the problems of this lawyer yourself, but for those who haven't hired him yet, here is a summary of my painful experience with Mr. James J. Peters who represented me in my employment case: 1. The initial call with this attorney seemed good, I told him my case, he seemed to have a genuine concern and belief in my case, I signed a retainer agreement, and I thought from the way he spoke I would be in good hands, I was very wrong unfortunately. 2. I provided all the needed information and the evidences, which included straightforward written ADMITTANCE by my former manager that he discriminated against me which I obtained legally from the HR department of my former employer, that document alone was enough to win my case, but in top of that I have many other evidences and witnesses that strongly support my case. 3. Six months has gone by and I have heard nothing from either James Peters or his office. I e-mail, I call and I get no return call or e-mail, he ignored all my attempts to contact him, basically ZERO communication 4. On the sixth month, I received an email from James Peters office for the first time informing me that the employer wants to settle the case through a mediator, no other details but he encouraged me to attend. 5. On the Mediation meeting date was the BIG surprise, James did not show any support for me at all, actually he sided with the other party to close the case early so he can get his cut quickly, the employer offered a low 5 figures number to settle the case and James Peters put his pressure on me to accept that but I refused and I walked away from the meeting. 6. Mr. James Peters continued his pressure on me through phone calls and emails to accept the low settlement offer from the employer, but I resisted and fired him eventually and I hired another attorney because I knew that my case was strong and is worth much more than what the employer is offering. 7. My new attorney negotiated a better settlement with the employer and got me a much higher settlement, I am not allowed to disclose the exact dollar amount, because according to the terms of the settlement it should remain confidential, but I can say it is great, it is in the high six figures range. My honest advice, avoid this lawyer at all cost, for the same case I got a high six figures settlement through another attorney, MR. James Peters did basically nothing for my case and tried to persuade me to take a fraction of that amount to settle the same case too early, this way Mr. James Peters could hide his incompetency and he could take a quick and easy 40% contingency cut. Beware, and choose your attorney wisely.

I would not recommend Mr. James J. Peters to anyone. This lawyer cost me dearly both financially and emotionally. Before I hired him, James promised me 2 things; 1. a big settlement 2. and to get my job (which I lost after more than 17 years of service) back for me. None of these has happened. I wa...s wrongfully terminated by my former employer in a clear case of discrimination and retaliation that many attorneys offered to take to defend my rights, however I unfortunately ended up with James J. Peters as my attorney after he persuaded me that he would be the best attorney for this case and it would be "a piece of cake" for him. I incurred more than $23000 in case expenses with no positive results at all, he did not accomplish anything for me and he threatened me to abandon my case and to bill me for the "hours he spent on the case" if I do not accept the small settlement amount offered by my former employer. In reality James did no work at all other than submitting a simple demand letter, he did not collect any evidence, he did not try to reach any witness, he does not even have a good understanding of my case at all, when I ask him about the details of my case he could not answer correctly, he often confused my case with other cases from his other clients, 2 times I received from him via mail official documents that did not belong to my case but to other clients' cases, in his communications with me he refers to names and incidents that are not even pertinent to my case, this is a clear indication that he did not research nor study my case well. In his Demand Letter that he sent to the employer he missed lots of crucial issues and important points and when I later asked him why he did not do that he said he "overlooked them", he said absolutely nothing in my defense during the depositions, instead he repeatedly was preoccupied with unrelated issues like talks with the opposing sides' lawyer about stock prices and a former mutual coworker's new position, James failed to show a real support for me as many of my friends observed and told me. After months of representing me, he is tried to justify his failure to accomplish any thing for my case with many excuses and lies, like "overlooking" basic facts of the case, and him being "currently busy" etc. Many of my friends (one of them is an attorney too) noticed that my attorney has done nothing for my case and does not seem to be working for my best interests, his constant efforts to persuade me to accept a miniscule amount from the employer to settle the case and close my claim permanently shows that he has no sincere intent to help me. My advice for those who are seeking legal help: shop around before you hire ANY attorney, you owe it to yourself to research and check the background of the prospective attorney before it is too late, I should have don that myself before hiring this attorney but unfortunately I did not.

My lawyer who is supposed to stand for my rights, never did. I came to this lawyer with each and every document he could possibly need: I gave him about 600 pages worth of solid evidence but he did not utilize any! James J. Peters, during the Settlement Conference, seemed so oddly disconnected, diso...riented and clueless. I was so upset and aggravated, as I saw him joking with the defendants and the employer's lawyers at my presence and during the court hearings instead of discussing my rights that have been aggressively violated. This lawyer plays the game so cowardly to put it mildly. He said after finally devoting some time to look at my case that I would "definitely win" on "at least" the harassment and retaliation and possibly more things like the many proven discrimination and harassment actions against me, then a couple of months later after I hired him he started to describe my case as "weak and let us take what the employer is offering now" This lawyer obviously seems to treat me like I'm an idiot, I feel so disrespected, lied at, helpless, deceived, not to mention feeling so deprived and so alone in this process. This guy and his firm play in a very dirty way. I feel tormented by him, threatened beyond any ability to defend myself from my lawyer!! He uses his power over me to intimidate me. He does not seem to care about the needs or wants of his clients, he is not even willing to communicate interpersonally with them. If I could give James Peters a negative 100 Stars rating I would. I had heard bad things about lawyers before but I had doubts about them then (like some lawyers are deceiving etc.), this lawyer proved to me exactly that. Now after dealing with this attorney for months I'm paralyzed from even calling him again. James could not even tell me his grounds to call my case "weak" after he described it as "very strong" a couple of months earlier!. He seems not to know many details of my ordeal that I included in my reports and documents. He often tries to appear preoccupied by trivial things unrelated to the main issue in an effort to distract the attention from the legitimate complaints. It is baffling to other attorneys and to all my friends that my lawyer is still clueless about many basic and essential facts of my case, all these folks are baffled since I provided all the evidence long time ago. To me it is so obvious that I have been sold out for a quick cash, first I have been lured by this lawyer to file a claim against the employer with the usual sales talk about how he will "stand for your rights and get you a big settlement", once you're hooked, you will hear a different song with a totally different tune of early settlement for a pittance, why should James work hard on the case? to him there is no need at all, he will do a minimal work then he will want you to settle early and take his 40% contingency fee cut, shake your hand and call out "Next!" to the cases in his In Box, this way he can make money with the least possible effort and time, by the time you discover that you have been tricked it will probably be too late to get out of the trap, beware James is so skilled in playing this game, so avoid this guy or at least beware of his tricks.

Going through discrimination litigation is overwhelming, daunting, and, at times, paralyzing. Jim was not only stellar in the legalities and strategies of my case, he had the awareness of the impact on me mentally and emotionally. He has a tenacity and creativity in getting to the crux of an is...sue circumventing and putting to rest in short order the "distractions" that the Defense team would implement to waste time (and money!). Jim brings to his clients all that we deserve and need in an attorney.