Michael Joseph Deniro

My experience with Mr. DeNiro was so profoundly disappointing that it’s compelled me to share my experience in hopes that others won’t feel as fooled as I do. After being assured that my case would likely be resolved informally, I provided Mr. DeNiro with a written account of my situation so he c...ould start off with sending a demand letter. He then drafted the letter, the majority of which mirrored my own account, word for word. Just a couple of days after sending the letter and before the allotted response time had elapsed, I was shocked when he told me he didn’t think we’d receive any reply. I asked what we could do next, and he said he’d never experienced a lack of response to such a letter before, and suggested a lawsuit as the only next step. Then he told me that he wouldn’t represent me in the lawsuit himself and I’d need to find another attorney. I was utterly baffled, as I was under the impression that he’d be representing me through the process no matter what, and up until that point he’d seemed so sure of himself that we could resolve this without a lawsuit. The final straw was when I got my bill. Almost all of my retainer had simply vanished, with Mr. DeNiro “block billing” nearly five hours of work for just a letter. This was incredibly surprising as there was no legal research required, and the letter mostly consisted of my own words. Block billing is a frowned upon billing practice where all time spent is lumped together under a single time entry without a description of what was done. This meant that I have no way of figuring out he managed to spend so much time on one simple task. I respectfully asked him if an adjustment to the charges was possible, stating that I couldn’t figure out how he’d spent nearly five hours on this. I suggested a reduction to two hours, which I believe was a more reasonable although even that figure seemed to be a lot of time for what was needed to send the letter. I also kindly asked that, given the extremely time-sensitive nature of my situation that any communications he might receive from the opposing party be promptly shared with me, because without prompt attention to a reply, I risk suffering even more severe damages than I’ve already incurred. Instead of being understanding of my request or offering a description of how he’d managed to spend all this time, Mr. DeNiro just replied that he wasn’t changing the bill, and said that if he stopped representing me that this included him not needing to forward communications to me as requested. This experience has left me feeling utterly swindled. In a matter of just a few days I’m out almost all of my retainer for a letter that I could have sent myself (seeing as I wrote most of it), and now I’m back to square one looking for another attorney. Prospective clients beware.

I hired Michael for a case involving grade appeals and disqualification. He charged me on a flat-fee basis. Perhaps this was because he did not work on an hourly basis- I felt that he was inattentive to my matter. He would make mistakes on the appeals and letters he wrote on critical facts. Perhaps t...his is because he does not have an assistant-- but my experience with Michael was not satisfactory and my case failed.