Debra R Schoenberg

Dear Ms. Schoenberg, please stop collecting retainers and charging clients for future services that are ambiguous and vague in nature and without any proof of delivering them other than your associates claiming they've spent the time researching something with nothing to show for it. Most of us in ou...r lines of work need to have evidence of completing our work. After 8-10 months on my case and switching me between several associates (one left amid case), AND raising hourly rates, Schoenberg firm failed to close my case. The firm charges bizarre file maintenance fees in the 100s of dollars. What file maintenance? Aren't we in a digital age? Are you rereading old email threads and charging me for your lack of retention? After receiving a referral and high recommendations for this firm, I am extremely disappointed at how nonchalantly they handled and drained out my funds without much to show for it other than occasional consultation hours and a single court appearance on my behalf. We are talking over $30K to do that, and most of the work was actually done before the firm was retained, by a different attorney. Rather than getting me out of the waters, S. firm coasted along and slowly drained me out, collecting hefty retainers. Not a single discussion went without some mention of additional funds to be supplied. That's how much they care in your down moments. Finally they pulled out of the case citing inability to work without another retainer despite the case being on hold for other reasons. In addition, the staff can be rather rude, and it doesn't appear to be as highly qualified as Debra's good name would suggest. I feel ripped off and misled. Debra has only spoken to me twice, first to entice me to retain the firm, and one other time to demand a payment.

Please do not hire this law firm. My late fiancé and I hired this firm to Set Aside his divorce in CA and to keep his son but ended up losing both. The firm was expensive and sloppy. We started with Debra, transferred to Joanne funke then Eric Glasser, each time we had to repeat the process of explai...ning our situation and providing numerous documents over again. A complete waste of money and time. Finally, despite the fact that I reminded Eric to File the Motion to Set Aside Judgement 13 times, he refused and we missed our Statute of Limitations and ultimately lost case because of it. When we finally went to trial with a different law firm, the judge agreed we had a solid case but could not hear our argument because Schoenberg, the first law firm we hired, did not file the motion to set aside judgement for us and we missed our statute of limitation.

While I believe Ms. Schoenberg herself is a gifted attorney and salesperson, I found her staff to be less so. Here's a specific example of why you may be better served by another firm. This is one of many, many examples of the firm's extraordinary billing practices. Tip of the billing iceberg. M...y response was filed via fax, was filed incorrectly by the staff at Schoenberg, and consequently rejected by the court. Here are the billing entries I received, for the fax filing itself. The entries aren't for the content of the filing, but just the admin of getting it to the court. I was charged for the work even when the work wasn't done correctly, and ultimately the fax wasn't accepted. The work was done by a paralegal, who charged $295 per hour. The work was spread out over four days, and billed in increments of .1 hour. 1. emails to and from admin staff regarding fax filing 2. email to [XX] regarding fax filing 3. emails to and from [XX] regarding the same 4. draft Fax Filing Form 5. prepare Proof of Service (for fax filing) 6. email to [XX] regarding fax filing Proof of Service's to Alameda Court 7. draft additional fax filing form 8. Email from [XX] regarding fax filing confirmation 9. fax filing proof to client file 10. (2) emails to Court regarding fax filing from last week and serving courtesy copies of supplemental declaration 11. Call to Swift Attorney Service regarding status of court filing (x2) 12. call to Alameda fax file contact line (x3), 13. emails to and from [XX] regarding the same 14. emails to and from [XX] regarding Register of Actions 15. Email from [XX] regarding emailing department regarding fax filed responsive declaration not showing on Register of Actions 16. email to [XX] regarding forwarding email sent to department on x/xx To no one's surprise, the retainer was exhausted quickly. You will get better representation for your money elsewhere.

My review is not specific to Debra herself but to the attention and service I have received from the staff assigned to my case. I had to register an out of state co parenting plan with the state of California. I was told that a 5K retainer would be enough to execute this, from 5K we went to 6.5K an...d finally to 8.5K. Still today I do not know if the plan is officially registered or not but the accounting group keeps asking for money. Throughout the process I think the communication was scarce and the paralegal assist was poor as the documentation was prepared wrongly the first time and my counterpart was served without me being able to give them the heads up causing unnecessary stress. I would not recommend.

Unfortunately, the negative reviews echo my experience. I have dealt with a lot of attorneys over the past four years so I understand how it works. Schoenberg is a magnificent sales person and that is all. The firm appears to spend a lot of time dotting i's and crossing t's but unfortunately that att...ention to detail applies mostly to the billing, which is frequent and copious. The retainer is hefty and it is expended in record time. The requests for further retainers are always accompanied by the statement that you, the client, have already run through the retainer and owe several thousands. Panicked, you quickly scramble to come up with more money because you've been told that work can not go on unless you pay the retainer immediately. But you do it because, for you, this case is incredibly important. That is the weakness the firm exploits. Favorite catch phrase "there is a lot of work to be done." But that work seems to be mostly reviewing emails and "researching." Apparently your case is so confusing that large amounts of expensive research must be done. How confusing is family law really, though? It's pretty cut and dry. It's just that we, the lay person, are not lawyers and we're scared and emotional and desperately want help. Don't be preyed upon! I take responsibility for my poor decision in hiring this firm and continuing to pay retainers I could not afford until I finally pulled the plug. Nothing was accomplished other than that I now have a deeper understanding of predatory practice and my own naivety. A costly and discouraging lesson.