Andrew George Marcellino

You will go to Andrew and he will tell you the same spiel he told me and everyone else. He will offer you a flat fee because he does not believe in charging you for every email and every minute, he spends talking to you about your case. And this will sound great, especially if you have been dealing... with lawyer fees for years like I had been. Then you will find out the hard way that he is not charging you for time spent on your case because he is not spending time on your case. I have been fighting for 50/50 custody of my daughter for 6 years. It has been a nightmare and I got it in August only to have my ex file to take my daughter to New York City to live. A move away case is extremely hard and after years of representing myself I was not about to take my chances so I found representation with Andrew. He assured me he knew the ins and outs about what would be needed for the case and what the judge “wouldn’t be interested in”. I sent him and email asking numerous questions like, Question 1 : “Should my wife or anyone be prepared to testify, should we go over questions to ask them” answer from Andrew: “no, even if the respondent has witnesses the judge will assume that each of you have people that can testify on your behalf”. What happened on the day of the trial: She had her BF and mother testify and he looked at me like I had three heads and said have your wife and mother go out of the courtroom so we can have them testify. (not prepared) Next question: Should I gather up emails about times she has not followed the court orders and things she’s said about me and done etc… Answer: “The judge will not be interested in emails. Day of trail: I spent the hour I had for recess driving home scrambling to get emails together that I needed. (not prepared) Question 3: Should you prep me for the trial will the judge ask me questions or will you talk on my behalf? Answer:” Unless is a specific question for you I will be doing most of the talking. Day of trial: You will be speaking to the judge. I was so unprepared and most of my faith was in him because anyone that has been in court knows that speaking and trying to remember all of your points and arguments is what you are paying a lawyer to articulate for you. The list goes on. I had my entire family in the courtroom and during the recess every single one of them said you can not let this guy talk on your behalf, he knows nothing, he barely cross examined her witnesses hes fumbling around his notes like hes a first year law student!!! He did not know anything because every time I tried to talk to him about past experiences, he nodded like hes heard it all before and assured me that things were not important. I told him the type of person my ex was and she will have every little thing and she will spew negativity and manipulate the judge again I was assured the judge would not be interested. She talked for 4 HOURS!!! And all the while he was staring at me like I was supposed to help him out. I can not tell you how upsetting it was. After paying Andrew the “set fee” I had one email exchange and one additional meeting with him (the first meeting I got a babysitter went to his office and he had his friend waiting to tell me he had an emergency and could not make it, we had to reschedule) . He literally looked over my response to her declaration and read her declaration, I included emails that I thought would be important but again he was uninterested and that’s the only information he had. A deer in headlights, that is what I got. He talks a good game but what a disappointment. Half way thru the day I had him step down as my lawyer because I knew in my heart that if I still had a fighting chance, he was not going to do any better than me and I had to speak for myself and my daughter. If you are looking for a lawyer please do not waste your time with this guy. You will be left to fend for yourself and out a whole bunch of money.