Alexander D Spalding

I was referred to Mr. Spaulding by the Bar Referral service. He was too booked up to take my case with a pending deadline, but was generous with his time to explain the issues. He didn’t charge me a fee. I was impressed with his interest, knowledge and professionalism. I would have retained him if... I wasn’t facing an impossible deadline in an appeal of attorney fees I was awarded.

My life has never been the same since I had this lawyer. He told me to file for custody when that's not what I was supposed to do I was supposed to file for temporary guardianship!!!!! So right off the bat we started off on the wrong foot because he mislead me. As soon as he found out I had mental h...ealth problems he didn't like me and he flipped to the other side. He told me to get my mental health records...made me get an appointment and go through all this stuff to get them and then when I got them he refused to submit them even though I wanted them submitted. He told me it was not a good call and he was not going to submit them and he didn't. My mental health records showed that I am in excellent shape regarding my mental health and that's why he wouldn't submit them. He flipped to their side. If you think this man is going to fight for you then just forget it if you have any mental health problems or if he decides he doesn't like you. If he likes you he will charm the pants off you but beware because if he finds out something about you that he doesn't like he will flip on you like he did me. I wouldn't agree to give this other grandmother temporary guardianship because her husband has been convicted of a crime against minor children. This lawyer did not fight for me and was completely fine with letting a women married to someone with a crime against a minor child have my grandson in her care. That's the kind of lawyer this is and that's who you're dealing with so before you make a decision to give this man thousands of dollars of your hard earned money hope you listen to my story and take it very seriously because this lawyer is not out for you. He wants your money and that's all he wants. He withdrew on me when I told him that I'm a disabled woman and I can't afford to give him another $8,000. Now I'm elderly disabled and alone with no help to see my grandson. He absolutely promised me I would get visitation and I didn't get anything. I lost my case and he did not make sure I got visitation because he withdrew on me at the end and left me alone.

I strongly recommend finding a different attorney. Alex is a super nice guy, but he is not a very good attorney. It would have been impossible to achieve a worse result then Alex achieved. He continuously demonstrated a lack of interest in the case and was unresponsive and/or distracted. His high... price was also a concern given the lack of interest/effort. My gut was screaming at me to replace him through the whole process. I had no choice but to move forward with him despite wanting to find someone else, due to spending most of my time out of the United States. Alex did NOT represent my interests in court. During the trial, Alex seemed unprepared. He was continuously fumbling through his notes like he didn’t know what to ask. The topics that I had asked him to focus on, the previous day, were not even mentioned (by Alex) during the trial (including the many times that my ex-wife broke the previous court order). Some of the questions that Alex asked me during the case made me look bad in front of the judge, as if Alex was also working for opposing party. I am unsure if Alex was intentionally trying to damage my case for if he is really just that bad of an attorney. I strongly believe that this case would have gone differently if I had halfway decent attorney. The Judge consented fully to the position of my ex-wife, considered my position to be “[unreasonable],” and ordered that I pay my ex-wife’s attorney fees ($23,000). Alex’s response was “I am your attorney, not an oracle,” meaning Alex cannot predict court outcomes. How useful is an attorney who can’t predict court outcomes? How useful is a physicist who can predict motion, a meteorologist who can’t predict the weather, or a surgeon who can predict survival rates? If Alex was my surgeon, I would have been dead on the table. Now I only get supervised visitation with my son, as if I am an ex-convict, despite never actually doing anything wrong. Please learn from my mistake and find an attorney who knows what they are doing and who is motivated to bring you the best outcome.