Anthony John Dicola

Being represented by Dicola is terrifying. He never explained anything to me about what was going on. Once he had my money he didn't seem to care at all. I hired him to represent me in a felony case involving a substantial amount of police misconduct. Although I asked him many times how much his fee ...was he wouldn't tell me until the day before court. He then had me sign an agreement that said he earned all of the fee upon receipt. He wouldn't agree to refund anything if the case was dismissed without him having to do any work, and at that point I didn't have time to get another lawyer. It got worse from there. After Dicola got my money he started talking down to me like I was guilty. When I asked him to get the evidence that showed I was innocent and that the police had lied he kept saying he would but he never did. All the while he kept treating me like I was guilty and even defending the arresting officer saying he was a good cop and he wouldn't do anything improper. He actually had me hire an investigator who had just quit her job working with the same police who lied and fabricated the charges against me. The investigator got really aggressive and accusatory with me, then proceeded to produce a report that harmed my defense and helped cover for the police. I would have fired Dicola but he took all my savings and wouldn't refund it. I felt trapped with a lawyer who seemed more interested in covering for his friends at the police and prosecutor's office than defending me. And scary things kept happening. I had a voicemail on my phone that corroborated my version of events and showed that the police had lied. After I gave Dicola the password to my voicemail the message mysteriously disappeared. When I called Dicola to ask him about it he got real shifty and said he had to get off the phone. I asked Dicola for the discovery in my case but he told me there was none. I noticed, however, that he seemed to know facts about my case that weren't in the warrant, so I called the district attorney's office and found out there was alot of discovery in my case. I went to go get it myself and when Dicola found out he started yelling at me, telling me to, "stay the hell away from the district attorney's office!" and calling me names. When we went to court the first time Dicola told me to waive my right to a preliminary hearing. I didn't because it seemed like a horrible idea. The case was dismissed a couple weeks later, right before the preliminary hearing. After the charges were dismissed we went to have the criminal records sealed. I agree with the other reviewer on here that Dicola will lose a slam dunk case. My case was completely dismissed because there was no evidence of guilt, and Dicola somehow lost the hearing to have the criminal records sealed. He didn't have any of the evidence I had urged him to get and he didn't even object to the prosecutor and judge holding the hearing without us. Thanks to Dicola I got stuck with a felony charge on my record that I am innocent of. When I found out that the fee agreement Dicola had me sign was unlawful I fired him and asked for my file and an accounting statement. He didn’t give me my file until I sent him a certified letter threatening a bar complaint. Then he finally sent me my file with a letter calling me an "ingrate". I filed the bar complaint and after an investigation they put Dicola on lawyer probation. They are recovering some of my money too. If you have had a bad experience with Dicola I recommend that you lodge a complaint with the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. In my opinion he shouldn't be allowed to practice law. And one of the most perturbing things: He kept asking my girlfriend out to lunch. It creeped us out. Do NOT hire this guy! You would be better off alone.