Brian Lamar Ponder

Due to an unfortunate situation where we are trying to save our home from partition action, we retained Brian Ponder. He explained to us that he had an unconventional approach that could supplement the work that our current attorneys were doing to keep us in our home as long as possible. Ponder told ...us he could help and the process would take approximately two months. We paid a retainer of $2500 with a monthly-automated payment of $1250 until the job was completed. He promptly became unreachable after the first installment of his pay was submitted. My husband and I would call him 3 or 4 times a day and his answering service would ensure that we never reached him. He rarely responded to emails and never responded to calls. During the month of May he was reached out to countless times to no avail. As we began nearing the second month of our engagement with him and we realized the negligent and unresponsive service we were receiving would continue, we stopped his automated payment at the suggestion of the neighbor who referred us. The neighbor (a fellow client) mentioned speaking with him about how unacceptable it was for him to drop the ball after he has been paid and the importance of being responsive. Upon realizing that the automated payment was terminated, he began contacting us via email and text, and threw together a sloppy counterclaim and filed it off the cuff. As it was near time for his next payment installment, he resurfaced after a month of absence. This was a month that we had pre-paid and received no services during. We had an impending court appearance in which he said that he should not attend or participate along with our existing counsel and to “just let them handle it”. We thought that was odd that he did not want to engage with our existing counsel on such a critical milestone given that he expressed his ability to add significantly to our case and supplement the work being done by our attorneys. The counter claim finally filed on 6/3/15 was found to be a frivolous document that only worsened our case and our position in this negotiation for our home. It put us in jeopardy of sanctions from the court, as well as our prior counsel. Then, when the backlash from his shoddy work ensued, he wrote a document he termed a ‘Notice of Withdrawal of Counsel’ that we learned is a document that does not even exist in law. He simply was trying to remove himself from the situation after he had created a serious issue that could penalize all of us financially. We went to his office to discuss the many issues regarding his work and his absence during the time he was retained to be working on our behalf. He filed a police report indicating that we had violated his home and other indications that were downright untrue. It is outrageous that someone could be so abusive to his or her own clients. He deemed our visit an invasion to his home stating that we entered his home uninvited, however his office is in his home and he DID invite us in. He says we entered without his consent – if he did not consent, why did he open the door? We did not force entry; we were with our sleeping four year-old daughter and the neighbor who referred us - he asked us in to discuss the concerns. His negligence continued as he did not contact our existing reputable counsel as he should have. He attempted to further sabotage our case after his withdrawal stating that our existing counsel should not continue with us and sent them a copy of the police report. Our counsel was furious and informed us that the documents filed did not exist in law and that we had been taken advantage of. Our counsel is supporting opposing counsel in requesting that the court seek sanctions for his mismanagement of our case. His involvement in our case dramatically worsened our situation and real lawyers are appalled by the 'work' he did.

Brian Ponder is a knowledgable, passionate, and capable lawyer. I have sought his legal representation/advice a number of times, each time with results that exceeded my expectations. Mr. Ponder made himself readily available by phone, email, and through face-to-face consultations. He was honest abou...t any challenges that I might face and explained each step of the process. Prior to making any moves on my behalf, Mr. Ponder contacted me, making me fully aware of his intentions and the subsequent consequences. He fought on my behalf, exhibiting both compassion and persistence. I am confident in Mr. Ponder's work as a lawyer and will certainly retain his services in the future as the need arises.