Douglas Cannon Smith

I hired Mr. Smith to represent me in my NON- Contested Divorce, he didn’t have to do anything but show up and handle the paperwork because my ex husband and I had come to an agreement on everything.. this wanna be lawyer couldn’t even handle not having much to do! He wouldn’t return phone calls, emai...ls , and his staff is no better. On the day of my court hearing, the judge stated she was missing paperwork that was supposed to be submitted by his office. When this poor excuse of an office finally did get the paperwork to the judge it was scanned in upside down, my embarrassment was noticeable. After the divorce his office was supposed to submit the paperwork so I could receive my portion of what was agreed upon regarding my settlement and nothing has been done, they submitted the forms once and it wasn’t dated so I have to wait all over again. I have been trying to contact this office and no one answers, no one returns phone calls and NO ONE COMMUNICATES! I hate that I didn’t read the reviews on this firm before going through and hiring him so STAY AWAY FROM THIS FIRM PLEASE there are plenty of competent lawyers out there and he is not one of them.

I hired Mr. Smith for my divorce. I did get everything I asked for. So the reason for the bad review is this. you have your initial consultation and he promises a timeline and a price. You bring the retainer the next day and the timeline just got doubled by his assistant but they don't tell you til a...fter you hand over the money. Then it runs over budget. if the case goes exactly as planned with only 4 maybe 5 hours of court time how do you not forsee that? I paid the 80 dollar consultation fee which was supposed to be deducted from the retainer which it wasn't. You will never get a response from him even if he tells you to contact him with any questions. the front office is very rude and also has trouble making contact with clients and are very condescending. last thing was after the case was done and I got custody of my son the paperwork was never sent to the attorney general. I have paid an extra month of child support to my ex wife and my son lives with me because they didn't send the paperwork. ofcourse it was blamed on the court but since it was an attorney general case the court said my lawyer was supposed to send it in. I didn't expect to lose an extra 800 dollars after I paid out all that money for my lawyer.

Douglas Smith was only interested in the case for the initial consultation. After he received my $2,000 retainer, there was no communication between him and I. He would not return my calls or emails. Douglas is disconnected with all his client's needs. He would not see me until the day of the hearin...g, which he was not prepared for. The complaint showed up without a lawyer and she was able to get $17,000 from me because Douglas was not willing to listen to my advice. He is such a bad lawyer that the idiot open his binder with all of my financial information viewable to the complaint! After she was able to get $17,000 from me and the case was over, he sent me a bill a year later asking for $41 to review the results of the case that was finalized a year earlier. do yourself a favor and find a competent lawyer! He is lazy and Incompetent!

Everytime I called to speak to Mr. Smith about my child support case he was always so busy, never there, or with other clients at court. How busy can he be everyday? He was payed to answer questions with knowledge and truth, instead he never returned our calls and his emails were not informative. His... emails just reinstated what was already covered in the court documents I received in the mail. I also believe he never asnwer the questions in person because he had no clue and needed the extra time to research the basic questions I had. He always overcharged to show up 5 minutes before court without having a meeting with me to discuss any issues or answer any questions I may have had. I wouldnt recommened him to anyone. The office has very poor customer service, his legal assistant rarely answers the phone, it's difficult to get an appointment, and once you do get an appointment Mr. Smith will tell you he will call you to follow up on paperwork which he never does. NO ONE ever returns phone calls. Is that too much to ask. Simply put, I received subpar leagal service from an inept lawyer! Keep looking around, because his he completely got ran over in court by a plantiff with no legal representation. Finally, after the case was over and he only charged me for $800.00 of legal service. I got a final bill for $1200 exactly to take every penny of the retainer.

At first when you meet him, he seems genuine enough. The girls in the front, Monica and Susie, also put up a very welcoming front. As soon as you are locked in and you pay your retainer, and there's no going back because you spent all that money, all is lost. What was supposed to have been a "quick i...ssue" (per mr. Smith) has becoming a dragging 3+ years of bad customer service, last minute notifications, and on going reschedules (and it has nothing to do with the court or other party). Save yourself the money, the anxiety, and having to deal with snotty paralegals/receptionists who don't know the meaning of empathy and can't even answer a simple question without feeling like you are bothering them. This is the first time I ever had to hire an attorney . I should have done more shopping around and done my research and looked at reviews. The service is so terrible, it raises my blood pressure just thinking about it. I am glad my case is near it's close so I don't have to deal with insensitive, inconsiderate people who forget that it is the paying client who is providing for their salary.