Howard R Gaines

Terrible attorney. Strung me along for three months and today said "yeah, I'm just not going to take your case" on a simple uncontested custody matter. He would take my personal info, tell me he would call me back with more information, then blew me off completely. We agreed on a deposit for the cour...t costs and it's been sitting in my checking account just waiting for him to tell me how to pay him. Don't use this guy.

We were referred to this attorney by abfriend of the family. I called him and he scheduled me to call him back the next day to discuss my landlord/tenant issue which it clearly states on his website that he handles. I started to tell him about our issue and he say he doesnt handle this type of case.... There is not enough money in this case for him to even pretend to be interested. We are looking at almost $40000 if not more since we havent assessed our personal damages yet because of what the landlord has done. He tells me after telling me that I can still come in and pay him 350 dollars for a formal consult if I want. Really? So I can be out another 350. If you want an attorney who cares about the law and your case this is not the man to call.

He was my lawyer for a criminal traffic case. I initiated every call we made. He seemed to be very offputting and it felt like he was bothered to speak to me at times. He did not ask pertinent questions to know the facts of the case which clearly showed in trial. He was over ten minutes late to trial..., and it was clear that he was not prepared to represent me or my best interests. I lost the case, to which after he sold his will services. No thanks.

I have utilized Howard Gaines on 2 occasions (both involving speeding tickets). The 1st ticket was a Criminal Speeding Ticket which was reduced to a regular speeding & then we were able to get empathy from the judge as the reason I was speeding was that my daughter was stranded & the weather was incl...ement. The judge also has a daughter & that helped in the end result, but Howard was precise on the timing in approaching the bench & was not overly aggressive with the judge which allowed my Criminal Speeding Ticket to go to a regular speeding ticket & then further reduced to allow me to waive the ticket by going to defensive driving school (which is usually unheard of when you receive a criminal speeding ticket). My 2nd speeding ticket was a regular ticket & I was not so lucky on that court appearance as the Motorcycle Cop was very good in his responses & I could have done a better job with specific evidence from the intersection in question, so not really Howard's fault for the loss. I see a lot of negative reviews & I must say that I too experienced initial doubts in dealing with Howard as he would seem to be too busy to let me say everything that was on my mind, & we did get off on a 'rocky start', but once we understood each others personalities, the bottom line is that Howard did his job that he was hired to do, & did it well. I do think that Howard could be a little more patient with letting his clients speak freely or even the people doing an initial consultation. I think Howard probably has too much on his plate at times & that may be why he seems 'short' with some people. As for the remark someone else made about his dress & appearance, I always thought Howard was dressed appropriately for the hot Phoenix climate & when we went to court he was all business with a nice suit.

I hired Howard to defend a criminal traffic ticket. Initially, he was rapid to respond and seemed interested in taking on my case. After he was hired and paid, it became extremely clear that he was only interested in taking my money. I had to initiate every call with him. Even after sending all r...elevant documents and speaking multiple times, he still did not know the facts of my case. It was clear that he was completely uninterested in defending me and my rights. In addition, he spoke to me completely condescendingly and refused to defend me on a charge related to the traffic ticket. I lost both because I did not have adequate representation. I am so disappointed I did not read his reviews prior to hiring him. Do not make the mistake I did. There are plenty of good attorneys out there and this is not one of them.