John Lewis Chalif

John is my lawyer in my PB divorce case with a lot of property and support issues. He’s very punctual, keeps me abreast at every stage and gets back to me quickly. I deal with a lot of professionals and my own client’s expect a lot, and John really stands out in an excellent way. Also, we just settle...d the case (in 2019) without an expensive trial at the courthouse. I also think his staff is great. I recommend them very highly to anyone going through this kind of thing!

Over the last 6 years, I've consulted Mr. Chalif on several complicated family law and court questions, which are typically time sensitive. He has always been very well prepared. If he does not know the answer off the top of hi head, he looks into it, cuts to the bottom line, and gets back to me with...in 24 hours or sooner!

I hired Mr. Chalif to modify an alimony settlement. He was inexpensive to retain and seemed knowledgeable. Although he seemed disconnected from the case in the beginning I went by the positive rating on the Avvo website and hired him, After getting jerked around by opposing counsel for four months... we were finally able to get a mediation date. This is where I lost my patience with him. Three weeks prior to the mediation I knew nothing more than I had six months before. We were walking into mediation completely blind because he did not follow through and get all the pertinent information from my former wife. Not only did we have very incomplete information, there were several key pieces of information he never even petitioned for (auto lease application from former wife for example). The final straw was when I asked to talk to him about the upcoming mediation I was told by the paralegal that I didn't need to speak with him and to come an hour before mediation to ask questions. All this time I was receiving bills and paying them for a very questionable number of billed hours. Communication was non existent and his level of interest in the case was less than needed to be effective counsel. The paralegal was helpful on the rare occasion I was able to get a hold of her. Most phone calls were unturned which is completely unacceptable. Throughout the process I never received information until it was filed with court. I never saw any communications between the opposing counsel and Mr Chalif and I never saw documents for approval prior to being submitted to the courts. I ended up wasting thousands of dollars and had a serious setback in my case due to his lack of attention to my case.

The Chalif law firm handled my complex divorce, alimony, custody and child support case with issues in the courts in Florida and North. They returned phone calls promptly, kept us copied on the file and responded to questions. Unlike some law firms, they did not nickel and dime us on the bill; for ex...ample, they did not charge us for every copy during a lengthy document exchange like the other side did. The billing was itemized, clear and very fair and reasonable.