The Law Offices Of Robert M Fox

Review: I paid this lawyer 350.00 Towards a bankruptcy filing. I'm not able to pay the fee in full and advised the lawyer I would not be able to continue with my case due to financial difficulties, the lawyer refuses to refund my payment because he states he spent 1 hour preparing paper work for my case. However that is incorrect he spent about 20 minutes with me on my lunch hour to do my paperwork and advised me that after 700 was paid toward the balance of 1900.00 he would file the case. No case has been filed and the lawyer refuses to refund me my money. He never explained to me there would be a retainer fee or a breakdown of the fees associated with the 1900. When I asked why this was not explained to me he stated no one gives a break down, when I advised him I saw another lawyer at a Bankruptcy firm that did give a break down of the fees, he then proceed to continue with he spent a certain amount of preparing paperwork for me and that was not free. I asked the lawyer so for 20 minutes which is what it took for him to ask me questions and print a petition which was not signed until about 3 weeks ago it cost 350.00 I ask what is the retainer fee and he said the lawyers fee is 1500.00 and the court fees were about 400.00. I said if I'm not moving forward why am I paying you 350.00 and he again proceeded to say it is not free for him to print paper and file a case that he did not file and he spent time doing, this and that is not free. he then went on to say my paper work needs to be done over anyway, because I got a raise last month an I may not even qualify to file, but he is not going to check again until I pay him in full. I asked again why am I paying you if you have to do paperwork all over and you don't know if I even qualify he then stated because his services are not free and if and when I have all the money he can check to see if I qualify and if I don't then I don't have to pay him anymore but I'm not getting any refund because his services are non refundable. I told him he did nothing.Desired Settlement: I want either some or all my money back. This lawyer is a Fraud, he did not do anything for me his incompetent legal aide printed the petition and schedules. He spent 20 minutes with me doing a free consult, and another 20 minutes asking me questions and printing paperwork. The 4 times I went to his office I met with the secretary not the Lawyer himself. I met the lawyer in person twice for 20 minutes and he is charging me 350.00 for that.

Business

Response:

My retainer agreements read as following:

"We will represent you in connection with your Chapter 7 Bankruptcy filing. You have agreed to pay a non-refundable initial retainer fee in the amount of $1500."

My retainers also reflect that my hourly rates is 375.00 per hour. My initial consultations are always free of charge.

I met with with [redacted] for at least 35 minutes in order to personally prepare her petition and schedules. I had subsequent phone conversations with her as well in order to add creditors. My office was in contact with her in order to complete her schedules in an accurate fashion, as she had additional creditors which she wished to add.

I was also flexible and offered [redacted] a payment plan. I told her that I needed at least half of the retainer upfront, prior to filing ( and the other half due within a month) She only paid 350 and refused to pay anymore, or cooperate with my office.

My office scheduled multiple appointments with [redacted], but she failed to show up for any of them, in order to complete her paperwork. I explained to her that the information in her petition and schedules was time sensitive and that any delay would cause me to have to re-calculate and update certain figures, including but not limitted to the means test. My retainer agreement states:

Further, in the specific case where we partially or fully complete your Petition and Schedules and you delay the filing of your case either intentionally or unintentionally, we reserve the right to charge additional fees. Once again, absent extenuating circumstances, such as a pending foreclosure, we will not file your case until your Petition and Schedules are completed in its entirety. Please keep in mind that the information contained in your Petition and Schedules is time sensitive and must be updated on a monthly basis, if not sooner.

In short, I spent close to an hr with her in total and deserve to be compensated as per my hourly rate at the very least.