All One Yoga & Wellness

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2016/09/01) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted]
Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@shiltslaw.com
First, I am a big fan of [redacted]. Adult life has not been easy for [redacted] and yet she has raised two daughters, obtained an education,...

applied that education in the financial advice area, and excelled professionally as a financial advisor. In fact, at her young age, I estimate that she earns more annually than [redacted] of the private practicing attorneys in this area. I see no reason why that professional and financial success should not continue into the indefinite future. She is very intelligent and very hard-working, a great combination.
Second, while I do not understand how such a young professional as [redacted] can earn such a substantial income from selling annuities and other financial products to the elderly and other interested individuals, I do understand how attorney fees are generated and how clients are billed for the efforts exerted on their behalf by the attorney they have selected. In [redacted]'s case, I have a signed engagement letter dated November 10, 2014 where she agreed to pay me a specific hourly rate and to pay me monthly within 30 days from the receipt of monthly billings. That engagement letter identifies that interest will be charged "at the rate of ** per month [redacted] per annum) until paid in full." I maintained specific time records for my efforts on [redacted]'s behalf. [redacted] received monthly billings detailing the services I provided each day, the amount of time I spent providing the service, and the charge associated there with. That billing procedure continued throughout my representation of [redacted] except for about three months where I held the billings with her consent because she was so distressed at receiving the monthly billings. The hope was that by not sending these monthly billings to her, the stress that she experienced from seeing the charges associated with my representation of her in her highly contested divorce case would be reduced.
I strongly contest [redacted]'s assertion that the attorney fees I charged for my services were unnecessary, unwarranted, or egregious. I have these monthly statements with the detailed billing information. On at least one or two occasions, I offered to [redacted] for her to go through the billing statements and identify the charges for the services that she found to be too high or unreasonable, or whatever such that she thought the charge should not have been made. Except for her mischaracterization of the mediation letter of August 6, 2015, [redacted] has not identified any such service or charge. Though she claims in her complaint against me that I charged for reading an email and that I double billed on many occasions, she never identified that criticism to me or any instance of double billing.
[redacted] can pay the outstanding attorney fees and is deliberately choosing not to do so.The accrual of the agreed to interest charges is appropriate while I await the outcome of her divorce which she and her new counsel chose to delay when they agreed to the continuance of the February 2016 trial dates.
More important than the detail of the billing, my office and I worked extremely hard for [redacted]. I have three full banker boxes of letters, emails from [redacted], pleadings, court orders, exhibits, appraisals, bank records, business records, tax returns, etc. All three of these boxes were well organized and available for settlement conferences, mediation, and/or trial. I made these three boxes available to [redacted]'s new counsel. When he saw the quantity of the work and the organization of the boxes, he was very complementary and indicated that he would try and work with [redacted] on the fee issue because he understood the effort that had gone into my representation of her to that point in time.On 2 occasions if I recall, I offered to have another attorney review the billing and make a determination of the appropriateness of the charges and I even believe I offered to pay for that review.Please remember that this all happened over a year ago so my memory may be slightly off. Anyway, [redacted] never elected to take me up on the offer, instead choosing to wait a year and then file this complaint.
Third, I direct your attention to the August 6, 2015 letter I wrote to [redacted] indicating that I would be withdrawing as her lawyer. That letter explains some of the history of the case and some of the discussions regarding her complaints about the billing and my services in general. I incorporate that letter into my response. Specifically I direct your attention to her criticism of my mediation letter that she characterized as a page and a half for which I billed her two hours. That letter was 3 1/2 pages, was incredibly detailed, was incredibly worthwhile to the mediation process from our perspective, and undoubtedly took two hours or more to draft. If I recall, I also spent a lengthy number of hours fine-tuning a balance sheet that demonstrated the growth of the marital estate just during the short term of this marriage at well over [redacted] This balance sheet was necessary for the mediation effort and for any trial that might need to occur if the mediation was unsuccessful, which it was.
Fourth, I did not delay her case. In fact, I attempted to keep this [redacted] divorce case on the fast track and before I withdrew as [redacted]'s counsel, had arranged for a three day trial to occur in February 2016. [redacted]'s new counsel and her husband's counsel agreed to continue that trial for reasons unknown to me.
Fifth, [redacted] complains that I quit her case because she questioned my billing. The letter of August 6, 2015 explains why I stopped being her attorney. It also explains that the timing for my withdrawal as her attorney was very convenient for her and not untimely as she misrepresented in her complaint. The next hearing in her case was October 8, two months away. Her trial was a full six months away. Her assertion that I left her in the lurch timing wise is another gross exaggeration on her part, much the same as her characterization of the egregious nature of the attorney fee charges. Also it's important to note that while I had scheduled an appointment with her before August 6 to answer discovery questions that were outstanding, she turned that conference into a criticism of my services and attorney fee charges. This was deliberate on her part as she was secretly recording that conference. Assuming that she has not edited the recording, I have no problem whatsoever with the entire contents of that conference being shared with the world. She came to that conference with an agenda and hoped to somehow secretly record some confession or misstatement on my part regarding my representation of her or my attorney fee charges. I stand by what I said in that conference but more importantly, her secretly recording a conference in which she had her own agenda, speaks volumes as to the disintegration of the attorney-client relationship. I rarely yell. I don't dispute this assertion in her complaint. All this means to me is that [redacted] succeeded in her agenda that day by inciting and angering me to act out of character. I also don't doubt that I suggested to her that she could write off [redacted] from the attorney fee bill, not because the attorney fee charges were not warranted, but rather because I continued to want to be her attorney and assist her in obtaining a very fair resolution of her very unpleasant divorce case. I will defer to the exact language from the recording but I don't feel bound by that gratuitous offer that I made in that secretly recorded conference. It was my effort to keep an unhappy client and continue my representation of her and since that did not work because of her personal actions toward me, I should be paid for the services I provided to her and the interest should continue to accrue consistent with the written engagement letter. I don't intend to seek collection of the fees that are owed to me until her divorce case is concluded which is consistent with my statements to her. Because she has an ability to pay the attorney fees and has chosen not to, the interest should continue to accrue.
Thank you for providing a forum for this discussion even if the complaint is unfounded. Because of the ongoing nature of [redacted]'s divorce, I am reluctant to open the 3 banker boxes of info to a third party to review without [redacted]'s consent but they are here at he office and preserved for that review regardless of the forum [redacted] selects.
I genuinely wish [redacted] the best but she owes all of the fees and accruing charges.
[redacted]
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2016/09/11) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I do not accept Mr. [redacted] response to be satisfactory in the least. As clearly shown by his response that he does admit to stating he would take [redacted] off the billing, and he also states and does not deny that he stated no payment would be due until the finalization of the divorce. He admits these items, yet does not address correcting them or clearing up the problems that I have addressed. He instead tries to turn this situation around on me, the client and talk about how much money I make, which in itself is a violation of my confidentiality, and trust that I had put in him as my attorney. What I make should have no relevance to proper billing on his part and it is discrimination to focus on the fact that I am a female, and that the amount of money I make should have a bearing o him giving me proper billing, and following through on his word to me. He also admits in his response that he yelled at me, but blames this on me the client as well. I am of the belief that we are each responsible for our own behavior and reactions, a client asking a valid question about fair billing should not lead him to become angry and yell.
To the point of my claim, Mr. [redacted] gave me unfair billing, offered to take [redacted] of the cost, and also offered to not collect anything until the end of the case with no interest. I would like to see a resolution to the billing, so that I may put closer and remedy this situation. But he is not even addressing the real issues.
Thank you,
[redacted]
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2016/09/13) */
In our last conference, as a part of my desire to ease [redacted]'s intense concern over the rising attorney fees and to continue on with her representation because of the progress that had been made in the case and my sense of how the case was likely to proceed, I suggested that she audit the billing entry by entry. When that didn't seem to appease her, I gratuitiously suggested she just discount the bill, not because the fees were not earned but just so we could go forward with her case working cooperatively together. [redacted] selected neither of the options I offered. Later that day and that evening I reflected on the meeting with [redacted] and concluded that in my 37 years of law practice I had never been confronted and mistreated by a client that I was genuinely trying to help as I had been by [redacted] earlier that day. I decided to end my relationship with [redacted] and sent her the letter she attached to her initial complaint.
It was only later that I learned that [redacted] had her own secret agenda when she came to my office that day. She was hoping for some confession of sorts from me regarding the fees so she steered the conversation and secretly recorded it. Again, to the best of my knowledge this is the first time a client has ever secretly recorded any conference with me. Assuming the recording has not been altered, I said what I said that day and so did [redacted] who intentionally tried to provoke me. That does not happen in a quality Attorney-Client relationship.
I offered [redacted] accomadation on her concern over the fees for the reasons set forth in my letter to her and my responses to this complaint. [redacted] did not accept. [redacted] instead later offered a ridiculious dollar amount to me in satisfaction of the entire outstanding balance,which I did not accept.
Since there was no agreed upon modification of the fee arrangement, we both go back to the engagement letter that [redacted] signed which provides for payment of my fees with interest.There is zero support for her claim that the fees were not earned by me in my effort to do the best I could for her.I even offered for her and her present attorney to select another attorney to audit the billing to determine if a charge was excessive for the work performed or if the work performed was unnecessary so the charge was likewise. I offered to pay for the attorney to do the audit. [redacted] did not accept this offer either but instead chose to file this complaint. [redacted] is just another individual who wants high quality service but doesn't want to pay. She needs to pay all her lawyer fees with my office.
[redacted]
Thank you for providing your forum for the resolution of disputes. I am sorry that the forum was not successful in this instance.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 12, 2016/09/20) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
As you can see Mr. [redacted] is unwilling to address the unfair billing or his agreement to take [redacted] off the bill and not collect any payment until the divorce is over. He continues to place blame on me his client, for yelling at me. We are adults and behave according to our character, no one can blame another person for yelling and screaming. All I did was question Mr. [redacted] on some specific examples of billing that I felt was unfair & he proceeded to yell at me and tell me he would take the [redacted] off the bill if it would get me to shut up. This is unfair treatment, and unfair business practices.