Cordell Cordell
Reviews and Complaints

After being told 2,000 dollars would cover my costs. Since I filed all paper work myself. Being given hope that with them I would win in court. On my own I didnt have chance. I was totally torn apart by her attorney, in court. My attorney was way outclassed. A warrant being issued for my arrest. After I specificaly asked my attorney If I had to pay this 500.00. My attorney said no. 8,000.00 dollars later I settled for 14,000.00 dollars. a far cry from dismissal. this law firm is scandelous! Anything to get you in the door and run the bill up. Please, go elswere.

BEWARE! Almost $20,000 in debt later, after a year of aggravation and stress, we can confidently say we would NEVER HIRE OR REFER CORDELL & CORDELL. Our first attorney mishandled our case (seems to be a recurring theme with this firm) and suddenly left the firm after we had paid $10K. We received a measly $1,000 credit. The negotiation for the credit was horrible. They do not care about their clients- it's all about the money! (The billing department was completely inept! We fought with them for months - they have no idea what they are doing!) Our second Cordell attorney tried, but we eventually lost our case and an additional $10k. Our experience with this firm was a nightmare!

Absolutely horrible law firm. I worked w/ the Philadelphia office and my attorney racked up the bill and did hardly any work, aside from a lot of emails and very little paperwork. She kept spinning her wheels with regards to moving my case along and I felt like I was trapped in this endless loop of her buying time and charging me for it. In the end, I got nothing accomplished while working with Cordell & Cordell. I can't suggest strongly enough to look elsewhere for attorney services. In addition, for cases as sensitive as divorce, Cordell & Cordell has a factory feel to them. Divorces just fall into their assembly link production: reel you in and then charge, charge, charge. Take the time and look elsewhere, I would have saved about $10,000 if I did.

In a state that has a history of stacking the deck against fathers and men, it is a tall order just to get to an "even" point to negotiate potential outcomes. Unfortunately, not much has changed. My attorney at Cordell Law worked hard to get me to a point where I could negotiate. She protected the interest of my child and my assets. Like most cases, we had mediation to resolve and settle our matters. I was kept informed and was well advised throughout the process. And unlike some, unfortunately, I understand the history of the SC Family court system. It has come long way but has a long way to go. I appreciate my lawyer helping make sure my situation was treated and handled in an expedient and fair manner. I didn't expect to hit a grand slam in Family court but a stand-up double was not a bad result.

I see C&C is rearing its ugly head again advertising on local radio programs.DO NOT HIRE THESE ATTORNEYSThere billing is excessive and at $300.00 an hour a phone call would cost you $50.00. Do not be mesmerized by the carefully crafted ad from Joe. They didn't help and cost me over $17,000.00 and they were not the ones to get me divorced. I had to leave C&C they would have left me homeless. *DO NOT HIRE THESE ATTORNEYSTheir main objective is to submit "status reports" "documents" and so on infomation I didn't need to know,that is where the excessive fees come from. I could write a short story about C&C carefully orchestrated theater to extract every cent I had; well-acted by ALL employees My ex-wife's lawyer had C&C on the ropes from the very beginning. In my opinion,C&C lawyers were incompetent,arrogant,inexperienced and did now defend in court. Financially I am having problems because of this wreck of a divorce. *DO NOT HIRE THESE ATTORNEYSThis is not sour grapes this is reality.

Being generous with one star! "A partner men can count on" is completely FALSE! Save your money & do NOT hire Cordell & Cordell, unless you want to do majority of the paperwork, get overly charged for their piss-poor service, and essentially lose your case because they cannot properly provide facts before the judge! Mainly got bent over twice -- once by Cordell & Cordell and next by the judge because the lawyer did NOT do her job properly! Extremely clear-cut divorce case - NO property, child custody dispute - just sold house & ex got a huge 50% payoff and ex's lawyer still got her a nice monthly alimony payment for three years! If you want to win your divorce case, provide your soon-to-be ex Cordell & Cordell's contact information - you will be sure to win! They should be sued for false advertisement on the radio! "A partner men can count on" --- what a joke! I would have done better watching Divorce Court on TV than hiring them & getting the lawyer I received in the Omaha, NE area!

I came to Cordell and Cordell in good faith seeking help in getting a divorce. They advertised as a firm that helped men, in particular, with divorce. I explained my situation and what I was looking to get done. They took my case and then proceeded to ineffectively perform their duties while constantly billing me. The case dragged on on, even after settlements were made from the other side. My attorney Mary Wise Phillips barely communicated with me and when she did it was only ineffective and expensive communication. She only communicated to bill me. Once I ran out of money, she and her bosses tried to gang up on me in a phone conference and tell me I was just seeing things the wrong way. I eventually found more effective representation. Mary still continued to bill me after I informed her that I no longer wanted her to represent me. She told me that she was still legally my attorney according to the courts, which was not true. End Cordell and Cordell took advantage of me and never intended to help me with me divorce in an effective way.

It was the best decision I ever made to hire Cordell & Cordell in St. Louis County, MO. Unfortunately, they weren't my first choice. I originally used a lawyer friend of the family and was losing badly in court even though I had a P.I. that proved my ex was cheating. She ( the ex ) filed all kinds of contempt of court motions and restraining orders against me that my current attorney didn't know how to handle. Once I hired Cordell & Cordell things turned around very quickly. Not only did I get half of everything in the bank, her 401k and her IRA. I also received 75% of real estate property because of her marital misconduct. I received alimony too. I also won all 7 contempt of court motions that she filed against me, and the restraining order was found not to have merit. Divorce is expensive regardless of any attorney you hire especially if it's contested and cheating is involved but, I had numerous attorneys working together on my case and combining their experience and knowledge for an excellent outcome. I highly recommend Cordell & Cordell

Horrible, the council they provided was either overworked or just new. She lost emails and I had to go into their office, and I got charged for this, to give the same information that I provided before. I would give an answer to what I would want to happen and get 3 emails back to "confirm" my choice and discuss other options and charged everytime of course. Twice she showed up at court last minute with zero time to discuss what was about to happen. Stated that the actual divorce complaint would be filed and dicussed of which it never was. After 10k, and 4 years they will not withdraw from the case even after I called and asked them to do so. She stated she could have the divorce finished and file paperwork in a day. She would lower her hourly rate to the consultation rate of $100 and finish it for me. When I said great she then went on and said I would have to put another retainer fee of $2,500 just in case it took extra work. I am assuming that meant if they lost an email and needed to dip their hands back into the cookie jar. Dealing with this firm was actually worse than dealing with my wife who is still not my ex after 4 years. They will not motion to remove themselves as council so I can attain another firm to finish this! THE WORST! Do not deal with the firm in

BEWARE I am just leaving a review in warning to anyone who might be considering this legal firm. After I agreed to their 125$ consultation I discovered that appointment was nothing but an intake appointment and in order to even speak to an attorney I need to pay an 1800$ retainer. I do feel that this was misleading but paid the retainer anyway. I was assured I would be contacted by the attorney within 24 hours. I was also told they were 150$ an hour. Turns out she was 250$ hourly and when she did get back to me three days later, she proceeded to go over the details of someone else's case. I was not impressed. We determined in our 10 minute conversation that I was not in need of legal assistance at this time. She agreed to write me a closing letter, and said that the remainder of my retainer fee would be refunded to me. This was around the 8th of March. I didn't get the closing letter till around the 24th, and my retainer was not refunded until April 15. Needs less to say I was not happy. The best part is they also mistakenly charged my credit card 2,150$ An oops that know one admits to making. I am STILL waiting on a refund for that amount, even though they were completely in error to have charged me. I cant tell you how badly organized this place is, no one really seems to understand what is going on or how to fix any problem. They are the LAST people I would want representing me in court. Its ridiculous! I'm leaving one star just because the form wont allow me to leave NONE.

I don't know where i should start, me and my husband hired Stephen to represent me and help me to get my 2 years old son primary custody. But before we even started that process, we had to go thru Emergency temporary custody because father ended up in Prison for 6 months and refused to let us see my son. Emergency custody was supposed to be easy and 1/1 process but it got more complicated because of Stephen lack of commitment , effort and motivation to prepare for hearing. Until he change his approach to the clients, care more about their situation I would advise you to look for another solution. Even if you do hire them, you will probably ended up firing them before your case is over and then they will make sure to make that process as much difficult as they possibly can. Our retainer fee was refiled every monday, with statement what was done in last week. But then suddenly for some reason you need to wait 14 working days until they issue back your money, because of their "policy". Even if we explained that we decided to go with another counsil and that they are holding that process because of that unreasonable hold of our money , they dont care. It is not just "another" process, it is not some insurance claim process... We are talking here about life of the 2 years little boy that is coming back to UNSAFETY enviorement. They were explained that they are playing with other people life because they are not happy that we decided to choose lawyer that is more passionate to help us. - They still dont care. That is the law firm that you are considering to choose. If you do care about the situation that you are bringing up in front of judge, choose another option.

One star is actually 1 too many to give. While I am not a Lawyewr by profession, I am college educated. I should not have to pay for their Lawyer's incompetencies time and time again. I compiled paperwork on numerous occasions and travelled to their offices to explain where all data should be entered into their forms. This all while I was still charged their hourly rates. They let my case lapse for 3 months all while no work was conducted on my case. My Divorce was so straight forward and simple that it could have been handled by anyone with a High School Diploma better than the "Lawyers" at Cordell & Cordell. To ease any fears of , Oh, this is just a disgruntled person whom did not receive what he expected in the Divorce. I can assure you that I received everything that I wanted! This result only came about after FIRING Cordell & Cordell and compiling the final paperwork and filing pro se. Do yourself a favor and Read all of ther reviews. Cordell & Cordell is absolutely unscrupulous, and all they care about is their payments. I will also be filing a complaint with the Sacramento Bar Association. They overbilled me numerous times, and whenever I compiled a complete document for their review of the charges, they would come back to me weeks later anad state that they have reviewed the charges and my allegations and that everything looked correct. My original Lawyer and Paralegal quit the firm during the course of my Divorce. This just shows that even their employees know that Cordell & Cordell is a very shady Law Firm. This not only created a Gap in the timeframes, but also lapsed my case. As a perfect example of their incompetencies: My Ex Wife, who was Pro Se the entire Divorcea had to file a Motion to Compel my attorney to file documents. This is because Cordell & Cordell did not file my Financials with the court and serve her with them until 6 months past the due date. This was also 3 months AFTER they were billed and signed off on by myself & The Lawyer. STAY FAR AWAY FROM CORDELL & CORDELL! You will thank me

If there was a lower review option, I would have given it. There are too many reasons why I regret hiring this firm and far to many to list as to why I will never hire them again. They simply take advantage of veterans because they know we are a vulnerable group who already feel like there are many injustices imposed on us regarding the rights of our children. They offer absolutely zero special services to the Veteran community, just false promises and prolonged cases so they can take everything from you. -The average custody case in Colorado costs $[protected], I paid $14,000 and when I could no longer keep up with the payments, they withdrew my case. -Cost $8,000 just to get to mediation, and $4500 to get half a parenting plan established. -Lawyer miss scheduled my mediation twice causing me to miss work and offered no discount yet billed me for his time. -They drug out my case so they could keep billing/over billing and threaten to drop your case and tell you that you may have to represent yourself if they do. (This feels like manipulation) -They charge lawyer rates for secretary work and then bill you for them to instruct the legal assistants. -They bill you to talk about your bill -I paid over $540 for my lawyer to read one email. (it was a summer child parenting time request) -My lawyer rarely communicated with me to let me know the status of my case. (I would usually find out through the notes on the bill) -On multiple occasions I was billed for my lawyer "instructing/advising me on my case" When he never actually reached out at all. -I had to identify and instruct lawyer on parenting plan verbiage being so poorly worded that it could be easily manipulated by my sons mother. -They dropped my case because I couldn't make a $1300 payment within 48 hours after I had been making consistent payments every two weeks of $500+ (They did this to me at $3500, and another time at $2000) The list goes on and on, but their website states they "offer world class service" and this couldn't be more far from the truth. They will take advantage of you and your finances by specifically targeting you and filling your head with empty promises before they drag your case out way longer than it should go. You might get lucky with your lawyer but I truly feel I could have done a better job than he did. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THIS IS HOW I WAS TREATED WHEN SWITCHING TO A NEW FIRM: I got a new lawyer at Perkins Law -New lawyer had a deal with baby moms lawyer within 48hours of taking on the case. -New lawyer had to draft an entirely new parenting plan because the legal verbiage had to many grey areas on the draft Cordell and Cordell drafted. Cordell Charged me ($1500 to draft half of my parenting plan) New lawyer charged $145.00 at a $250 an hour rate. -I can reach out via phone or email and get responses and advice without being charged. -He doesn't bill me for instructing his legal assistant to complete tasks. -If he does magically use up all of my $1800 retainer, he offers a $500 monthly payment option because he understands we all have bills to pay. -Updates me on every detail of my case and walks me through everything step by step. -Was able to pick up my case, draft a new parenting plan, make a deal, and finalize my case in less than a month costing me less than $1500.(Who knows how much more it would have cost me with Cordell & Cordell) -Most of all my new lawyer actually showed me he truly cared for my situation and was not afraid to get in the trenches to back me. He worked diligently and closed it out quick like he promised he would.

I have been destroyed by an attorney that works for Cordell & Cordell. I have held off writing anything about them because I took the fight on myself and finally hired an attorney to try and get relief from judgment through an independent action. That was ruled on today, and again the attorney from Cordell & Cordell got brought up in court...again because he was supposed to be there to prevent what happened and he did not. I can prove all of this on paper, so I am not worried about anyone thinking I have no grounds to file a complaint. My divorce decree was a shambles. My attorney did not look out for my best interests in spiite of Cordell's claims on their targeted ads. He did not submit a personal property list. He did not bring forth evidence we had that O.P. had committed crimes, felonies against my legal name and property forging my signature on documents and allowed a decree to get put in place that compromised my rights and did not represent any of the property issues to protect me, his client. A draft of the decree was written by opposing counsel and I never even saw it before it was signed. He (my attorney) called me on a Friday before the decree was going to be signed by a judge, disconnected the call to take another more urgent one, billing records later showed that he charged ME for taking a call from the opposing attorney and NEVER called me back. He knew he had an obligation to me and any competent attorney would have known that if we discussed the decree that I was not going to agree that this was in my best interests. He did not call me again. The decree was signed and I did not see it until he sent it to me signed the next week. ironically on my birthday. It wasn't a present. I objected immediately to what I saw. No personal property outlined, not even what my ex did disclose which was not even close. A motorcycle listed as the ex's separate property that was made community property. I owned that before we were married. Later I found out it was a forged signature selling my hand built motorcycle to her boyfriend for $1. I even had him get on the phone and tell me that as far as my motorcycle, he "saw it, I wanted it so I took it." Supposedly heirloom items of no real cash value (toboggans I rode on 40 years prior as a child, before my ex was born) were made community property and awarded to me as my only personal property. What! Worse yet, the decree left out taxes for the year we were in the divorce, left the sale of the home contingent on my ex living in it to fix it up, had me paying the mortgage in lieu of child support which ended up being at times $494 more than monthly child support...the difference was not a credit towards child support, it was to be a credit towards keeping the house maintained and doing small repairs. No end date, nothing to be held accountable for excepting me who HAD to make payments. Guess what? 5 years later the house has $125,000 in damage to it, it has not been fixed up, the excess payments add up to thousands over the child support that would have been paid if we would have done child support and required her to pay half the mortgage. Every time I tried to sell the house the realtors were run off even being accused of stealing from my ex while she lived there. The house has been sitting vacant for over a year falling apart even further. My kids have lived with what they describe as a delusional and abusive mother who drinks and drives with them in the car, screams as she walks around the house ranting in a drunken stupor about what a horrible father they have, punishes them when they ask for time with their Dad. She has vandalized our neighbor's property now, and is being prosecuted for crimes against property, trespassing etc...even though they are misdemeanors it speaks volumes to her character. My children under the advisement of their counselors and the police have now fled the home and are living with me. Cordell & Cordell charged me over $30,000 for the privilege of being *** financially and every time I go to court to ask for: Clarification; Enforcement; a Write of Enforcement; Motion to Compel Return of Property; Fraud upon the Court; Independent Action for Relief From Judgment etc...you know the common theme that is mentioned in the Judge's remarks? "Mr Gosselin you were represented by counsel, and he should have appealed if you let him know that this was not what you agreed to or if there were inequities." I have a TRAIL of emails to my attorney, him saying "We have agreed to nothing as far as this property goes." The judge doesn't see it that way. it is a "stipulation" Thank you Cordell. "You can recover the motorcycle through other means, just not today." Really? The judge says that the motorcycle belonged to my ex because of what was in the decree. Thank you Cordell. Know what my attorney said to me the last time he appeared in court for me? My girlfriend was standing there and we both marvel at it... "Well, I guess we all have to pay for our mistakes in the end." Are you kidding me? This is a court of equity, not punishment. Yes I had things that I had to pay for. But not EVERY SINGLE PICTURE, PHOTOGRAPH, PIECE OF PAPER THAT PROVED I EXISTED, EVERY MATERIAL POSSESSION I HAD FROM MY FIRST 45 YEARS OF LIFE! All my training documents, schooling, work projects my saved memorabilia from four children, every single thing that I ever owned or possessed was taken from me, and Cordell & Cordell left me hanging. Oh they offered me a $1,500 adjustment in fees which was so laughable...extreme irresponsibility. My attorney that took on the Independent Action added up just my personal property to be $58,000. Add in $20,000 in tax debt, the forged motorcycle that only was worth about $5,250 but still...and then the division of a 401k that no one can ever get to add up to what my attorney recommended we settle for and I am over $100,000 in losses plus the $30,000 in fees thanks to Cordell & Cordell. Good job guys! Way to go Idaho! Yeah I paid for my mistakes but the longest impacting has been the one to hire Cordell & Cordell. I still owe for the attorney's fees because the house can't be sold, and I can't declare bankruptcy because the house is the only thing I may have a chance of getting anything out of and paying the mortgage became child support. Five years now, dragging my credit score back up, struggling to pay that mortgage, rent and other bills. Can't file for child support modification because the decree is for me to pay the mortgage in lieu of. No money to hire an attorney and I have tried too many times to fix it myself. This is sad, has taken a toll on me and now my children are suffering because they live with me to avoid abuse and neglect but I am financially insolvent thanks to Cordell & Cordell and their Horrible representation. "We stand up for Father's rights." Yeah...not so much. I DO NOT recommend utilizing Cordell & Cordell and if you do, make sure their attorney protects your rights, returns your calls and if you spot something that is wrong, do NOT let them communicate with you, appease you shallowly and drag it out until the statute of limitations has expired. I cannot tell you what a life-changing lesson this was for me and not in a good way at all.