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I am a successful lawyer who worked at John Bales Attorneys and has since gone on to a great law firm. John Bales Attorneys is a laughingstock in Tampa Bay. No one except Bales and his nut-job administrator have worked there more than four of five years (only only a handful of people have made it past four years).
Bales is a big phony, a mean and selfish man. He is the reason attorneys quit within a year. His administrator is either manic depsressive or bi-polar (and, sadly, anorexic). She is the reason non-attorneys leave so quickly.
The turnover is so high that it is impossible for clients to receive quality representation. How can they when their attorney and case managers keep changing? Bales and his adminstrator blame the turnover on lazy and/or incompentent employees. Really? You mean that the THOUSANDS of employees who have quit since you opened 11 years ago are all to blame, but you and your adminstrator are treating people well? You two are right and thousands are wrong? It is time to look in the mirror, pal. At this rate, your firm will be out of business in a few years.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Here is a better story. While representing Case No. GC 09 1653 in the Michigan 46th District Court, the attorney James G. Schmier (Birmingham, MI) didn't know what he was doing and didn't know what to do. He worked for the defense attorneys Jeanne V. Barron and Jeffrey Vollmer NOT his client. After 9 months of doing absolutely nothing, he petitioned the court to withdraw and did. He did not respond to motion and did not appear for hearing, notated on court transcript. He additionally could not account for funds used/unsed. He did this too. He presented a bogus retainer fee agreement to the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission. According to Schmier, he forwarded (2) copies of his retainer fee to client via U.S. mail. Neither of the two were returned to him. Client NEVER received either of the two retainer fee agreements. Schmier NEVER prepared/submitted them. Also, the subject matter of a retainer fee agreement between Schmier and client NEVER surfaced. He LIED.
Hmmm, This makes sense. My original case manager was fired, then everytime I called to see where my case was as far as getting over with, I was told the same exact thing every time I called. I very seldom received a call from them. 2 days before the statute of limitations was over, I got a phone call stating that they didn't want to pursue my case. Though they say they could have claimed sovereign immunity, I was told that they would have to have upfront money to pursue. In my opinion, this was false advertisement. The next day an actual attorney called me and kept saying I wouldn't get enough money and didn't want me to be in debt. After all that had been said to me, I had no confidence that I would be represented in my best interest, so they had me release them (Recorded Testimony) from my case, and told me what to say. After that they tried to come in contact with the people I could serve with papers and hold them personally accountable. Of course, same as before, I didn't hear from them for a couple months. They called me 1 last time to say they didn't get a response from who they served papers to and I told them I figured that and that I had already lost confidence in them anyway. I would never send anyone else to this law firm!