Business ProfileforPeter M. Neil, Esq.

We hired ************ about 2 May 2022 to handle a child custody case. The attorney was paid a retainer of $5000 same day. For months thereafter it was harder and harder to get a hold of him. He seemed to be running his office without any staff, never returned any calls, never gave any updates or supply us with a monthly summary of expenses as stated by ************ at the initial meeting. The couple of times I did get in touch with him, he had very little updates, because he hadn't done anything other than a phone call to the other party. In December 2022 we showed up in his office unannounced. He gave us several excuses why he hadn't been in touch. We asked if he was sure he could work this case and he once again assured us that he could and that he had asked for needed documents from the other state. More months went by with attempts to get in touch with ************ and same thing once again - no return calls, no updates, nothing! In April 2023 I was able to leave a message stating that I needed the paperwork returned along with a check for returning the unused portion of the retainer (since he hadn't done much of anything at this point), a statement of charges and asked when I would be able to pick it up. ************ returned my call days later and told me that he had been working on an Excell spreadsheet for 3 hours the night before, but couldn't figure out how to work the program. I told him that I would have been fine with just a Word document or copy of his kept records on what he actually did so far and that all could have been avoided if he had just worked the case. ************ once again said that he would. When same thing started happening again, we picked up all paperwork (June 2022), but he didn't have a check or summary ready. He hadn't even opened mail he received from other state. We have been trying to recover the retainer portion ever since. He is never in office or answer calls and answering machine is shut off most times. He owes us most if not all of $5000