Jef Henninger (attorney) Improper billing, Refusal to refund monies due, failure to disclose fees Tinton Falls, New Jersey

As a Fathers' Rights activist I've used Jef Henninger, Esq. in a number of cases involving alimony, child support, child custody matters.  Jef has done an outstanding job for the members of my group.  In one particular case, he represented a husband who had an oppressive alimony order and arrears.  Jef did the plenary hearing, and got the guy's arrears reduced by 2/3 and got his alimony obligation reduced by 3/4.    Jef has also successfully handled domestic violence matters for some of my members.  I am very satisfied with his representation of my members, and will refer him to others on future matters.

The complaint I read against Jef Henninger is nothing more than an unnamed whiner who is too cowardly to give his real name, and who complains about everything.  Given Jef's analysis of who the person is, I can understand the fraudulent complaint by this person who is looking to game the system and try to get something off of Jef.  I've been falsely and fraudulently accused by unnamed cowards on Ripoff.com because I'm involved as a Fathers' Rights activist and consultant.  Unfortunately, one cannot get these reports removed unless you pay Ripoff.com some exorbitant amount of money to remove false reports.  Also, Ripoff.com has recently been sued and lost in Federal Court because of people being defamed and libeled in Ripoff.com and having no recourse but to pay ransom to Ripoff.com to get their names and reputations cleaned up.

I have also just been scammed of the fastest $600 I ever lost by the law firm of Jef Henninger, Esq.  When I called him, after submitting my weapons permit application over 2 month ago and getting a feeling that I will get it denied any day, Mr, Henninger  suggested that I retain him anyway before my application gets denied even though it was over 2 month after I submitted that because, as he said he will probably make it approved and never having to go to an appeal, which would be another $1000.  That was the only time I spoke with Mr. Henninger.  After a weak of no contact, I called the office and the secretaries acted like they weren't sure who I was, and when I reminded them that I have a very sencetive timely matter and asked if anything was done, they said "Ofcoarse, we sent a letter of representation to your Police Dept, (which I found out was only sent out the next day after that conversation). 

Two weeks later, they call me and say that my application was alrady denied when I hired them and there was nothing they could do --- WHICH WAS EXACTLY MY CONCERN BEFORE PAYING $600 for nothing!!! That charge was of coarse  refundable.  The secretaries assured me though that I have a very strong apeal case and I should definately appeal.  They took my card again and sent me an outhorarization which, I didnt want to sign till speaking with the actual attorney for a change. He was forced to spend his super precious time on calling me and suggested that I do an appeal and pay another $1000 dollars but mentioned that he is unfamiliar with NY laws and that the reason I've got my application denied was due to the "up to 1 year" jail sentence for DWI, even though, my worst charge was never a felony, but just a misdemeanor. He then told me that if I say that, then he will proceed with the appeal based on my word and  my interpretation of the NY Law basically(which was really weird to hear from any legal specialist) after I pay another $1000. It sounded crazyfishy, so I made sure to explain my situation again, and asked him to confirm in writing all that nonsence about him basing my appeal on what I say. 

It was when he probably realized that I am not a complete charity case and won't let go of the other $1000 as easily as the $600 he charged for the "countless hours of work of composing and sending the letter of representation to my Police Dept" by his secretaries, but soon after that conversation, his secretary called and told me that Jeff told her that he won't be appealing that case due to ANY DWI CHARGE IN NYC GETTING AN AUTOMATIC DENIAL IN NJ WHEN APPLYING/APPEALING FOR A WEAPONS PERMIT.  HOW NICE WOULD IT BE TO LET ME KNOW BEFORE TAKING MY MONEY!!! 

I am pretty good with seeing through scams usually and this seems like a very straight forward sceme based on spending all the money on advertisement instead of winning the cases(he comes up #1 in google search) and getting as many people to sign up for the initial $600 fee monthly as possible: 200 ppl/month x $600 = $120000 of free money received as a "gift" without lifting a finger.  Plus probably atleast another 100000 or more from the more trusty people who also pay for an appeal.  He probably wins like 5% of the cases if or something similar since his main source of income is from getting as many people as possible to pay the initial UNREFUNDABLE FEE. Hope people will read this before falling for the same mistake as II just don't want more ppl to fall for this scam.  Alex.

Like Jef says, "Consider the Source!" So let's consider the source of Jef Henninger's comment. Last year, Jef was found by a  major credit card company to have inappropriately - fraudulently? - charged a client $2,000. The credit card company returned the full balance to the client and closed the case. Jef IS a thief. If you retain his services, make sure you pay with a credit card and have their fraud dept on speeddial.

***Jef could not even survive a credit card dispute, so why would you hire him?*** lol

It could not have been done without consumers speaking out on RipOff report, so thanks for taking a stand!

Jef,

Ad hominem attacks, really? That is very low.

The logic of Jef's response is "the person is a felon/being sued/alleged law breaker, therefore his claims are false." That is an ad hominem attack, which is a logical fallacy, so Jef's rebuttal does nothing to invalidate Alan's claims. Jef apparently doesn't believe a major tenent of law: innocent until proven guilty. An allegation is just that - an allegation and nothing more. I allege that Jef IS a scam artist, unethical lawyer and a thief, so according to Jef's standard, I'm telling the truth.

I have never seen a law office have more than one website. I'll even say that three websites is fine, but Jef has a multitude of domain names and websites, which is very unprofessional and shady.

During the short time I retained Jef, he did not even bring my file to court. He was retained on short notice, so we had not discussed the case. When I began asking Jef for his advice and talking about the case, Jef immediately began personally attacking me. I even had to break politeness and tell him sternly that he doesn't know me or my case, so I won't tolerate the attacks. He did not want to talk about the case at all and walked away to talk on his cell phone.

Then, he tried talking to the other adverse party without my consent, and without me present, in a private conference room. When I saw this, I followed them into the office, but then Jef abandoned the meeting immediately and walked away. Then he tried the same trick with a court room employee. He also abandoned this conversation when I tried to be present during the conversation. Why do you want to hide from your clients, Jef? I thought this was very inappropriate practice, and other attorneys I asked confirmed the same.

During mediation, Jeff never said a word. I did his job and had to ask him to participate. Jef acted very annoyed at having to answer questions or do his job. He walked away to talk on his cell phone whenever we weren't before the judge. Even when the court employee assumed he knew something instead of getting the facts by reading the court order, Jef never corrected the misinformation or took out a court order to confirm. Jef never informed me of my rights, provided possible solutions that could help me, or advised what the law says.

Jef did nothing when we were before the judge. He just went along with whatever the other party and I discussed in mediation, but without the help of an attorney, I didn't defend myself well in mediation, and I didn't know what I could/should have asked for.

Jef insists that any electronic communication to his office is sent as an attachment. He does not read emails, only attachments, which is very strange and the first time I've ever heard of this. Usually people want to avoid potential viruses and ask that you not send attachments. You can print or save a copy of the email.

For the texting crowd, he also will not communicate via text. He will tell you that you have to call.

Contrary to Jef's inflated ego, he is not esteemed among his peers. When I consulted with other attorneys to replace Jef, the attorneys who knew Jef were aware of his unethical practices, and confirmed that they would not repeat his actions. They are just being polite and professional by not talking about him and avoiding conflict. Pay attention to what they're NOT saying - they are not saying anything good about him either.

Jef also kept my full $2k retainer without refunding the unused portion. He did not write/file any motions, or talk to me outside of court or barely even in court, so there is no way he could have used the entire retainer.

When my credit card company refunded his charges, Jef emailed me an attached letter, ranting about how he would sue me for credit card fraud. LOL The cc company is entirely on my side, and I have since fired Jef as well.

I hope Jef responds with more illogical rants, so I have more evidence of how unprofessional he is. We all have flaws, but the flaws of another do not make Jef any less unprofessional or unethical. That is what you're hired for Jef, to defend our flaws and advocate for victims.

Jef has in fact kept client funds that he did not earn, has failed to perform his responsibiltiies, and has acted in an unprofessional manner towards his clients and former clients.

Alan Isabelle knows about Ripoff Report because he's already on it.  Just see http://www.ripoffreport.com/computer-graphics/informedia-group-inc/informedia-group-inc-did-not-766az.htm

There are more complaints out there about him and he is currently facing felony criminal charges in Hudson County, New Jersey for ripping off a business partner.  Thus, you have to really consider the source here.  In fact, Alan Isabelle just called me less than 2 weeks ago to say what a great attorney I am and what a great job I did on his case.  I sent him an invoice and after seeing that he actually owed me money, he got upset and threatened to go on a rampage against me and this is clearly the first salvo.  In addition, his voicemail says that he is sorry he hasn't called me and yet he says that he has called me and I didn't return his calls.  You can't have it both ways.  

Another question is, who would hand over money to an attorney and not understand the terms of the agreement?  Clearly that doesn't make any sense.  With regard to his new attorney, I sent him two letters, neither of which indicated that I would refund any money.  

I am a respected member of the bar with a huge client following and a rock solid reputation.  Alan Isabelle has many people on the Internet complaining about him and is facing possible prison time for a allegations that are very similar to the previous allegations.  Thus, when you consider the source, it is clear that these allegations are bogus.