Ben Adams Benjaman Tabiess Adams Adams Fietz Buyer Beware of Santa Rosa attorney Ben Adams of Adams Fietz. Ben stole my $5000 retainer! Santa Rosa CA

I went to Ben Adams at Adams Fietz to form a business entity. Ben seemed like an honest lawyer and well-intended. My goal was to have him form what is called a collective. He asked for a $5000 retainer which I paid him with the understanding that any legal work he did for me would be charged against the $5000. The money you pay a lawyer as a retainer is supposed to go into an escrow account and not co-mingled with other funds as that money is supposed to cover any legal services the lawyer provides at their billing rate. Ben Adams didn't actually ever form the entity nor register it, but rather produced a 3 page letter that named the entity, a collective.

He put this letter into a 3-ring binder with generic information not specific to my organization; perhaps 30 min. - 1hr. worth of work. I decided not to request additional services from Ben Adams and now he won't refund my unused funds. Ben says that these funds were for on-call services and my time to request these funds back has expired. He refused to return my unused balance despite his legal obligation to do so; unused retainers are legally the property of the client who paid the retainer. On-call lawyers are very rare and are only found with lawyers who are very very well known in our society. 

Honest lawyers conduct monthly reviews of all of their retainers in escrow and refund clients who do not use the law firm's services.



Again, the money should be kept in an escrow account as it's not the lawyer's money to keep; it's their client's. Ben Adams does no such thing. He'll keep your retainer despite not doing any work to earn it. Unfortunately, I'm now in the position to have to sue Ben Adams to get my unused retainer back. Buyer beware of Ben Adams of Adams Fietz!

Benjaman Tabiess Adams CA State license #207281

1510 4th St, Santa Rosa, CA 95404

County: Sonoma County

Phone Number: (707) 999-9999

Fax Number: (707) 583-7649

Email: ben@adamsfietz.com