Cordell and Cordell Literally a Scam Nationwide Nationwide

Do not under any circumstances retain or even visit Cordell and Cordell.

They literally do not care about your case and do not actually represent you. I don't mean that they "don't represent you with diligence" or some qualification like that. I mean that they do almost nothing, work hard to make your case worse (because then it will take longer and cost more), and then bill you for it.

I made the mistake of visiting them with a legal question. They convinced me that I was a great legal risk and needed to retain them and move immediately. As soon as I put them on retainer, the legal brakes were applied. Very little was done in my case, but they racked up endless hours on "consultation" and "meetings" between the attorneys inside the firm (often billing me twice for the hours, since at each meeting at least two attorneys were present).

They also have mandatory weekly reports, etc. that they bill heavily for, even if the report basically says that nothing happened this week, and they will bill you heavily for each call that you make to them asking why nothing is happening and requesting that they get things done.

Just as importantly, they will miss or drag their feet on filings, and work hard to allow opposing counsel to make progress so as to tie the case up longer and make for more legal complexity—because the longer the case goes on, the longer they can bill. They'll look for hearing dates as far out into the future as possible becuase they're getting to bill you every week for their status reports and for your calls to them asking why they suck.

In short, they will totally destroy your case and your wallet, and if you try to terminate them, they will drag their feet on that as well, as it turns out that when you retain them you sign off on an extended termination process that includes more worthless reports that are billable.

I paid them five figures for virtually nothing, and became increasingly infuriated as they simply ignored my instructions and did the opposite of what I requested in many cases, without even consulting with me, putting me on the hook for more process and more billing. When I fired them, they basically refused to be fired, said that I'd signed off on this when I retained them, and continued to bill for no actual real work on my case at all—just thousands for more reports and meetings.

I hired a different attorney from another local firm who immediately went to work cleaning up the mess as Cordell sat on their hands still officially representing me as well (since they refused to be fired and wouldn't withdraw from representation legally). The new attorney got things done quickly and efficiently, repaired a lot of problems that Cordell appears to have worked hard to create, and in the end has billed me less for all of her hard work than Cordell and Cordell has over the same period—even though Cordell has done literally nothing new on the case and I am just in their "termination process" and the new attorney has been working her tail off night and day.

In short, think very long and hard before hiring this firm, and consult with multiple other attorneys first. My firm belief is that Cordell and Cordell have no strategy for your actual case, but a clear strategy for their revenue—get clients in the door with fear or unjustified enthusiasm, then make their cases as complicated as possible immediately with initial work and filings, then set all hearing dates way out in the future so that they can bill for their "standard weekly processes" without doing any actual work, for a long time.

They are expensive, and for me they were terrible representation that made matters much, much worse vis-a-vis my actual desires and case goals. I am toying with the idea of a legal malpractice suit.