Phillips & Associates, Attorneys At Law RIPOFF Unreasonable Fees for Services Provided Phoenix Arizona

People are victimized daily by licensed Arizona lawyers, and the State Bar is a theatrical organization designed to be the "relef valve" so that disgruntled victims of lawyers can let-off steam.

The responsibility of victims is to warn other people through the media, member of the state legislature, and the State Bar.

Phillips & Associates seems to have many complaints and it would seem that they would want to clear their name and make restitution from over-charging.

When dealing with attorneys one tends to side with the victims and believe them over the "version of truth" as presented by the state's laicensed lawyers. The responsibility for licensing lawyers must be return to the State Legislature.

Criminal matters are often handled on a flat fee basis. The amount of money an attorney charges is not set in stone, it can be negotiated. And you can always shop around to get a better price.

Most states have laws that prevent attorneys from charging an "unconscionable" fee. Supposed I took on a case for a 1/3 contingnent fee and settled in a day later for $1 million. You can bet that the State Bar is not going to let me keep a $333,333 fee for one day or a few hours of work. Is $13,000 unconscionable in this case? There are not enought facts to make a determination. That's why you should consider complaining to the state bar or hiring another attorney to review the file and give you an opinion.

Clients often gripe about bills, but our time is the only thing we have to sell. And attorneys are often guilty of rude behavior, but did you get a good result?

Carl & Tim,

Nice to see you here. Here is one more perspective for you. Phillips & Associates is one of those law firms that advertises heavily here in the Phoenix Valley area. You know, TV, billboards, radio and phone books. I think that says it all right there.

Although I will say that if truly 90 hours were put into this case, and they were charged a flat fee of $13,000, that works out to about $145/hr. Not too bad for legal representation. Then again, the question remains about how good those services were.

I would say that, if the original fee agreement was based on eight charges that actually existed at the time the agreement was made, then you are not entitled to any refund. if, on the other hand, these superfuous charges never actually existed, then there is a mistake going to the basis of the bargain and you MAY be entitled to a refund.

But, as Carl explains, the absence of these four charges at the hearing may have been the result of the attorneys' work. Or, the attorneys may have recognized that these charges were likely to vanish, and the $13,000 fee was based on that presumption. In other words, you may have actually paid for four charges because the firm knew that the extra four would be dropped.

For minor criminal matters (i.e. misdemeanors), 13k seems a bit steep. But, if there were eight possible charges, and if the case involved various meetings and around 80 hours of work, I'm guessing that there were a few pretty serious charges. If this be the case, then the hefty bill doesn't surprise me.

Brian stated in his complaint that they did not do their homework with the aspect that their son only had only been cited for (4) out of the (8) complaints. So therefore less paperwork was filed, and or looked into. That is if indeed any homework was done at all. I'm learning in my present case that this company doesn't know what the heck they are doing. In fact I have learned from family members that know the Phillips closely that they indeed brag about the money that they rip off from people. How about that?

Brian stated in his complaint that they did not do their homework with the aspect that their son only had only been cited for (4) out of the (8) complaints. So therefore less paperwork was filed, and or looked into. That is if indeed any homework was done at all. I'm learning in my present case that this company doesn't know what the heck they are doing. In fact I have learned from family members that know the Phillips closely that they indeed brag about the money that they rip off from people. How about that?

Brian stated in his complaint that they did not do their homework with the aspect that their son only had only been cited for (4) out of the (8) complaints. So therefore less paperwork was filed, and or looked into. That is if indeed any homework was done at all. I'm learning in my present case that this company doesn't know what the heck they are doing. In fact I have learned from family members that know the Phillips closely that they indeed brag about the money that they rip off from people. How about that?

Brian stated in his complaint that they did not do their homework with the aspect that their son only had only been cited for (4) out of the (8) complaints. So therefore less paperwork was filed, and or looked into. That is if indeed any homework was done at all. I'm learning in my present case that this company doesn't know what the heck they are doing. In fact I have learned from family members that know the Phillips closely that they indeed brag about the money that they rip off from people. How about that?

First of all, it sounds to me like you had a flat arrangement for the legal services. Flat fee arrangements are very common in criminal cases and the number of hours is not relevant. If the senior attorney on the case whats to bring a younger attorney to a meeting or a court hearing to get experience, that is there perogative. In a flat fee arrangement, the the number of hours billed to the file is irrelevant.

You didn't post anything to mentions being disatisfied with the result of the representation. Did the law firm not fulfill its obligations?

As for a refund, that really depends on the types of charges and why they were dismissed or not brought against your son. It is possible that the attorney was able to convince the prosecutor to dismiss the charges. It may also be that the prosecutor dismissed lesser included offenses that would have made no differnce in the level of effort need to diligently represent the client. Besides, the time to address the fee reduction was when you found out about that certain charge had been reduced or dropped, not after the case was over.