Menu
Login
This attorney, Cherie Beasley, and her law firm, Bay Area Criminal Lawyers, are completely liars and a total rip off. So after the initial consultation I have with them, with which they specify on their website that initial consultation is free, I decided to hire them. After going to the first court date, which turns out that it was postponed (and the lawyer did not have to anything but just get the notice), I found out that the attorney does not know anything and is very incapable of handling my case. Hence I decided not to hire her and discontinue the service. The bad service and the fact that the attorney does not know [censored] is the first reason NOT TO EVER HIRE ANYONE FROM BAY AREA CRIMINAL LAWYERS.
Here comes the second problem. I have paid her a retainer fee, which is the amount that should cover all the time that she spends on my case. She charges by the hour, hence I want to get the refund back for all the money she charged and not spent on the case. When I got the bill, I was shocked -- they claim that they had spent 8.6 hours on my case, and I will only get back less than a third of my retainer. HOLY MOLY! The only thing that I know she had worked on ( could I call that work on?) is the half hour she spent waiting for me at thr court place for the piece of paper saying that I have to come back for court again. She has not done [censored]. All the other time she has just simply made up. They even counted the phone calls that I make in to ask them to send the bill. The most frustrating part it, she included the initial consultation and the follow up office consultation in the bill, which they claim to be free on the website. I am 100% sure everyone in my situation would be pissed, and what would all customers do? Call in to dispute and discuss the bill.
This is the third problem. They had an office manager send me the bill. (btw, the first bill that she sent me was someone else's, which I was very surprised since law firms should retain confidentiality of their customers). The office manager said she need to talk to the attorney, Ms Cherie Beasley, about the bill. A while later I received a phone call of a yelling Cherie Beasley, saying consistently over the phone that she had spent time waiting for me, blah blah blah blah, for more than 15 minutes. SERIOUSLY? An attorney yelling over the phone at her customer? I feel harrased! talking about giving my confidence in you dealing with my case? From that point on I am so glad that I made the right decision to stop hiring her ( remedy for my poor decision to hire her). I decide that there is no more point in talking to those guys anymore, since those guys are not sensible and reputable. So I hang up.
Here comes the fourth problem. Her boss, Mr David Cohen, called me and tried to "explain" to me about the bill. He told me he had already took out 3.5 hours from the bill before sending it out ( WHAT? THEY HAVE SPENT 11.5 HORUS ON MY CASE? WOW TALK ABOUT EFFICIENTY). Me, learning from my previous lessons from dealing with those hagglers and liars, asks him if the call will be charged to my bill. He says that the first 10 minutes is not going to be charged. I tried to tell him, point by point, that the bill is unreasonable; he cuts me off everytime with his own ### about how they had spent time on my case. I keep telling them that I appreciate the time they had worked on my case, and I just need prove to show that they had worked on my case. He finally agreed that he will send me the documents ( he originally wants to charge me for preparing those prove documents). I am still not very convinced -- and I mentioned that I might file a complaint against them. That is when he gets fishy and started to freak out a bit. He says if I file a complaint, they could not send me the refund, sicne they need the money to "deal with the complaint". Talk about fishyness. He is trying to voilate my rights to complain! He tried to make me agree on the phone that if they send in the refund of the 1/3 of the money, I will not complain. What the heck!
I am still waiting for their check. Lesson learnt: NEVER EVER TRUST BAY AREA CRIMINAL LAWYERS. They have an 800-xxx-xxxx no., and I should be smarter to know that there would be some fishness if they charge by the hour for cases that had not even been to trial. dealing with the criminal case is hard already ; dealing with the ### of these guys is even more frustrating. This is a painful painful experience; learn from me and decide smarter. Just don't ever use these guys.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Sounds like a whole lot whiners who are mad about their lawyer bills. If you don't want to pay your lawyer, how about keeping your ### out of trouble. It's not that hard.
I have been observing this post for the past, and I would say this is the first time I have seen such a scene on complaints board. What I would say is: WHAT A RIDICULOUS ATTORNEY! Instead of running around trying to sue everyone else who complains about her and trying to interfere with freedom of speech, she should have take the time to do a better job in representing a client and making herself reputable. If I were her, I would just make peace with the client, refund her money back, and kindly ask them to revise this posting.
Not that I discriminate anyone with a past, but I believe a person who has integrity will not have anyone chasing after her when she changes her profession. This attorney does seem to have a problem. And what bugs me is, her interference with freedom of speech online is what I find hard to believe in. Hey, the client has all the rights to reflect on what they think about your service on this site; this is what this site is for. I notice that sfdoc's comments have been deleted and reposted many times, and although I do not want to take sides, i think that he/she have every right to say what they want here. So be a professional and take the comments.
ATTACHED IS AN EMAIL THAT CHERIE INBOXED ME
imminent litigation
April 1, 2009
sfdoc:
I am writing to put you on notice that I am initiating suit against all parties that have posted untruthful, defamatory materials on complaintsboard.com. I have provided similar notice to a representative of the site. This is a courtesy notice to inform you that I am monitoring the number of posts and the duration of time each post remains on the site for purposes of calculating damages and assessing the extent of your civil liability for slander, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
On a more personal note: You must realize that when this matter is litigated, it is going to be a matter of time before a forensic expert identifies you as the source of this material.
I have no doubt that you know me, because only a person that has hated me for a long period would demonstrate such a commitment to trying to injure my reputation. However, if you did know me well, then you would remember the following things:
1) I don't like bullies or cowards. Hiding behind your anonymous sfdoc password is not clever. It's cowardly. When I have a problem with someone, I don't hide behind an aka. I use my real name, because I never say anything I am afraid to stand by.
2) I'm not ashamed of who I am or where I came from. I respect any former dancer who chooses a different career path and excels. My family, my firm and the State Bar of California have my complete employment history. (also, I have paid taxes every year since I began working at the age of 18.)
3) I never performed sexual favors for any customer, but if you knew me at all, you already knew that.
4) You obviously despise me enough to look for me on the web anywhere you can find me and post lies about me. I can just picture you logging on every day, pathetically thinking that you just scored two points each time you post your nonsense. At the end of the day, I graduated with two Bachelor of Arts degrees with honors. I successfully completed law school and passed the most difficult state bar exam on the first attempt. I purchased my own home before the age of 23 and helped my family financially at every available opportunity. I am working in the exact profession that I dreamed of since I was 12 years-old, and I am winning case after case, with nearly a perfect record of success in every type of criminal proceeding. I am married to a person who is smart, funny, and has real integrity. My past is an exemplary record of academic achievement, dedication to my goals, and financial planning--you better believe that it caught up with me--That's why I am successful and happy. If you think you can shake that with a couple cheap lies under a false name, you did not know me nearly as well as you though you did.
Sasha, I am starting to wonder if you are obsessed.
Dear Ms Beasley,
Don't be a hater; love your clients no matter what they say about you. Especially when you have ripped them off.
** been there, done that. Was ripped off by a patent lawyer 2 years ago, and trust me, the frustration hurts. Good Luck buzzyhaha; most criminal lawyers out there charges a flat rate fee, and it usually rings a bell if the lawyer charges you hourly for cases like yours. Hope you find a good replacement. As for you, Ms Beasley, good luck to you too. Don't be too bothered by this post; if you are good, your clients will come back to you.**
Hello to all readers. My name is Cherie Beasley, and I am the attorney named in the above complaint. I was planning on ignoring this posting, because I do not believe it necessary to respond to such silly allegations, but it appears that people have been chiming in, and I had some free time this evening.
Before I respond to the complaint, thank you to the former client, dooz521, who posted their supportive comment. I really do appreciate the effort, and though I hope you never need us in the future, we would be glad to provide future assistance. Just to set the record straight, I do not know which client dooz521 is, and my firm would not post a phony comment. Also, when dooz521 referred to "her" bill, I believe the word "her" was in reference to me. I am a female attorney.
In either case, I would like to make the following points:
1. The former client that issued this complaint did receive a free consultation. Our initial consultation was a telephone conference, which lasted for almost forty minutes. In fact, this client received three hours and thirty-six minutes of free consultation. Not only did I provide three free telephone consultations, but I also scheduled two meetings at my firm after hours. The client was so late for the first meeting that I ended up waiting over 1 hour and 30 minutes. When the client informed me that I would have to wait until 9:00 pm to meet with her (3 hours past closing), I politely rescheduled. I even allowed the client to schedule our second conference after hours. The client was about an hour late for that meeting.
(Just a tip to this client for the future: If you are looking to have someone provide a service, particularly free service, be considerate to the person providing the service. Do not schedule appointments after business hours and arrive late or fail to arrive at all. In fact, you should make an appointment during business hours in order to avoid inconveniencing the person and arrive on time. You will appear more professional in future meetings if you follow this free advice.)
2. The allegation that I do not have any knowledge in my field of expertise is nothing more than a harsh comment from a client that is upset that her refund was for a lesser amount than she originally anticipated. (Yes, I said refund--imagine what this client would say if she actually owed money.)
3. The client is complaining that we billed eight hours on her case, including the travel time to and from an out-of-county court appearance. Though I will not be specific out of respect for the client, criminal cases are complicated, especially when more than one area of law is at issue. A case like this is not resolved over a lunch break. It requires time and preparation, though most of the time that was billed resulted from the court appearance, travel time, and the client's own phone calls and conferences, which she initiated.
(Another free tip: Criminal lawyers bill for their time--all criminal lawyers, except public defenders. You might encounter the rare lawyer who takes a flat fee up front, but this client would not have received any refund if that was our practice. The best advice for anyone seeking a lawyer--find someone that you believe in, and trust them to do the job. If you call them constantly and have unnecessary meetings, you will run up your bill beyond what is necessary.)
4. The client also alleged that I called her and began shouting into the telephone. However, when I phoned the client, before I could get one word out, she began shouting at me. In actuality, the reason that I called the client was to advise her to stop yelling at the staff. She had been rude to our office manager, who had nothing to do with the amount of her refund. In fact, neither do I for that matter.
(Another tip: Lawyers in a firm are required to bill their time, because it is the way their work hours are tracked. I do not receive any portion of the retainers. Those funds are paid to the firm. I make the same salary no matter how much a client is charged or refunded. I have no reason to try and overcharge clients. In fact, had this client been polite to myself and the staff, I may have been able to convince the firm to discount her charges a bit.)
5. The client believes our firm is "fishy" because we take our retainer fees before working on the case and bill by the hour before trial. All lawyers bill before trial, with the exception of public defenders. In fact, many lawyers are able to resolve cases without ever going to trial. Lawyers generally do not draft motions, make court appearances, have client meetings, and spend time working on a case without being paid. Pre-trial matters can take months, even years in some rare cases. The lawyer is not going to wait that long to be paid for their service.
(Yet another free tip: If you know that you are in need of a lawyer, do some research. Find out about how the fees work. Also, review your contract. If the contract states that the lawyers bill by the hour and charge for time spent working on the case, take the contract at its word. Do not be surprised when the lawyer does just that.)
6. Finally, I almost agree with the client to an extent that it is silly to consider these kind of complaints and take time out to respond. The fact is that anyone who read this complaint would see that it is mean-spirited, hostile, and full of typos and spelling errors. (Gosh, I just hate that!) However, it is even worse to be the person who takes the time to post the mean-spirited complaint, especially when the allegations are untrue and the person on the other end tried to help you. I have many clients that are appreciative of the work and time we put into our cases. In fact, I really like many of my clients as individuals. This time would probably be better spent thanking them for their appreciation rather than responding to this complaint, but I will thank some of them tomorrow. Frankly, with all the free tips I gave out this evening and the advice and I gave to this client during the period that we represented her, she got her money's worth. I feel just fine about it. :-)
I understand that "good" lawyers costs money...however, "good" lawyers also means other things like "professional, " "compassionate, " and "ethical." I've had hired great criminal lawyers who won or dismissed my case and I only had to pay them one flat rate...no separate hourly fee for the lawyer retained. I've retained public defenders who also have dissmissed my case and they were free. Good lawyers do costs money, ... but it also depends on what kind of person you get as a lawyer to represent you. Good lawyers come in a full package, like experience and good attitude...not just the amount of money you compensate them to represent you.
Hello dooz521,
I do not know how you are affliated with the firm, and I do respect your comment.
However, I am just curious -- how do you know the client involved is a "She"?
From what I know Bay Area Criminal Lawyers has monitored this site and sent to their client involved in this case a letter stating that they had known about this posting. So, yea, are you someone from Bay Area Criminal Lawyers?
Their letter to the client just proves another point that this firm is a no-no. If a firm have time (and no better thing to do than) to monitor compaints against them online, you kind of get an idea of how good they are.
Just a thought.
I do not want ID myself because I am worried about privacy (as you can guess I was in some police trouble) but Cherie and her firm helped me out big time. Deadbeat that made the post should pay her bill, good lawyers cost money, stupid. I pray that I will not need help again but if I do I will call them.
My Advice lodge all this information to :-
http://us.bbb.org/WWWRoot/SitePage.aspx?site=113&id=6cda12e2-5967-437f-876e-bd452a591b91