Over the years, I have dealt with a variety of lawyers in a variety of fields. Corporate lawyers, personal injury lawyers, one time I had to hire a lawyer to sue a sheriff, another time I needed a criminal defense attorney for a multiple felonies, and probably other types of lawyers that I can't remember.

In all those instances, I was extremely impressed by their skill, expertise and knowledge. They were no nonsense, executed perfectly, and I was extremely happy.

Then there's my divorce attorney. I initially started with a local firm. After they failed to represent me well at my first custody mediation hearing, I fired them and decided to go big. I researched some of the bigger, usually national, "men's rights" lawyers.

I settled on Cordell & Cordell.

The easiest tl;dr is.........he sucked. Now for the list of reasons why he, and the entire firm, sucks.

  1. I would see random, unexplained line items on invoices. When I asked about them, they would be "mistakes" and would get removed.
  2. I emailed their billing department to have them remove my payment method from my file, to stop them from billing me anymore during a period where I had instructed them not to work on my case. They failed to remove the payment method and billed me (after I asked them to pause working on my case until the ex provided the documentation we had been waiting 6 months for). I emailed asking for an explanation and received no reply. I filed a charge-back with my credit card and won.
  3. I was told during onboarding that at-fault would definitely be a focal point of the divorce. In truth, it was never once mentioned by my attorney in court.
  4. Multiple times, I received documents and was asked to review them. My attorney had copy/pasted half of my data into a document that was filled with half another client's data. This included data from the other client that showed their bank account and investment information.
  5. At onboarding, I emailed my attorney a list of critical points about my case. They were outlined clearly and concisely. The attorney spoke with me during onboarding and acknowledged the points I had provided and insisted that many of them would be used during my case. 3 years later, when I asked why the critical points I had mentioned 3 years prior, were not being used in court, I was given a response that was filled with straight lies.
  6. A week before the final court date, my attorney asked, almost begged, that I allow him to shift my case to one of his subordinates.
  7. 45 days after they stopped representing me because my case is finished, they still have not returned my retainer. I have emailed multiple times asking about its return and receive no response.

Cordell & Cordell is easily the worst legal representation I have ever received. Additionally, I believe that their services are some of the worse services, of any industry, that I have ever received.