Cordell Cordell

Our Attorney with Cordell & Cordell was the worst. She would say to do one thing then later in an email would say something different saying "I TOLD YOU". This is not the way to speak or belittle a client who is paying you thousands of dollars. Also when I would ask for advice she always would respond as if I was bothering her. Because we took a few days longer to refill the retainer she asked to be taken off the case and the day of the court date I was left with no attorney. My kids are suffering being with their mother and instead of trying to work this out she just bailed.

Dishonest, greedy and corrupt lawyer. She has no problem lying to the courts, judges and other lawyers. She will sell your child to a predatory parent. She engaged in litigation over a span of several years so that she can run up her legal fees, filing meritless and fraudulent motions. She is the reason why lawyers have poor reputations.

$1800 to write a one page letter to my X regarding custody violations, then a hounding to pursue a case that would certainly rack up the charges.

Warn other men not to get married, cohabitation or have children. Wanting to be a Father in the West is the worst decision I've ever made.

As I do my due diligence shopping for specific professionalism. I was told by Cordell & Cordell representative that I had scheduled an appointment for these following day@ 3pm, I confirmed.
NOTHING... NO CALL... No SHOW. Not even a follow up. Guess this lawyer doesn't need any new clients.

Cordell and cordell in my opinion are the typical lawer firm you see in the movies billing for everything and not doing a danm thing to forward your case. They only care about billable hours why do you think they target men because typical men are the moneymaker not all of them but probably 60 to 70 percent. They only want money they don't care if you get a fair divorce or not.

Personally I like to write favorable reviews. But not this time. I hired Cordell & Cordell for my case in Northern CO. Upfront they were great until I dealt with the attorney they assigned me to. She was very insensitive, had low-lethargic energy & unsupportive; some of her response times for my concerns took several business days for her to get back. The final time that this happened was exactly 4 business days for a response by her. I fired the firm because she stressed me out more than I was before I hired them to take my case. Plus, not 1 phone call from her to try to save the account. Still haven't had one from the firm. The customer service for being on the man's side was awful. Do not hire these guys on a whim just because you listen to Sports Radio. Get a referral through a friend.

Gave attorney swift 5 years of police reports all concerning my wife nothing was done with them, not even brought up in conversation when i asked. Was told i would be able to walk through the house and split the assets evenly then nothing happened and was sent the divorce paperwork three days before the court date and told to look them over and if i have any questions about it to call her but she advised my to sign it and get it back it back to her notorized and signed within a day. Needless to say i lost everthing in the house thousands of dollars in tools all because my attorney sucked.

I invested several years and many thousands of dollars in Kristin Zurek and in Cordell & Cordell. They advertised themselves as lawyers dads can count on. But both behaved unethically and unprofessionally.

As my case drew to a close, I raised concerns with Kristin about the quality of legal services I had received. In short, the judge's position contradicted the vast majority of Kristin's legal advice. Rather than discuss my concerns, Kristin filed a motion to withdraw, leaving me without representation only days before trial. Because I followed Kristin's advice, my ex-wife's harmful parenting remains unchecked, and I am in no better position to help my children.

Follow-up attempts with the firm's Client Care division, with management partner Kimberly Gray, and with founding partner Joseph Cordell were unhelpful. I posed questions about quality of legal advice, commitment to clients, major discrepancies between projected and actual costs, truth in advertising, value of services, and the client care process. Across emails and phone calls, my concerns were repeatedly sidestepped, and in every interaction I was treated more like a witness to be cross-examined than a paying client. When the Missouri Bar became involved, both Kristin and Cordell & Cordell refused to cooperate.

I cannot recoup my investment, nor can I reverse the negative outcome for my children. But if you're reading this, you can avoid my missteps. Dads: don't hire Kristin, nor any Cordell & Cordell attorney. You cannot count on them.

Hired Cordell & Cordell for representation in a court order. The court hearing was postponed and only had a couple phone calls with the attorney. He billed over 7 hours in 2 weeks and we never met face to face. He just does paperwork and emails to increase the billable hours. This firm does not fight for men. Go to another attorney and do NOT use Cordell & Cordell.

I am the full time father of three going through a divorce. We moved to Oregon from Idaho. Idaho ruled that Oregon had jurisdiction for the divorce. My ex appealed that decision and I retained this firm. They were very hard to keep in contact with and i seemed to have to suggest things to file and how to fight the appeal so that they knew what direction to take. The appeal was won however, the court didn't specify that my ex was responsible for attorney fees. My lawyer said that he would file a motion for clarification. I paid them the $5000 retainerin the beginning. They racked up an additional $12k plus in expenses in just a few months. About a month after I had last spoken to anyone about my case I saw that they still had not filed that motion like they said they would. After asking them what happened, they sent me a nasty email on how they weren't going to file anything unless I paid $2000/ month or paid my bill in full! WTF? So they refused to finish the job on literally the last thing needed on this case because I had not yet paid them in full? I paid my retainer and never once had a conversation with them close to this except with my lawyer when I told him about my financial circumstances and need for them to pursue my ex for funds because I am raising the three kids on my own with a severe disability and no support from anyone.

Sever ethical deficiency with this firm!

Don't waste your money like I did. I engaged them because they advertise about saving "men" money in a divorce. They told me I needed to deposit $1800 as retainer. A few days later they told me my balance was negative and I needed to deposit another $1200. I told them to stop and not charge me for anything else, they had not even done anything yet except listen to me explain why I wanted a divorce. Once they stopped charging me, I was refunded $350 out of the $3,000 I had paid and I did not receive a single piece of assistance. Total waste of money and crooked ethics. Beware!

One star is generous! Don't make the same mistake I made to use Cordell and Cordell! They cost me thousands and continue to haunt me. They gave my case to an inexperienced rookie attorney who completely messed up my case. Don't believe them when they say they are helping dads! They are helping us lose more money! I would have been better off on my own. We got steamrolled in court and it was embarrassing. After the trial, my lawyer told me he screwed up and didn't blame me if I wanted to seek new representation! You are much better off seeking local representation in the county your case will be tried. Cordell has no relationships with judges and my guy didn't know the local procedures. Stay away from Cordell and Cordell!

I paid them thousands over the course of a year for them to make a few phone calls and not look into anything of concern to me about the divorce or custody and safety of my boys...

You'll get charged for everything but I think all lawyers are like that. The lawyer I used at Cordell was very helpful and good in the courtroom. I would recommend this law firm.

Probably the worst decision I have ever made when hiring a lawyer. Cordell and Cordell are terrible, they could care less about the client. I spent over $19,000 just to try and settle a custody suit but between the many many corrections that I had to me made to there work and the hours of pointless meetings and phone calls to remind them what I wanted them to do I ended up firing them and hiring a new lawyer.
I tried to work with them and I tried to give them room to work but at one point, it too my lawyer over a month to reply to one of my email! I had to follow up quite a few times just to get her to email back. The excuse I got, "sorry, I was busy with court".

This firm will run up your bill, I you will have to keep fixing there errors. I would avoid these people like the plague.

A partner men can count on to drain their wallet & screw them over. You'd be better off handling your case yourself.

I was told they have a new flat plan which would be a flat charge to take the case to trial. I paid $11k. The case kept dragging on to the point the attorney would send me my monthly statements essentially showing me that he is now working for half his normal rate. He was the one that pushed the flat rate but as it lowered his hourly rate since the case dragged on, he simply didn't care. The trial was over my children as my ex was doing everything she could to keep my kids from me. She had lie after lie after lie and yet never did I see the attorney request proof for the accusations. Furthermore I didn't see him show a pattern to the judge of her non stop accusations with no support. It got to the point my attorney said "they are just saying horrible things about you. Such terrible things that you have done." I didn't want to know because I know I was a good husband. Finally I get sick of him saying "oh they are saying such horrible stories about you" that I finally said what is being said? He states he doesn't have specifics but its really bad? Then the GAL did a report and sent it to the judge. The report had a story of a woman I was apparently dating and i was going to kill this woman for breaking up with me. It was a full story that had not 1 piece of evidence; no names, no time of year, no police report, no descriptions of anything to validate this happened at all. This woman I was going to kill claimed she didn't want to file charges against me but had no problem locating my ex wife from 10 years prior to tell her this story? It just simply couldn't be more far fetched and my attorney didn't question anything about the report. Literally my ex wife could have said anything she wanted as my attorney simply didn't dispute anything. I don't know how even a judge could have looked at this and not questioned it. Don't let their ads mislead you. They are simply another attorney that wants to take your money and do as little as possible.

I went into my divorce looking to get two things, one was joint custody, two was to keep my 401k intact. And this is w/o saying my other personal belongings also. After 18 long months and around 50-60k later I did get just that, joint custody and I got to keep my 401k. Everything else I lost including a lot of my personal belongings. Not only did my Ex give or sold some of my stuff, she damaged what was there! Pictures and videos of my Family she said we're stolen also. My attorney did NOT do a dam thing about it, he was more worried about extending the procedure and taking more money from me. The whole experience was dreadful and glad that it's all over with. My Ex is a Ex and I got rid of her and my attorney. Customer care called me just a little bit ago to ask me how my experience was with the firm, and wanted me to rate them 1-5. I said 0... They did NOT represent me at all! I felt like my attorney was fighting for my Ex the whole time. But feeling stuck and thinking that the misery would soon end, I stayed with the firm and continued to get screwed. There is NO way I would EVER promote or refer them to anyone! If I could, I would try and get a class action lawsuit against them just based on their claim to FIGHT for Fathers rights. I literally paid 40k to get joint custody of my son, so they never really did anything. Plus I came out of it having to pay child support also! How does that happen when one has "joint custody "?
You best bet is to NOT hire any of these crooks! Go find a cheaper lawyer who will do 100% better than what they can do. Their just in it for the money! They don't care about you or your kids.

Dear Joseph,

Your reputation online is impeccable. Almost righteous! When I first researched your company, I was impressed with your history, reputation, and outward display of spirituality. It's quite impressive. I've tried the bill of goods and I'm calling you a FRAUD. Your name is sub-labeled, 'The partner you can count on'. I'm contesting that claim. You employed a FRAUD on your staff in Greenwood Village, Colorado. I paid over $15,000 to your law firm to be misinformed, misled, extorted, delayed and refused service. I'm being absolutely destroyed in my case with no representation. Your attorney withdrew from my case. Then left your firm. I'm desperate to find someone I can count on…

As the sole provider for a family of four, my situation wasn't pretty. I didn't want a divorce. My wife was leaving me and nothing was agreeable. I really needed help. I was assigned a retirement attorney. My Cordell attorney was dishonest & misleading. His advice was wrong. It led to multiple missteps during my case. We had two failed mediations; both of which were stopped by him. Ultimately, his plan was to delay everything till next year. I couldn't accept the failure so I pushed the negotiations myself. I gave up a lot. I gave hundreds of thousands, over the next ten years of my life. Gave up fighting for visitation. I literally got destroyed. Your attorney wouldn't come out from behind his email. After the sale of my family home and disbursement of funds, my attorney refused service. He wouldn't provide an escrow account that was documented in the separation agreement. I literally sat on the check for over a month hoping for service. His billing continued as our communication completely degraded. His assistant reached out after a month to 'catch-up' and quickly discovered that I had lost confidence and was seeking advice elsewhere. Your attorney withdrew without a conversation…with his client.

Enter your client mitigation team: Joseph, you have hit the ball out of the park. I now understand why your reputation is so impeccable. The filter is amazing! They are absolutely outstanding at the gate-keep, energized, and spirited at keeping the reputation alive. Do they have the authority to issue a full refund? Because I'm asking for a full refund and apology. The above referenced experience is still evolving. It speaks volumes that I've had more interaction with your client mitigation team than my disgraced attorney. I don't believe he represented you in good-faith either. I plan on launching a formal complaint against him with the Colorado Bar. Separate from this request. The pain he's caused is immeasurable and personal.

I've been convinced that contacting you is nearly impossible, so I'll aim for Bonita Springs first. I'm actually from Florida, so I know Esperia South well. I'll fire a hard copy to 2507 with a digital copy to your firm address (Kathy Edson) and *******@affintec.com. If my correspondence fails to inspire. Then I'll picture this letter for internet distribution until I hear from you. I've been complaining for a while with no resolution. I believe Cordell's priority of online reputation far exceeds the success of my case, so I'll leverage that priority until you respond in kind.

Sincerely,
Jay Frank

I believe I was misled by firm Kristin Zurek personnel August 2012 who told me I could expect a 60% property distribution in a divorce in which the other spouse committed marital misconduct. When meeting on or before 8/16/2012, I provided Kristen Zurek all the details of the misconduct that happened and was assured I'd be victorious in getting the lions share of marital assets at 60%. After engaging the firm and paying $10,000+ in fees and retainers, the attorney assigned to my case William J. Halaz III began backstroking on the probability of me getting a 60% distribution and hence the divorce ended up with me only getting a 50% distribution. Obviously this specific firm and staff must have some statistical data on marital misconduct cases to backup the assertion that their typical marital misconduct cases result in a 60% asset distribution to their clients. It appears that I was provided misleading information simply for the purposes of signing an engagement letter to hire the firm with high expectations and little actual results. At 50,000 feet it seems apparent to me now that the Missouri courts could care less if marital misconduct was evident, the marital estate will generally be divided 50/50, so where does Cordell & Cordell get justification to exclaim 60/40 asset divisions in cases of marital misconduct? Improper advertising
Furthermore, the 10 commandments of the firm were violated in that #7 states that I will receive timely copies of correspondence created or reviewed in the case. I did not receive 100% of such items and often was simply sent an email from Christianna Arnold-Travers that case correspondence was just received and if I wanted to request copies, the correspondence would then be provided to me. Why do I have to request this material information when it is required to be provided to me without any action on my behalf? This exposed me to significant risk. HOW was I to defend myself in trial against documents OC would present to me without having any idea of what they might have regarding my personnel files and such? I've never seen my personnel files but they were subpoenaed by OC and they had them in their war chest and I was uninformed of what might be presented during deposition and at trial, because I never received copies of the correspondence OC had from Cordell & Cordell staff. Neglect of legal matters
Furthermore, the case appeared to be grossly mishandled from the start all the way to the finish. There were numerous missteps on my behalf by my attorney that put me and my children in harms way. For gods sake, my wife was taken to jail during the trial 6/19/2013 for attempting to bring a loaded pistol into the courtroom without a CCW permit. It never occurred for William Halaz my attorney to protect me and my children from death with a restraining order or ex parte and she returned home to our residence later that night with unknown intentions as me and my children lie asleep. Furthermore, the trial should have continued despite her going to jail, but my attorney just rolled over and volunteered to postpone the trial resulting in yet more concessions of assets from my distribution and yet more legal fees for another day of trial. I was under the impression if a spouse fails to show up for divorce trial, they forfeit and the other spouse gets what they want? I was not given this opportunity since the trial was postponed. I paid a premium price for substandard legal service. Neglect of legal matters. Furthermore, I received a text message from Mr. Halaz 6/19/2013 3:49 p.m. stating "ha ha, you'll be happy to know everyone at the office has gotten a kick out of that story" breach of confidentiality. I'm glad to see the firm had a laugh but never thought about protecting me and my children from a gun carrying spouse with an axe to grind who returned home to us that night. Nice.
I requested information from the firm regarding malpractice insurance carrier and was declined any information by Stacey Carlton of Cordell & Cordell.
The firm failed to be structurally organized in preparing me as a client for deposition by not alerting me to common inquiries like children birthdays, teacher names, coach names, etc making me stumble and look like an idiot when involved in a custody battle. Inadequate communication
Rock Kessler was engaged as an expert witness to ascertain my income potential and my spouses since his expertise was financial employment as a recruiter, but William Halaz only registered/filed him as an expert to ascertain my spouses income and not mine leaving me no defense at the trial in court. Kessler's opinion was that my income would be $55,000 per year considering my criminal history, but since Mr. Halaz filed him so narrowly as a witness to the wifes income only, he could not be admitted to defend OC position that my income should be $70,000 per year and as a result I'm paying more child support than I can afford. Furthermore, Mr. Halaz failed to ask Mr. Kessler for his opinion on my income potential during the deposition leaving me defenseless at trial which resulted in an overstatement of my income calculated by OC. Neglect of legal matters. Furthermore OC and spouse alleged $20,000 of unreported income was received by the business but Mr. Halaz never requested specifics regarding who, what, when, how much to support such a ridiculous assertion, but this frivolous amount was used to project my income potential as calculated by OC. Neglect of legal matters
Mr. Halaz said I could do my business valuation and failed to engage an independent expert witness for valuation of my business and instead, relied upon my finance background in auditing to challenge OC as an impartial witness/expert. How can I be an expert at trial attesting to my business valuation, when I've never done a business valuation and I'm not independent? That's ridiculous. OC engaged a seasoned CPA professional, and as a result, we had to file for a motion/late entry of an expert Robert Offerman of Hochschild Bloom and Co and I incurred additional legal fees to get the judge to allow him as an expert after the submission deadline and defend OC opposition to strike Offerman only because Mr. Halaz failed in his duties to protect my best interest by listing a qualified expert other than myself. It was like expecting a personal injury lawyer (Me) to defend a lawsuit regarding a patent case(my business valuation). Neglect of legal matters
Mr. Halaz wanted to subpoena work records from the wifes prior employer Fidelity Mortgage from 8 years ago. I advised him that I would provide him with the current address of Fidelity Mortgage since the firm had moved several times but instead of waiting to get the address from me, he sent a subpoena to an address from a 2004 Form W-2 which was undeliverable and I was charged $187 for several failed attempts to deliver the subpoena to an invalid address more than once. I requested a refund and was declined. Neglect of legal matters
OC Michael Schechter filed a motion to suppress a change in judges and according to Mr. Halaz OC misstated the law and was baseless and hence he would request reimbursement of legal fees to defend since it was baselesss, but Mr. Halaz never refunded me the legal costs to appear in court 11/14/2012 for the matter after its dismissal, despite his assertion I would be fully reimbursed all costs. It appears Mr. Halaz confronted OC and advised him of his error, and OC withdrew is motion, but yet I incurred the legal cost without any reimbursement. Mr. Halaz let the cat out of the bag. Neglect of legal matters
In June 2013 I went to Mr. Halaz office to sign affidavits for final filings of my statement of assets. I signed the sheet which had an attaching excel spreadsheet, but Mr. Halaz changed amounts on the statement after I signed it regarding a wedding ring, household window treatments and other items marking them as both non-marital property and/or significantly undervalued in contrast to what I believed I was filing with the court and he never advised me of his changes until I noticed them after filing with the court. He should have alerted me to his changes so that I could have had input. When I questioned him on the changes, he said it was just better to go along with OC figures than to argue it. I still disagree considering the wedding ring was a replacement paid for with marital funds. Inadequate communication.
In June 2013, Mr. Halaz advised me that he would subpoena one of the affair partners of my wife Rick DuBose to appear at the trial in order to leverage a settlement by the spouse. I told him I agree to the strategy, but Mr. Halaz never followed thru on the plan and did not subpoena Mr. Dubose resulting in more concessions of assets from my pool of property. Neglect of legal matters
The firms software was outdated and not compliant with the data I provided them regarding schedules, appraisals, etc. and resulted in me incurring additional legal fees for his assistant to convert/recreate my work for listing as exhibits for trial.
Spouse received $1,000,000+ in property, stocks, mutual funds, cash, estate property, etc but her Schedule 14 had zero income despite the income she is and has been receiving over the years from investments and would be earning more after adding liquid assets from her deceased mothers estate. Having NO investment income on her Form 14 resulted in me paying more child support than required. Neglect of legal matters
At the end of trial day on 6/21/2013 we were to divide all bank accounts 50/50 and I informed Mr. Halaz that the spouse still had $10,000 in an account to pay for legal fees and since it was still there and unspent I'd get 50% of it. It appears that Mr. Halaz then informed OC of the situation which resulted in a specific exclusion of that money from distribution. This resulted in a loss of $5,000 from my assets and directly related to my assertion that Mr. Halaz notified OC of the unspent $. It seems Mr. Halaz chose OC and the respondent over his client interests. Breach of confidentiality neglect of legal matters
I did not waive my rights at deposition and at trial there was no notarized signature on depositions so how is that supposed to be admissible to defend my case at trial.
My criminal background report was inadmissible because a certified copy was not requested for court, resulting in my income potential to be overstated because this mishap and Halaz narrow filing of the expert witness, caused my child support calculation to be overstated.
Opposing counsel alleged I had $20,000 of unreported income that was added to my income potential for child support but Halaz never requested documented proof of this allegation by my wife who was a 50% business partner. My Halaz was in agreement that my income potential was less than $40,000 before trial, but we were forced to consent to $70,000 of income because we had no defense since my background report could not be used nor our expert.
My parenting plan states that I am responsible for 55% of college tuition for my children. Mr Halaz never informed me that college tuition was unenforceable in MO and now I have a huge potential liability for college tuition that I oppose to. Had I been advised that it was optional and not enforceable, I'd never had agreed to being responsible for it.
Halaz also encouraged me with regards to alimony, to pay a lump sum payment of $24k tax free to the Ex-wife which is fine, but I did'nt get a credit on child support as a result and her monthly income was therefore understated by $1,000 per month. I was never informed by Mr. Halaz of the child support consequences of that decision.
Furthermore, I have my kids 35.6% of the time overnight and I'm only getting credit on my child support of 10% for overnight stays. That is grossly unfair and I'd never had signed off on the divorce had I known that then.