MY EXPERIENCE WITH BARRY T. WARD

I've always been a very resourceful individual and I thought I had done my homework choosing a Family Law Attorney to Handle My Divorce. As a listener to the popular Radio Show "Bill Handel on The Law" I searched his website, www.handelonthelaw.com in search of a respectable Divorce Attorney. Based on the Radio Show and Mr. Handel's reputation I assumed that only the cream of the crop attorneys would be listed as referrals on his Website. This is where I found Barry T. Ward of the Law Offices of Barry T. Ward. By all appearances this guy had to be great as the Handel on the Law Website even had a big red stamp next to his name like this: So this Barry T. Ward had to be a fairly good attorney, right? I mean the Handel on the Law people certainly took a close look at him before offering him up to people who going through one of the most difficult and emotional periods of their lives, didn't they? They even have posted next to his name "Experienced and Committed" and when you click on his Profile You see these words in quotations The Law Offices of Barry T. Ward-- "Where Every Client Is Important." So that must mean this guy is really going to work for me, right? Well, Sadly Barry T. Ward based on my experience and research I have done on him since, in my opinion appears to be an Attorney with a Hidden Agenda. What is a Hidden Agenda you ask? I recommend you take a moment to visiting this Website that not only details Divorce Attorney's hidden agendas, but is also helpful in other areas when selecting a Divorce Attorney. While waiting in Mr. Ward's office I read through his Brochure which touted that Mr. Ward had handled hundreds of cases and that the initial consultation was free and he was even available on evenings and weekends. Just like the brochure and the ad on Handel on the Law indicated, it appeared that at the Law Offices of Barry T. Ward, "Every Client is Important." Barry T. Ward talks a good game during the hiring process. He told me most everything I wanted to hear and then placed a document in front of me that said "Retainer Agreement-Domestic Relations Matters" which called for a retainer fee of $5000 at an hourly attorney rate of $350 per hour and $100 hourly rate for his staff. I was very distraught while in Mr. Ward's office and for reasons other than being distraught I can't explain why I didn't notice the words "No portion of the retainer is ever refundable" in the agreement. Had I noticed that, it would have sent out a red flag, because why would an attorney keep funds he did not earn? I mean if he spent 10 hours on the case for $3500, doesn't it seem fair to return the remaining $1500? Mr. Ward eluded that I had a fairly simple divorce case with no major fortune to divide with California being community property state and my being resolved that I'd have about 20% custody of our son. So this gave all appearances that I'd never spend $5000 on the divorce. It appeared as though it was going to be fairly smooth sailing going forward. I could not have been more wrong. One thing that made me feel comfortable with Mr. Ward was how he wasn't all business during the hiring process or in later meetings and phone calls. He talked about other cases, his hobbies (Motorcycles) and various non-case related issues. I remember thinking he wasn't a clock watcher.....WRONG! Things began breaking down within the first week as I quickly realized Mr. Ward was a bad choice, but I was stuck with him because had me locked into an non-refundable retainer and I could quickly see he was going to eat through it without actually working for me. Although I had asked for monthly billing statements on the first day in his office and made several other requests afterwards, I did not receive my first Billing Statement(s) until nearly 8 months after I hired Mr. Ward. When I did get this statement, I was shocked. Without making a single court appearance, Mr. Ward had billed me $3547. Mr. Ward had basically stalled on doing any work on my case, but some how managed to eat up over 70% of the retainer on items that in my opinion amounted to bill padding. Some of these charges included the following *$712 for "Set up Intake" and "Start New Client File" *$50 to "Serve Notice of Unavailability" *$465 in Telephone Calls *$250 for "Office Visits" *$230 in "Letters" *$170 to "Dictate Letter" *$1225 for "Preparation of Demand for Production" Long before the billing statement finally arrived it had become clear that every client was not important as advertised. I got letters and phone calls that seem to serve no purpose and the things I was asking Mr. Ward to do, he wasn't doing. The Bill confirmed my fears that Mr. Ward was an Attorney who had a Hidden Agenda, which was to eat up the retainer by padding the bill. Nearly 15% of the retainer was eaten up just hiring the man and what would become a standard in EACH AND EVERY office visit and phone call, the time billed did not add up. Suspecting a Bill padding, every time I visited Mr. Ward's office I made a Cell Phone call before entering Mr. Ward's building and after existing his office and in EACH AND EVERY case, the cell phone records show that I was over billed for time that would have otherwise overlapped these phone calls. His office was even a bigger abuser with Phone calls as I was careful to always use my cell phone when taking to his office. In EACH AND EVERY case I was over billed or Double Billed when comparing my cell phone bills to what Mr. Ward's office billed. NOT EVEN A SINGLE PHONE CALL WAS PROPERLY BILLED! I even got double billed when his office called me to reschedule an office visit. You would think when they reschedule it would be on their dime, but not at the offices of Barry T. Ward "Where Every Client Is Important." Mr. Ward billed letters by his staff at $50 or more each, meaning it took them over one half of an hour to prepare a letter. Gee I don't think so. My 9 year old could type a letter faster given that nearly every letter was one or two (most likely cut and pasted) paragraphs. I was charged 3 1/2 hours of attorney time for something called "Preparation of Demand for Production" at a whopping cost of $1225. To this day I have no idea what that charge is for and although I have made repeated requests for my file, Mr. Ward has not returned it to me as he is legally required to do. I can't begin to imagine what this man could have possibly done for 3 1/2 hours, but whatever it was, it wasn't authorized and I strongly suspect, it's another example of bill padding to eat up a retainer. My favorite charge is the $50 to "Serve Notice of Unavailability." On a later billing he did this a 2nd time, but this time he billed me $90 billed as $50 for "Preparation Notice of Unavailability" and $40 for "Serve and File Notice of Unavailability." The wording is slightly different among the 3 charges, but the meaning is basically the same. Mr. Ward is charging to go on Vacation. Yep, that's right! The Notice of Unavailability is nothing more than a document stating that Mr. Ward will be unavailable during about 40 days out of the year. Now I need to frame this for you, Mr. Ward claims in his advertising that he "Has Handled Hundreds of Family Law Cases." This implies that he has handled at least 200 cases. If we were to assume that Mr. Ward had exactly 200 cases and he filed the unavailability notice for every client, at $140 that I was charged would equate to $28,000 in charges so that Mr. Ward can voluntarily take time off. Now the argument here is that if he didn't file this, the opposing counsel might schedule something and then you're not represented. So in turn Mr. Ward must feel he needs to file this notice and of course if he did it for a simple case like mine, he would need to do it for every case, otherwise he would be acting incompetently. However, the question here is, should a client have to pay because the attorney has elected to take time off? My guess would be that most attorneys do not charge for this....But those with Hidden Agendas do. The $170 to "Dictate Letter" is another good one that I can personally attest to. I was in Mr. Wards office (for 10 minutes according to my cell records) and of course was billed for 18 Minutes (3 tenths of one hour) and while I was there in his office, Mr. Ward dictated that letter to his staff which took all of about 60 seconds, yet I am billed for the same 18 minutes of Attorney time, thus double billing me again. Even worse, he charges me 36 minutes (6 tenths of an hour) of staff time for this same dictation. Then later a $50 charge to actually do the letter. I believe it's becoming clear why "Every Client Is Important." Every Client is Important because every client represents what Appears to be a opportunity to Pad the bill, or at least this was the case for me. I received two other Billing Statements in 2 of the next 3 months. It was more of the same. Over billed phone calls, over billed letters and about $800 in reviewing documents (Over 2 1/2 Hours) which amounted to having me write my entire court response (9 Pages) and him replacing the word "Plaintiff" as I had placed in my response with the word "Petitioner" which of course everyone knows will make or break your case. In the end, the response was likely not even seen by the Judge as Mr. Ward folded to my Wife's $200 an hour attorney in the hallways of the courthouse, coming to me with a 90-10 split offer on custody our 9 year old and threatened to quit right there on the spot if I didn't take that deal. Here I had waited nearly a year to get into court on a simple temporary custody matter and had some cause to be considered as the custodial parent, and Mr. Ward did NOTHING for me. Mr. Ward completely ignored all of my requests in my response declaration and often had to refer to that document while in the court hallways. For all the review he charged me for, one would think he'd have my declaration memorized. After refusing Mr. Ward's advice of 10% custody, I finally got him to get my Wife's attorney to agree to 20% custody. However, He was one seriously angry person because I had dared to question his authority that I should have taken a 90-10 custody spilt. As soon as the hearing was over; Mr. Ward's first words were that he was quitting and that I should find a new attorney. There is no question that Mr. Ward was completely useless to me as a Family Law Attorney and did nothing for me in the end that I couldn't have done by myself. After billing me nearly $8000 Mr. Ward filed with the court to withdrawal from the case, using the excuse that our relationship had broken down, leaving my divorce nearly completely unresolved and leaving me without an attorney. Then I got to thinking.....Maybe he does this to everybody? Maybe this is what he does? So I began to investigate him and was not surprised by what I've found. After searching Public Court records I have discovered that Mr. Ward withdrawals from a lot of cases (Or gets the client to fill out a Substitution of Attorney). I am still in the process of reviewing his cases in the Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, but from what I have reviewed to date, I am of the opinion that Barry T. Ward preys on emotionally distraught individuals at a time they need his help the most. I believe Mr. Ward purposely collects non-refundable retainers and then systematically runs though that retainer and attempts to collect more from the client and then withdraws from the case, leaving the client in debt and having to retain other counsel to complete their Divorce. I believe the Client then feels embarrassed and humiliated and just takes the hit rather than stand up for themselves after being taken financially and emotionally for a ride. They are reluctant to stand up for themselves and find that they can't sue Mr. Ward because their retainer agreement calls for Binding Arbitration, which is very expensive versus a simple small claims action, which would in most cases easily handle loses up to $7500. Therefore the client is some what bullied by Mr. Ward's tactics and they feel the can't take on an attorney who knows the law. Well my friends don't underestimate your rights as a consumer or the power of what several angry clients can do to an Attorney with a Hidden Agenda. It is my hope that current and former clients of Mr. Ward will Contact Me with their experiences with Mr. Ward so that we can work together with the California Bar Association in the hope that Mr. Ward will be disbarred for violating the attorney code of ethics and not working in the best interests of his clients. It is also my hope that in the event Mr. Ward is not disbarred, that any potential clients are forewarned about Mr. Wards practices and can weigh the evidence to determine if they should retain Mr. Ward. As I continue to investigate Mr. Ward in the coming months I will be posting public documents where he withdraws from cases in progress. In the meantime, the Orange County Superior Court offers records of Mr. Ward's cases online at www.occourts.org I have also posted a recent list of court cases from Orange County Courts that is listed Here and if you put any of these case numbers into the OC Court website you will find many cases of Withdrawals and Substitutions of Counsel.