Rate and Review R. Michael Collum

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- Worst Attorney Doesnt Read Unprepared - - Duggie - 9/13/2022 - flag as inappropriate - comment
Worst lawyers ever and he fails most of his clients. He did not even read my file before interacting with the opposing counsel. If he had he would have known not to waste more of my time! Oh and he billed me for it I had to ask him or shall I say her to take it off! That's not the only part! Then at the very end my lawyer messes up filling so the judge denies my divorce for another 90 days! Then when he goes back he forgets to attach the correct paper work again! He does not tell me any of this either I get notified in the mail by the court system! He thinks it's funny but I got the last laugh by firing this clown.

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- Over Charging Scoundrel - - Doug - 9/10/2022 - flag as inappropriate - comment
This law firm has incredibly shady and unethical billing practice. they bill for EVERYTHING. every time i emailed or sent a text to my lawyer i was billed for 10 minutes. i would have to send four emails to get a response and would get billed for each one. I cut my losses and found a new lawyer (SO much better) and realized that they do not care about results. They want your case to linger on so they can keep billing you. They asked my permission to bill my card on file. I said no and they went ahead and did it anyway. Even their paralegals bill out at $195 an hour and they pay her $25 an hour. And if i asked the paralegal a question i was billed at that rate and then also at the lawyers rate because they would relay my question to the attorney and then get back to me. Do not use them under any circumstance for a family law case. They are the most shady and untethical family law firm. Avoid Michael Collum and David Handel. Two bumbling goofs!

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- Poor Representation - - William - 8/25/2022 - flag as inappropriate - comment
So disappointed. The interests of my daughter were not represented, nor were mine. My lawyer (R Michael Collum) seemed to care less about trying to get me time with my daughter and more about making his job easy by simply acquiescing to the oppositions demands. My lawyer is (was) not a partner, maybe that was the problem, but I paid an exorbitant amount for services rendered and ended up with a legally binding custody agreement in which I have less rights and less time with my daughter than I did when I started. I was also advised not to cause issues, which meant I didn't see my child for, essentially, the entirety of litigation; which was 8 months. I do not recommend this firm and Michael is a dirtbag. Additionally I was charged for services well after the agreement was signed, which were unrequested. Read the fee agreement closely, if you don't terminate services in writing they will continue to "work" on your behalf, and yes, you will be legally obligated to pay.

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- Horrible Attorney Worst Ever - - Oscar - 8/21/2022 - flag as inappropriate - comment
Review of R Michael Collum Attorney Los Angeles UPDATE: I hope after reading the reply to my updated review people will see and realize the true unprofessional and rediculous behavior this law firm is truly capable of. "This guy" are the words the owner of this law firm uses to describe me, knowing he wouldn't say any of these lies to me in person. This law firm has broken a number of laws and I would like any attorney reading these reviews to feel free to contact to me so this law firm can be out of the business of family law where they belong. I have proof of emails between the owner and I of him begging me to take down my reviews, and after me ignoring him he starts offering me money to take them down to get my attention. After refusing to take multiple offers he offered me I finally tell him to give me my full refund I spent with them because I felt sorry for all the whining he was doing trying to make me feel guilty for not agreeing to take down my reviews. I have all proof of these emails to back up my case and everything else I'm saying. But now he's calling me an extortionist when he's the one who reached out to me and constantly offered me multiple offers of money after I denied his offers multiple times and didn't even ask for money in return. The principle was way more important to me then the money. And now he's claiming that I posted other negative business reviews on the same day but they got deleted but for some odd reason and yours didn't? That's because it never happened. Having to lie and slander my name just to make yourself and your law firm look even worse then you already have is pathetic. I have proof for everything I have said and I would love to see proof for the lies you have provided. Stay away from this law firm or this could be you. REVIEW UPDATE: After reading my review this law firm has reached out to me and offered to pay me money to take my review down from all sites I have posted it. After reading back on there reviews I notice that most of the 1 star reviews they had on here are now gone. This is because they are paying people off to delete their negative reviews and when they don't agree they threaten to take legal action. Turns out it is illegal for them to bribe people to take their reviews down for money. After impacting the lives of my family in so many ways they are now theatening to take legal action if I don't take down my reviews because I wouldn't agree to the number they offered. Makes you wonder if the people who posted 5 star reviews were paid to do so or if they are even real. I will continue updating my review so people will know what time of law firm this really is and what type of people they really are. My previous review still stands and here it is below. Be very careful with this law firm. I went here thinking I was getting the best representation money could buy for custody of my daughter. After thousands of dollars wasted I realized that was not the case. Not only did this law firm max out my retainer before mediation after telling me my retainer fees would be good at least up to the court date but they dropped me as a client just a week before the scheduled mediation and left me struggling to find an attorney before my mediation date. Not only that but after communicating with the person I was going to court with they told me that Michael Collum was very unprofessional because he broke our client attorney agreement by telling the other attorney personal things that we talked about and told them they dropped me because they couldn't provide me the service I asked for. This law firm is very shady and has no business practicing family law. I trusted the good reviews I saw on here when going with this law firm but there is no way they are accurate. If I could give them negative stars as a rating I would.

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- R Michael Collum - - William - 8/19/2022 - flag as inappropriate - comment
Generally using Michael Collum through my divorce was not to my advantage. Throughout the case it felt more like check the box than zealous representation. Sales pitch at the initial consult was entirely different from the real world approach. In the divorce there were several ambiguities in the decree and settlement agreement that ended up costing me. In addition, the case dragged on for some time. It was only after talking with his partner that things got moving more quickly. I attempted to have a strategy meeting at one point, only to have a form decree read to me. I ended up with a very standard divorce decree for a premium price. His fees were 4x the fixed fee quotes I received, but I went with Michael Collum expecting premium service. In the end, he pushed me off as a referral to another lawyer to clean up some of the mess and this guys name is David Handel. He actually fell through with that also, and stopped returning calls. There was a procedural issue that could have been solved simply, but he missed it, and cost me some money. It wasn't an easy case, but his advice was not particularly good. Essentially he told me to follow all the rules, while my ex did whatever she wanted. Then coward Michael was afraid to enforce my rights for fear of upsetting the judge. This turned out to be a huge problem for me. Granted he and his paralegal did get the correct forms in on time. More than once I got an email at 3:30 requesting a notarized copy of something by 4:30 the same day. All in all, would not recommend.