Reviews

I asked Barry Ross what he would charge for a simple POA. He quoted me the following in writing, which I still have, "My fee is $800. The preparation time is 2 business days." When I asked him what it would take get started Barry changed his tune and stated "My initial consultation fee is $400. My retainer is $4000. Call me for an appointment." That's it. NO explanation as to his reneging on his original quote. When I asked why the change, Barry stated "If you disagree with my fee schedule, you may retain another attorney to represent you." Never did he explain his change in fees. It seems the only thing he was interested in was sucking a retainer out of me. Now, I do not mind giving a retainer, I require a 5K retainer from my clients to start so I totally understand, but when Barry quoted me one thing in writing and turned around asked for $4400.00, it seemed shady. So I am taking Barry's advise and hiring another lawyer who is HONEST, TRUSTWORTHY and CAN KEEP HIS WORD. He still has not given an explanation as to why the drastic fee change.

MR. ROSS WILL COLLECT HIS RETAINER OF 5,000.00 QUICKLY AND HIS FEE IS 250.00 PER HOUR, BUT HE WILL CAREFULLY WIPE OUT HIS 5,000.00IN THE FIRST DAY. ONCE YOU ARE OVER THE SHOCK, HE WILL SAY ANOTHER 5,000.00 AND YOU FIGURE WELL-I CAN GIVE HIM ANOTHER 5,000.00 AND HOPEFULLY HE WILL GET IT RESOLVED OR YOU LOOSE YOUR INITIAL RETAINER OF 5,000.00 I CALL THIS A CATCH 22. HE TALKS A GOOD GAME BUT HE WAS NOT ABLE TO DO ANYTHING. SUCH A MESS. I CARRIED HIM BEFORE THE BOARD OF ATTORNEYS AND WAS ABLE TO GET BACK SOME OF THE MONEY HE CHARGED. MY CASE HE DESTROYED. BIG WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY. HE CHARGED ME 40,000 AND HE WAS NEVER ABLE TO EVICT SOMEONE FROM A HOME THAT WAS ON TITLE. NOW HE IS A REAL ESTATE ATTORNEY. BE CAUTIOUS WITH THIS ONE-

I have known and worked with Mr. Ross on a professional basis for seven years. His legal advice has always been spot on. He is an expert in his field of Homeowner Association Law. I live in a Community Association with a Board of Directors and there have been several legal issues that Mr. Ross has advised me on that have solved my concerns with the Association. I have recommended him to my friends and neighbors when they needed an Attorney with his specialty. And will continue to do so.

Proceed with extreme caution when dealing with Ross. He NEVER mentioned his outrageous minimum charges for phone calls and emails even though I discussed his billing, and competence in HOA law, in excruciating detail before agreeing to hire him. Beware! He charges a minimum of 93.75 to read each and every email, even if it only consists of one or two sentences. $187.50 per phone call, even if the call is a minute or two. And he bills these minimums for EVERY single call, or email. In reviewing his so-called "STANDARD AGREEMENT" it was easy to overlook these insane charges in that they are just a few lines above his office charges for copying documents and are presented just like the copying charges as .50 and .25 and are easily interpreted as document charges of .25 meaning 25 cents, unless one looks closely at the blurry email document and sees that .25 is defined in the sentence above as 25% of his $375 an hour fee. As a businessman, I have hired many attorneys, I have fought a case all the way to the State Supreme Court level, but never have I encountered anything like this, which is why it got past me. Most attorneys bill in 6 minute increments. When it became clear that Ross's fees were excessive - he wiped out my $3,750 retainer in the first 30 days without advancing my case in any way - I decided to get rid of him. Especially after he sent me an email stating that he would not do any other work till I replenished my retainer. Despite his statement, I received another invoice for $2,100; which I refused to pay. My new attorney told me to ignore him. Ross ended up filing a small claims suit. In place of wasting a day of my life traveling from Beverly Hills to Irvine, I chose to settle the matter out of court for pennies on the dollar. His knowledge of HOA law is poor, he is unable to answer simple questions concerning the Davis - Stirling Act. Worse, he was often not in control of the facts of my case. He actually suggested that IF he was successful in lowering the amount in dispute with my HOA by a few thousand dollars, that I could use the money to pay him. When I pointed out how ridiculous this concept was, he backed away from it. A review of the California State Bar Rules of Professional Conduct seem to suggest that his fees are unconscionable and therefore a violation. Think about it, six short phone calls on a clients behalf are billed at $1,125 even if they absorbed only 20 minutes of his time. Unconscionable! A brief exchange of emails... Again hundreds of dollars. Unconscionable!