Lawyers map
>222
experienced lawyers
Filter by
10 Mar, 2020 by Tonytmastic21 tonytmastic21
Bill ferris saved me. I was 21 and got an aggravated DWI when I went out celebrating that I was going to join the marines and I was to sign my release forms the following morning before my arrest. When I was released by the judge I was heartbroken and horrified as to how my future would turn out. The military didn't want me after everything was said and done but bill kept me from doing 1-3 and a felony conviction to 3 years probation with a misdemeanor. I was 21 years old and made a mistake. If it wasn't for bill I would be 31 now and an every day criminal because of that mistake. If I went to prison and came out a felon, no one would hire me. Bill kept that from happening even though I said I'd rather just go to jail for a year than walk on eggshells for 3 he told me to hold out and keep fighting because the quick way isn't the way you want to take. He is a good man, a good lawyer and is sincere. I haven't spoken to him since my conviction but I would recommend him to anyone. Thank you bill ferris
Read more
02 Nov, 2019 by Brodie darlow
We needed a lawyer to represent my wife in order to extend a peace order against a person living near us. We were given Mr. Ferris as a recommendation so we decided to use his service. We were completely dissatisfied with his lack of ability to not only get our names right in the court room, getting the date wrong by 10 years, and not fully representing my wife who was the plaintiff by performing a terrible job preparing. We left the courtroom wondering if he was senile considering how bad he did his job to help us, with expectation he would be compensated for his services. I highly encourage anyone considering his services to look elsewhere. There are many to choose from who have more fire and determination to do well than this old man who it appears to hold on to past experience and length of time as a lawyer to prove his adequacy or relevance in life. His license needs to be revoked!
Read more
04 Feb, 2025 by Renee coutourier
Unfortunately I have good things to say. My husband had several strokes and wasn't getting paid. At the time I was out of work due to surgery. They were very helpful with making payment arrangements that I could afford at the time,with No extra fees. They were actually more understanding than the community Association! It took some time to pay it off but its done and I thank them highly for their understanding and professionalism! Only thing I would add dont move to a HOA community!
Read more
04 Dec, 2024 by Christine west
I found everyone at Johnson's Law to be competent, friendly, well organized, honest, forthcoming and fair-prices. I highly recommend them. Plus, plenty of free parking, which is a big deal in Annapolis!
Read more
12 Sep, 2024 by John collins
Personal Understanding and Professional Service.
Read more
04 Feb, 2025 by Renee coutourier
Unfortunately I have good things to say. My husband had several strokes and wasn't getting paid. At the time I was out of work due to surgery. They were very helpful with making payment arrangements that I could afford at the time,with No extra fees. They were actually more understanding than the community Association! It took some time to pay it off but its done and I thank them highly for their understanding and professionalism! Only thing I would add dont move to a HOA community!
Read more
04 Dec, 2024 by Christine west
I found everyone at Johnson's Law to be competent, friendly, well organized, honest, forthcoming and fair-prices. I highly recommend them. Plus, plenty of free parking, which is a big deal in Annapolis!
Read more
12 Sep, 2024 by John collins
Personal Understanding and Professional Service.
Read more
05 Mar, 2024 by Lashenna johns
What man would openly admit to touching a child? None. What child would openly admit to a man touching them? None. So when a five-year old, child admits to it, we as adults should listen!
What a pathetic attorney, adult and overall human being! We as a whole are here to advocate for our children because they have no one else.
She doesn’t and will never have your child’s best interest at heart. She will most likely put them in harms way!
I definitely wouldn’t recommend Susan as an attorney!
Read more
15 Aug, 2019 by Mindy segal
I knew Susan since I was a kid. She helped my dad and then helped me with a custody case. She was fantastic until I needed to make adjustments. I don’t know what happened to her. It’s like she gave up. After I had paid her she went silent for months making up excuses that it was everyones fault but hers. It’s almost always the courts clerks fault. For some reason, the adjustments needed to be 2 separate court hearings, meaning more money and time. Anytime I asked questions or explanations, she was really good at making me feel dumb and called me a naïve child most of the time. She also refused to give me an invoice. I emailed and called but she almost always ignored or came up with excuses. Her dog ate it I guess. Anyway, I am still left with issues within my agreement and I still don’t have my invoice, years later, due to her negligence. I don’t know what happened to her.
Read more
07 Jul, 2017 by Alphonso nutwell
If you need someone to donate money to here's your person. You can hire her and give her money and when she quits the day before the court date she will keep your money. Really good if you want to lose your case and money. She's a crook and Carl Tenner is a joke.
Read more
05 Mar, 2024 by Lashenna johns
What man would openly admit to touching a child? None. What child would openly admit to a man touching them? None. So when a five-year old, child admits to it, we as adults should listen!
What a pathetic attorney, adult and overall human being! We as a whole are here to advocate for our children because they have no one else.
She doesn’t and will never have your child’s best interest at heart. She will most likely put them in harms way!
I definitely wouldn’t recommend Susan as an attorney!
Read more
15 Aug, 2019 by Mindy segal
I knew Susan since I was a kid. She helped my dad and then helped me with a custody case. She was fantastic until I needed to make adjustments. I don’t know what happened to her. It’s like she gave up. After I had paid her she went silent for months making up excuses that it was everyones fault but hers. It’s almost always the courts clerks fault. For some reason, the adjustments needed to be 2 separate court hearings, meaning more money and time. Anytime I asked questions or explanations, she was really good at making me feel dumb and called me a naïve child most of the time. She also refused to give me an invoice. I emailed and called but she almost always ignored or came up with excuses. Her dog ate it I guess. Anyway, I am still left with issues within my agreement and I still don’t have my invoice, years later, due to her negligence. I don’t know what happened to her.
Read more
07 Jul, 2017 by Alphonso nutwell
If you need someone to donate money to here's your person. You can hire her and give her money and when she quits the day before the court date she will keep your money. Really good if you want to lose your case and money. She's a crook and Carl Tenner is a joke.
Read more
05 Feb, 2021 by Anonymous
We hired Lynn Krause to handle the purchase of our home in the Annapolis area. We were from New York. We were told we didn't need an attorney, but decided to hire one anyway. He performed a title search on our behalf and was supposed make sure there was a clean title on the home we were purchasing. NOT UNTIL WE WERE IN KRAUSE'S OFFICE IN ANNAPOLIS AT THE DAY OF THE CLOSING TO PURCHASE THE NEW HOME, DID HE TELL US THAT THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE TITLE. IT REVEALED THAT THE DRIVEWAY WAS ACTUALLY ABOUT 10 FEET ONTO THE NEIGHBORS PROPERTY! Krause never called to inform us of the defective title. After moving out of our apartment, we were in Lynn Krause's office at the closing and had to go through with the purchase since we had nowhere to live. We have since discovered the he was on the Board of Directors of the title company at that time. This seems like a conflict of interest.
PS: It's about ten years since the purchase and we have been unable to sell the home because no one wants to buy it with this title issue.
Read more
27 Oct, 2014 by Be afraid
Do not use Jasen Adams. I cannot stress this enough. Mr. Adams does not practice; he malpractices. The statements and examples shown below are from verifiable events.
1. Mr. Adams does not follow up with clients supposedly because he is busy with cases, but he also misses court deadlines. In my case, he missed two key deadlines. If you cannot read a scheduling order and do not enjoy chasing down your own lawyer, give careful consideration to hiring Mr. Adams. His secretary can easily keep you apprised at no cost to you.
2. Mr. Adams increases his rates exponentially, but he fails to send notices about said increases. I feel he charged me for empty hours he could not fill with legitimate client work, basically because he has few clients.
3. Mr. Adams should send monthly invoices, but he does not do so. Yet the language in his engagement agreement gives the client a one-month window in which to contest the current invoice. In my case, Mr. Adams continually told me that absolutely nothing was going on in my matter, which told me that most of my retainer was intact; no bill=no charges, right? Mr. Adams did fabricate invoices when he was required to produce them, still claiming he had treated his fictional invoices as correct because I did not contest them. I cannot contest invoices I do not receive. Mr. Adams has no problem “fabricating” in general. He is passive-aggressive.
4. Mr. Adams does not keep accurate records of client payments. In my case, Mr. Adams claimed I owed him money, and that I had not paid amounts I knew I had paid him. Again, he also did not send invoices and did very little work. My retainers should have been substantially intact. He was quite comfortable as long as I could not locate statements for a credit card I had not used in years. Mr. Adams may be surprised to know that I finally found the statements in storage, and the statements are incontrovertible evidence that Mr. Adams lied to me and to others; he charged my card thousands of dollars for which he has never given an accounting. He is on record as stating I never paid him these amounts. His are the only transactions on these statements. Mr. Adams stole from me, kept inaccurate records and violated his ethical responsibility to use an escrow account.
5. When Mr. Adams his invoices, he charged me $100-or-more per hour for paralegal duties he claimed his secretary/receptionist had performed. There are no legitimate paralegal tasks on my bill such as legal research, subpoenas, reviewing medical records or preparing legal documents. Xerox copying and hole-punching are not paralegal tasks.
If you are desperate enough or naive enough to consider Jasen D. Adams as your advocate, don't. He will look you in the eye, eff up your case and rob you blind all at the same time. Staring at my credit card statements and the lies Mr. Adams had the gall to put in writing, I will be seeking a refund of the money he somehow lost through attorney oversight channels or the court or the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission. Do not put yourself in my shoes. You will be sorry. The most disturbing aspect of this is that Mr. Adams is the managing partner over a group of attorneys, so he can modify every bill that goes out of his office to his own benefit. Beware.
Read more
24 Sep, 2024 by Lorena campos
My husband was the victim of a vicious assault. State Attorney Shane Nolan was on top of my husband’s case and kept us informed throughout the process. Ms.Stephanie in the attorneys office followed up and reached out during this ordeal and at no point did I feel we weren’t a priority for them. While they take on an enormous amount of cases and I did have to follow up on some things, which we should also advocate and stay up to date on things and not let them take it all on , they did an incredible job and justice was served for my husband. I see some reviews that people didn’t get a phone call or an email. We never received anything in writing but again we the victims must advocate and do the work too, case search is free, the dockets are posted the day before and court dates can be found online, we can not expect the States Attorney’s office to be our personal assistant. Also for other victims please know you’re not alone the MD Crime Victims Resource Center was a great help as well in our case. The Anne Arundel County States Attorney’s Office did exceptional and we thank you!
Read more
05 Sep, 2024 by Gordon blackstone
I was beat up by my kids mother bleeding from the head and knee when all I was trying to do was pick my kids up witch is court order they officer took pictures and never came court plus the state never even called me about the case they threw her case out bout said they going to go through with the charge she press on me after the state press charges on her glen Jessi rivera-ruz did not do her job at all !!
Read more
29 Feb, 2024 by Joseph thumel
Don't get robbed at gun point by a state attorneys father. They'll give you petty sentence instead of an apology. I got robbed of at least 1100.00 in tools, developed ptsd, got a 30 day sentence, one year probation, an appeal bond paid with no release of incarceration and no refund for that bond either.
The guy even thanks his daughter (states attorney which I don't have to name), for the verdict in his victim advocate speech. I acquired testimony. It's all there! Sorry for giving one star on the review. This organization deserves less in my opinion.
Read more
Discover the ideal lawyer
You can search a lawyer by practice area, lawyer name, city, state, or ZIP code
FAQs
Questions? We have answers
What a Real Estate Lawyer Can Do for You
A real estate lawyer provides legal assistance in transactions and disputes involving property, including residential and commercial real estate. Whether you're buying, selling, leasing, or developing property, a real estate attorney can help ensure that your transactions are legally sound and your rights are protected. They review contracts, perform due diligence, resolve disputes, and provide legal representation in negotiations and litigation involving property matters.
Real estate lawyers are crucial in safeguarding your investment by ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal real estate laws, as well as protecting you from potential legal pitfalls related to property ownership and transactions.
When Should I Hire a Real Estate Lawyer?
Hiring a real estate lawyer is beneficial in various scenarios, including:
- Buying or selling property: When navigating complex real estate contracts, it’s advisable to have a lawyer review and ensure that the terms are favorable and legal.
- Commercial property transactions: For leasing, purchasing, or selling commercial properties, a lawyer can help manage the intricate legal aspects of such transactions.
- Zoning or land use issues: If you're planning to develop property or change its use, a real estate lawyer can guide you through zoning laws and land use regulations.
- Resolving property disputes: For boundary disputes, title issues, or disagreements over property rights, a lawyer can help mediate or litigate the matter.
- Foreclosures or evictions: If you're dealing with foreclosure or managing a tenant eviction, legal representation ensures that the process adheres to local laws and protects your interests.
- Title and deed issues: Lawyers can help clear title disputes, ensure the legitimacy of property deeds, and handle transfers of ownership.
What Does a Real Estate Lawyer Do?
A real estate lawyer provides a range of services to help with property transactions and disputes, including:
- Contract drafting and review: Ensuring that purchase agreements, leases, and other contracts are legally binding, fair, and protect your interests.
- Title search and clearance: Conducting a thorough title search to ensure that the property has no legal claims or liens that could affect ownership.
- Facilitate closing: Managing the closing process in real estate transactions, including reviewing final documents and ensuring that everything is in order before the transfer of ownership.
- Resolve disputes: Handling legal disputes related to property ownership, boundaries, zoning, or tenants.
- Assist in financing: Reviewing loan agreements and mortgage documents to ensure the terms are fair and legally sound.
- Zoning and land use advice: Guiding clients through the complexities of zoning laws and building regulations for property development or renovation projects.
How Are Real Estate Lawyers Paid?
Real estate lawyers typically charge for their services in the following ways:
- Flat fee: Many real estate transactions, such as reviewing a sales contract or assisting with a closing, are charged on a flat-fee basis.
- Hourly rates: If a lawyer is handling complex disputes or litigation, they may charge by the hour. Hourly rates can vary significantly based on the lawyer’s experience and location.
- Contingency fees: In rare cases, such as property disputes or claims for damages, a lawyer may work on a contingency fee basis, meaning they only get paid if you win or settle the case.
- Retainer: For ongoing legal support, some clients may pay a retainer, which is an upfront fee used as a deposit for future legal services.
It's important to clarify the fee structure with your attorney before hiring them to avoid any surprises.
How Much Does a Real Estate Lawyer Cost?
The cost of a real estate lawyer varies based on the complexity of the matter, the location of the property, and the lawyer’s experience. Key factors that affect pricing include:
- Type of transaction or issue: Simple tasks, like contract reviews, typically cost less than handling a complex property dispute or litigation.
- Experience and location: More experienced lawyers or those in high-demand areas, like urban centers, often charge higher rates.
- Billing structure: Lawyers may charge a flat fee for basic services like document review or hourly for more time-intensive work such as disputes or litigation.
Flat fees for straightforward services like closing assistance may range from $500 to $1,500.
Hourly rates can range from $150 to $400 or more, depending on the attorney’s experience and location.
Always discuss fees upfront to understand the overall cost of the legal service you're receiving.
Top Questions to Ask a Real Estate Lawyer
Before hiring a real estate lawyer, ask the following questions to ensure they are the right fit for your legal needs:
-
What experience do you have with real estate law?
Ensure the lawyer has experience in the type of real estate transaction or dispute you’re facing, whether residential, commercial, or development-related. -
What is your fee structure?
Ask how the lawyer charges for services - whether it's a flat fee, hourly rate, or retainer - so there are no surprises later on. -
How long will the process take?
Especially important for real estate transactions or disputes with deadlines, ask for a general estimate of how long the process will last. -
Have you handled cases similar to mine?
Experience with similar transactions or disputes can give you confidence that the lawyer knows how to handle your case. -
Will you handle my case personally, or will it be passed to another attorney?
Confirm who will be handling the bulk of your case work, especially in larger firms where junior lawyers may take on some responsibilities. -
Can you provide references?
Speaking with past clients can give you insight into the lawyer's experience and how they handle cases.
How to Check the Credibility of a Real Estate Lawyer
To ensure you’re hiring a reputable real estate lawyer, take these steps:
- Check with the state bar association: Verify that the lawyer is licensed and in good standing with no disciplinary actions on their record.
- Read online reviews and testimonials: Look for reviews on legal directories and platforms like Avvo or Martindale-Hubbell to see what past clients have said.
- Ask for references: A credible lawyer should have past clients willing to share their experiences.
- Review their track record and expertise: Look at the lawyer’s website or LinkedIn profile for information about their experience in real estate law and any relevant cases they’ve handled.
- Membership in professional organizations: Lawyers who are members of respected legal or real estate organizations, like the American Bar Association’s Real Property Division, often signal credibility and expertise.
What Should I Prepare for My First Consultation?
To make your first meeting with a real estate lawyer productive, you should prepare the following materials:
- Relevant property documents: Bring purchase agreements, lease contracts, mortgage documents, zoning permits, or any other paperwork related to your case.
- A summary of the issue or transaction: Be ready to explain the situation, whether it's a property dispute, contract negotiation, or development issue.
- Questions about the legal process: Prepare a list of questions about how the lawyer will handle your case and what steps are involved.
- Financial documents or loan agreements: If the case involves financing or a mortgage, bring any related documents for the lawyer to review.
- Your goals and timeline: Be clear about what outcome you're hoping for, and if there are any deadlines that need to be considered, such as closing dates or legal filings.
By coming prepared, you can ensure that your consultation is efficient and informative, allowing you to assess whether the lawyer is the right fit for your real estate needs.
