Reviews

I hired Mikal a second time to handle motions from my ex. I wrote a 5-star review in 2014 (“Honest & Trustworthy”) after he handled my divorce & custody case. 11 years later, I’m back to update that to 1-star. Not because I can’t give 0 stars, but because he did earn 1 star by virtue of being the lawyer to escort my case through the judicial system. But that’s all I can give him credit for, other than false hope and an empty savings account. Semi-recently my ex filed motions to reduce child support despite earning more presently. In the consultation, Mikal regaled stories of non-residential parents filing to reduce support, thinking they would benefit, only for it to backfire. He said mine was a simple case, he wanted to collect some documents and see what we were dealing with. He was clear that nothing is guaranteed (obviously), but that he thought I was in a halfway decent position. That is the only phone call I’ve had with him, 1 year ago, days before I retained him. The only emails I’ve received from him were last summer regarding getting my discovery together. I’ve received not one email, phone call, carrier pigeon, to talk about my case since our consult (other than ‘court recaps’). So not one interaction to discuss the nuances in my case or to request materials from myself that would help him in court. Not to ask any questions or to get any details. At no point during our official legal relationship has he offered advice, guidance, or counsel. I cannot provide a single instance of him advocating for me. What all am I paying $400/hr for? Any lawyer can walk paperwork through the courts. He’s not even requesting that we use my ex’s current income to reflect his recent raises. Every ball there was to drop, he dropped. We did have one scheduled call prior to the pretrial conference with the judge in December. His assistant sent me an email in November to let me know and I marked it down. Appointment comes and goes with no call. This phone call was essential because this is the call he said we would discuss strategy. Court date comes and goes, and I finally get a barebones email from Mikal. He claimed he didn’t call because I did not reply and confirm the phone appointment…. which I was never asked to confirm. A phone call this important?! So court happens, then Mikal sent me a partial update to give me the next court date and said the recap would be sent “separately.” It never was. Because I hadn’t heard anything alarming leading up to the Dec & Jan court dates, I had no reason to be concerned and figured “no news was good news.” Naively, I thought a lawyer charging $400/hour would call or email with case updates/questions/clarifications throughout the case…. anything!! But especially if the entire case took a 180* turn from our initial consult. In January I reached out to his assistant (CC’d him), who turned out to no longer be working there. That was a few days before my January court date. He never replied or got back to me until a week later, after said court date, stating “I’m sorry you’re disappointed in my services,” which is a terrible non-apology apology. Then blamed “his health challenges” for the poor communication. This is a garbage elementary excuse. If your profession is in legal, and you are so ill that it is affecting your job performance across months to years, you need to take FMLA. It’s not the client’s job to be making sure you are doing it and that you’re well enough to do it competently. The answer to Mikal’s problem here certainly isn’t to continue charging Gucci prices for Kmart services, while gaslighting his clients about it. It seems Mikal saw my case as little more than billable hours. Is $15k + $8k lawyers’ fees only a lot of money to me? He would have you thinking so. This cost more than my entire divorce. If you don’t want to go $22k+ in the red, find someone else. Coming from somebody who has hired him twice, over a decade apart.

Christina has been great to work with! She's explained every step and been available to us with questions. 100% recommend!

Ms. Banyon has truly been a blessing in helping me with filing my chapter 7 bankruptcy. She’s very kind and patient. She made sure I understood the pros and cons. She went through every detail of my paperwork with me. She even provided me with the resources to complete my before and after filing courses. I appreciate everything she has done. Now I have a fresh start. I highly recommend her if anyone needs an amazing attorney. Thank you again!!

My divorce process began in late 2023 in which I was seeking custody of my son. Due to the amazing job of Greg Jumbeck and his team, I only had to appear in court one time and that was to finalize my divorce. Although this process is not easy, his team made this transition for my son and I relatively painless. I would recommend to anyone who has to go through this. Great job!!

Christina is amazing. She helped me through the entire process of my case and it was as stress free as I could’ve asked. Highly recommend her to anyone in need of an attorney.

She was amazing! Answered all questions I had very fast! Had everything filed the day I paid. All was finalized extremely fast! Very pleased with the service received. I wish I would have contacted her when I started trying to clean up my credit over a year ago

Christina made the process simple and easy! Everything that I was required to do was properly communicated to me, so I had plenty of time to get my paperwork together. All questions I had during the process and after were answered in a timely matter. I would highly recommend!

CKB law firm was very helpful. Attorney Christina Banyon explained the process in a clear and easy to understand way. She also answered all my question in a quick and timely manner. I would highly recommend this law firm for any one facing bankruptcy .

Scott Reich acted in the interest of my ex-husband. Ten years later, I still have issues with my divorce decree due to Scott Reich not reviewing his work in detail which he acknowledged and did not correct. In the end, he just wanted his money and wasn’t concerned about me or my future. He was more interested in moving on to a multimillion dollar case to which he was assigned. Scott suggested I move to another state to escape Illinois’ laws. He also did not inform me of upcoming divorce legislation which was pertinent to my case. I needed to draw his attention to this new legislation and he admitted he was aware of the new law. All in all, these errors have cost me quite a bit of $$$$. I do not recommend this law firm. I would rate him a zero if there was such a rating. Dr. Kathy Dunn

Wish I can leave more then 5 stars. Christina has been nothing but amazing to work with and I highly recommend her to anyone.