Reviews

Michael Schulman represented me as the plaintiff in a civil suit -- which I lost, in part, because he missed filing deadlines by more than 6 months. Outraged at this oversight and a lost opportunity to obtain an offer from the adversary, along with Schulman’s refusal to refund any of the $10,000 he had received, I asked two independent attorneys to review the history of my case. They outlined for me extensive negligence and malfeasance in Schulman’s representation, and suggested a malpractice suit. Rather than take that route, I filed a complaint with the Suffolk County Bar Association, requesting a fee-dispute arbitration. [Schulman’s own retainer agreement specifies that fee disputes will be resolved this way, and states TWICE that the arbitration decision is binding on the law firm and the client.] The arbitrator awarded me $5,500, more than half of what Schulman had been paid and also took from my credit card without my knowledge or approval. Instead of honoring the decision and refunding my money, Schulman turned to the Court to rehash the dispute. To complicate the matter, and make it even more difficult to collect from him, he also claimed, FALSELY, at this time (after the arbitration!), that I owed him $7,268 for work he had allegedly performed. Despite the fact that he had written to the arbitrator that I owed him NO monies, and that there was NO balance, Schulman made this claim and burdened and harassed me further by serving multiple papers demanding that I validate my response to his phony claim. Schulman continually delayed the “trial de novo” and a decision on his claim for FIVE years by requesting repeated adjournments and not showing up in court. After his NINTH no-show, the judge finally acknowledged this malicious behavior as the ploy it was, dismissed the claim against me, and “confirmed the arbitration award.” This victory and final justice were “stolen” from me within weeks. Schulman persuaded the judge who had decided in my favor, with a default judgment, to vacate that judgment against him and order a trial de novo with a new judge. At that trial, I needed to be sure my arbitration award remained "confirmed." However, every time I attempted to speak about it, Schulman would object, and the new judge would allow no discussion of it. Nonetheless, afterward, the judge somehow decided that the award had no merit, and, reversing the first judge’s decision (and the decision of the SCBA arbitrator), he denied me the award. He also (rightly) dismissed Schulman’s false claim. Five years of emotional damage, wasted time, and financial loss because of the incompetence, greed, and manipulation of this low-life shyster! STAY AWAY!

Schulman (MBS) tried to defraud my family out of $9,000+, and victimized us for 3+ years. We contracted with MBS to serve as an intermediary with an attorney who had been bullying us with groundless allegations of impropriety. MBS was asked to review a few noncomplex documents and our oral/written summaries, then proactively resolve the conflict. In no way was he retained to perform an investigation, conduct research, create a formal legal defense, or represent us before any court or mediating body. MBS’s handling of the situation involved numerous lapses in ethical conduct, adherence to professional standards, and legal behavior, including: 1. He collected a large retainer without (ever) communicating a strategy or timeline for dealing with the adversary, or proposing how the retainer would be spent. He ignored emails submitted by us at the outset, which provided the essential content and approach for speedy resolution of the conflict. 2. He billed $3,000+ for phone calls and emails of minor and repetitive substance -- vs. taking a decisive, offensive position. This prolonged the conflict and further incited the adversary. 3. He billed $6,000+ for unrequested, unexplained, undocumented, and un-presented “research” and “review” -- by an associate unknown to us -- that is unlikely to exist anywhere but on the invoices. This was FRAUD. 4. He burned through the retainer, exceeded it, and seized additional funds from our credit card with no discussion, no approval, and no advance notice. [The NY State Unified Court System Rules Of Professional Conduct include: Rule 1.5 (a) “A lawyer shall not make an agreement for, charge, or collect an excessive or illegal fee or expense.” Rule 8.4 (c) “A lawyer or law firm shall not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”] 5. He kept the conflict in a stalemate for 3 months -- while “spending” $9K+ -- requiring us to break the stalemate and resolve the conflict OURSELVES by composing a letter based on the content of the abovementioned emails. 6. He agreed, in writing, to a $4,000 “credit,” but never returned funds to us, forcing us into a fee-dispute arbitration. 7. He lied abjectly and totally to the bar association arbitrator about conducting “extensive research” in two specific areas. He submitted additional phony and excessive billing prior to the arbitration, 21 months after the fact, for the primary purpose of cancelling the promised credit and squeezing us for more money. 8. He violated his own contractual agreement to abide by the arbitration decision (a 52% refund of what had been paid and dismissal of the unpaid balance), refusing to refund any money. He forced us to petition the Court to confirm the arbitration award and fight his attempt to have the Court try the fee dispute. (A court official with decades of experience told us he’d never before encountered an attorney who would not honor an arbitration decision.) 9. He used unscrupulous tactics and delays to deter justice. He claimed we had never been served by his summons, when twice he was notified of such. Twice we served a Demand for Complaint (his reason to dispute the arbitration award in court), which he never answered. He forced us to file a motion to dismiss his summons, and an opposition to his motion to extend time for service of the summons. After many stressful months documenting and submitting our case – as pro se parties – the Court confirmed the award and denied MBS’s legal actions. Our experience with MBS is only the tip of a huge, filthy iceberg. MBS was sanctioned by the NY Bar and FL Bar. An online search of civil-case records shows that, 2003 - 2017, MBS was or is, PERSONALLY, either the plaintiff or defendant in 13 cases before the Suffolk County Supreme Court dealing with disputes over arbitration decisions, improper billing, fraud, professional misconduct, incompetence, and massive legal malpractice.

THE FINEST LAW FIRM ON LONG ISLAND

Thank You Michael for helping us to secure successful copyrights and trademarks. We appreciate your attention to our concerns and recommend you to anyone in need of copyright or trademark protections.

I hired Michael B Schulman & Associates to do some contract work as well as some trademark work for my firm. They were very responsive and kept me informed where things stood the entire time. Their rates were reasonable and I will definitely use them again.

Michael Schulman is an intelligent, hard working attorney who has helped me immeasurably over the last year. He sees to the next step and is always offering guidance when requested. I recommend Michael if you are looking for a business attorney with background in litigation. He also has a strong aptitude for numbers which is especially helpful for business related issues.

Mr. Schulman has been involved with several contract negotiations on behalf of my organization. We have found him to be easily accessible, knowledgeable and reasonable with his compensation. We will continue to take advantage of his legal expertise for years to come and would not hesitate recommending him.

I retained MBS Legal for several corporate and contact law issues for my company City Wonders, including getting our intellectual property registered. I found them to be very responsive and knowledgeable. Even when things were going to take some time I was continually informed of the process and where we stood. The costs were as estimated and very reasonable.

I would recommend Michael B. Schulman to anyone looking for a honest, knowledgeable lawyer. Michael did all of the legal work to set up my new company. He was very diligent and worked within the short timeline I had. Michael and his staff took the time to research every detail needed to set up my company in the most effective way. The staff is extremely friendly and it is pleasant to visit the office.

Michael helped me with the purchase and sale of an interest in a company that my partner was exiting from and new partner was purchasing his interest in. Very thorough in corporate docs needed and crossing all i's and dotting t's.