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Justin Chance Smith
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4.2
Avvo rating
5 Reviews
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24 Sep, 2020 by Chris
Never had the chance to hire Chance Smith and after talking to him once, he's permanently removed from my contact list. I'm one of those lead-foot guys and have been since I turned 16, unfortunately. I've used attorneys ad nauseam over the years. It's an annual occurrence. I began using James Mallory for Tarrant County tickets, moved over to Jim Lollar, who represented me for many years, and now use Justin Holt, who took over Lollar's book of business upon Lollar's retirement.
Couldn't be happier with Holt and formerly Lollar. The reason I reached out to Chance is because I have a Dallas County ticket and my attorneys don't handle Dallas County business. Chance apparently does, or at least to some degree.
I've planned to hire Chance for a couple of months but never have the ticket with me when I plan to call. Finally, when it dawned on me the other day that this ticket is still outstanding, I reached out to Chance even though I still did not have the ticket at hand.
He essentially said he wouldn't help me unless I produced the ticket, incredulously claiming "there's too many courts in Dallas and I'm not going to research for free." Hmm, interesting approach employed dealing with a potential client. Had he been more diplomatic about his refusal, I'd likely still have hired him, but since the rationale was unprofessional and not something you say to a client or customer, whether true or not, his judgement is called into question.
What makes this even more of a head scratcher is that I didn't call him to have him perform free research. I would have hired him on the spot, paid him via CC, and then allowed him to do his due diligence. Afterall, it is his profession, though he'd rather assign the difficult work to his clients. I don't expect anyone to do anything for free for me. I just wanted to hire the guy, but not only did he reveal his lack of judgement, but his logical reasoning was tremendously flawed too. Not a good combination for someone in his profession.
If the job is easy, he'll do it. If the job isn't easy, he'll refuse it.
What he failed to realize is that I'm a professional researcher. I own my own consulting firm. I often have to perform research for free in order to get an engagement executed and started. In fact, I'd spent about 3 hours the very morning I called Chance in doing due diligence (free research) for a proposal I was putting together. Just part of it...
He tried to make amends when concluding the call, saying "but if you find the ticket, give us a call and we'll be glad to help."
Uh, yea, right. Ok. I'll jump right on that.
04 May, 2018 by Gale
Chase personal delt with me. Im a CDL Class A license holder who received a 72 in a 50mph speeding ticket in my personal vehicle. Chase explained all the known possible out comes for my violation. Charged me a nominal fee and assured me he would take care of it , without me ever having to go to court. And the only other possible charge would be an court cost of around $300. Well Chase found a technical error and had the whole thing dimissed, like it never happened with no court fees. I'm very grateful that he actually cares about his clients because he could have just went ahead how we discussed and left me with a $300.court cost, he was not gonna make anymore money either way it went. But thanks to his willingness to be through , I am able to maintain my great driving record!
Chase and his staff are VERY Professional but at the same time Very personable. And at a Very Affordable price. Who could ask for more. I definitely recommend J. Chase Smith, he understands the importance of a good driving record for A CDL holder.
22 Aug, 2014 by Robert
I have a CDL license and would recommend him to everyone I know. Chance will always take the time to answer my questions personally. He saved my license and my job. 10 out of 10. Could not recommend enough.
10 Dec, 2013 by Michael
Mr. Smith represented me on a ticket and failure to appear warrant I got years ago near Oklahoma (about an hour from my hometown). I only realized I forgot to take care of it when I was unable to renew my license. In any case, Mr. Smith convinced the court there to quickly allow me to pay a small fine to remove me from the OMNI system (so I could renew my license) while I awaited their decision on the violations.
He called me regularly with updates when he had new info and made sure I didn't have to drive an hour out of my way to take care of the matter(s).
This is only the second attorney I've ever hired to handle anything, but the difference between Mr. Smith and the one I previously hired is like night and day.
I would highly recommend this attorney to all of my friends and family.
04 Oct, 2012 by Thomas
Saved me a ton on some past due tickets I had in the DFW area. Staff very helpful. Would definitely recommend.
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13 Jun, 2024 by Landon
My family ran into some issues with the CPS system, and Dorthea stepped in, took our case right away, we were stressed out because we knew we were innocent, but Dorthea kept her professional demeanor and listened to our story! She dealt with CPS on our behalf, walked with us through the process, and stopped the unwarranted harassments. Dorothea knows what she’s doing!!!
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10 Feb, 2024 by Anonymous
I've been working with Dorothea for about a year on an appeal of a complex child custody case.
First of all, Dorothea is not a "Yes-Man". She will tell you bluntly if she believes your case has slim or no odds of succeeding. And better to hear that at an initial consultation with her than after you've invested thousands of dollars just to be told 'no' by someone else.
Dorothea told me the odds of success in my case were not great. It's the nature of appeals. I felt so strongly that a wrong had been done to me that I decided to proceed anyway, even with her telling me at our initial consultation that the odds were against me. As my appeal nears its conclusion, she's produced a brief for me that I'm very proud of that I feel presents the issues as succinctly as she could in only 15,000 words.
After retaining her services, Dorothea put in countless hours reviewing court transcripts, thousands of pages of medical records, and interviewing witnesses. Five years had passed in between the time this case was opened and the time it went to trial. There was a lot for Dorothea to catch up on and not much time for her to get up to speed. To further complicate matters, my trial attorney had a family emergency that prevented him from being much help in the transition to Dorothea as my appellate attorney.
Despite all of the obstacles and difficulties, she was able to get a grasp on what had happened. She was able to see from a legal perspective how my rights had been violated at trial whereas I had only my belief that this was not how "justice" was supposed to work. I wasn't able to see the forest for the trees until Dorothea made me step back and showed it to me.
Because of her patience, her diligence, her enthusiasm for the law and for issues of social justice, I have hope where before I only had a prayer.
Dorothea's mental agility and tenacity are the things I appreciate most about her in the courtroom. At every court appearance, she has always had a Plan A, a Plan B and a Plan C. I suspect if we ever need a Plan D, she would probably pull one of those out of her hat, too. For example, when Dorothea had critical evidence she wanted to get into the record on my behalf, she had that evidence ready to present in multiple different formats to ensure it got into the record. She didn't just give up the first time she was told 'no', as has been my experience with other attorneys, but fluidly shifted to her backup strategies to get that evidence into the record.
I intend to continue working with Dorothea even after our business with the appeal is concluded and can't recommend her highly enough.
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19 Dec, 2022 by Linda
She is extremely professional, knowledgeable, focused and detailed orientated. She was also accessible with "no nonsense" persona. She creates a sense of strength and confidence.
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04 Apr, 2014 by Charles
About 2 months ago Mr. Hafer took over my
case, from another law firm..My case is still
Pending..I get regular updates..Calls are regularly
taken..No problems during the time we
have done business..
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19 Apr, 2023 by Helen bennett
"Donna J. assisted me in drafted some much needed paper work. She took the time explaining the entire process to me, answered all my questions, and provided many examples in plain language.
She was quick to respond via email and by phone when needed. She was also very reasonable in price.
I recommend her to anyone looking for a reliable lawyer that gives her clients the time and attention they deserve!"
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15 Dec, 2022 by Zach
Donna was amazing to work with out of all the attorneys I've met she's by far my favorite! Thank you donna to you and your hard working team for everything!
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19 Jul, 2022 by Teri
Donna Smiedt was recommended to me by a dentist friend of mine. He himself had been through a few divorces and knew who was good and who was not. Not only is Donna incredibly proficient at what she does professionally, She is a very compassionate caring and helpful person as well! She knew how to communicate well with both myself & my now ex-husband. I got an incredible settlement -fair & generous. Partly because she was able to speak in a non-confrontational tone with my ex and convince him that it was best to be fair. I’m quite sure no other lawyer could have attained those results due to his type “A” personality. There are so many examples I have of how compassionate and how she helped me mentally through what was the worst time in my life but we don’t have enough room here. Let me just leave it to say don’t regret this huge decision in your life… Make sure you choose the right lawyer.
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